Say hello to our new podcast, Homing In, featuring Ruth Rogers on finding comfort in the face of grief and creating an iconic house in episode one
What do our homes reveal about who we are? Almost everything, it turns out – something we’ve discovered while recording conversations with cultural contributors, business innovators and creative luminaries for our new podcast, Homing In, which we are pleased to share with you today – listen to the first episode here. The show takes over from the previous iteration of our podcast with an updated format. Instead of getting guests to select their favourite living spaces in the world, co-founder Matt Gibberd asks them to discuss where they grew up, their current home, and their thoughts on future living – revealing the emotional experiences underpinning some of our most inspiring public figures. Be prepared for tears, laughter and everything in between.
In episode one, you’ll hear chef, author and fellow podcaster Ruth Rogers talk to Matt about how both her home and her restaurant, the River Cafe, have proved places of happiness since the passing of her husband, the architect Richard Rogers, and how together the couple created one of London’s most extraordinary living spaces in the early 1980s, with a high-tech makeover of two Georgian townhouses in Chelsea. Here, Matt shares what the conversation meant to him.
“They say you should never meet your heroes, but I will always remember my first encounter with Ruth and Richard Rogers. We were making a film about their iconic home in Chelsea for The Modern House. Emerging theatrically from their bedroom at the top of the house, they proceeded to descend the two-storey steel staircase, her dressed in a pastel-pink cardigan reminiscent of the Philip Guston artworks on the walls, him sporting a shocking-pink shirt and orange braces. How is it possible, I thought to myself, for one couple to spend half a century at the cutting edge of contemporary culture?
“A few years on, Ruthie generously invited us back to record this podcast. In it, she describes with great poignancy how the house continues to provide her with comfort following Richard’s death. She talks about growing up in the Borscht Belt near New York, a chance encounter with Bob Dylan in Woodstock, and the day she met Richard at Georgie Wolton’s house in the late 1960s.
“Having personally co-founded a business in an industry I knew nothing about, I can relate to Ruthie’s inspiring story of starting the River Cafe with no restaurant experience, making things up as she went along. She tells me about how the restaurant has become a home from home, and why it’s been a breeding ground for some of the world’s most celebrated chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, April Bloomfield and Allegra McEvedy. She talks about the influences behind her home, from the Maison de Verre in Paris to the Italian piazzas of Pienza and Montepulciano, and why a rather special set of coloured pencils is one of the first things she would save in a house fire.”
Upcoming episodes of Homing In feature a legendary photographer who has shot anyone who’s anyone, a trailblazing businesswoman who changed how we shop, and a TV presenter who made architecture cool. We’ll be releasing them every two weeks, so make sure to follow us on your chosen podcast platform to be updated as they come out. Happy listening.
Further reading:
Watch our film shot at the home of Ruth and Richard Rogers
Visit the River Cafe
Listen to Ruth’s podcast, Ruthie’s Table Four
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