That Touch of Silk

Aside from the big name "starchitects" out there, building ever more elaborate office towers, big brand art galleries or futuristic transport interchanges, most in the profession are lone practicioners or small firms quietly getting on with small scale home improvements and extensions, that can do so much to improve our living space. Among those practices I have worked for in the last year, is Silk Mews Architects. Named after their small south London premises, which they developed, the practice, lead by Peter Camp, produces elegant solutions, paying particular attention to detail and finish. My two most recent shoots for them have been excellent examples of period homes deftly manipulated to achieve more suitable layouts for modern living while retaining the best of the old.

House 1 (Design Credits: Yuki Taida & Dycella Cummings-Palmer)

House 2 (Design Credits: Peter Camp & Lesley Reich)

Casa Bella

With such high standards in all aspects of his work,it was great to be asked by Luigi Esposito to shoot a second project for his design company Casa Forma, so soon after shooting the first (ref. Mayfair Lady - February 2011). Luigi and his team are closely involved during each shoot, making sure that every detail is styled perfectly, and that the resulting images reinforce the high standards he has set.

Finish is everything in this highly polished Kensington apartment. No swags, frills or riotous colour for poor workmanship to hide behind. Clean lines and an almost monochrome palette demand absolute perfection. The style is elegant modernism imbued with the spirit of Art Deco, using black mirrored surfaces,high gloss veneers, bronze and chrome, against a backdrop of polished plaster walls and oak floors. For me, the pinnacle is the extraordinary textured and reflective wall finish in the dining room, which on first glance looks like tiling, but turns out to be an elaborate handmade finish of layer upon layer of gesso on canvas, then lacquered and polished. Such are the lengths that Casa Forma go to, to achieve perfection.

Ensuite Dreams

When shooting a home, one would typically expect the usual assortment of rooms. You know, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and maybe a study and a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, that sort of thing. But when New Yorker, Lesley Reich commissioned me to shoot her latest creation in Chelsea, the brief was to shoot just the 7 bathrooms, oh and the master bedroom. Yes, that's right, 7 bathrooms. The rest of this 6 storey home is still awaiting the finishing touches, but there was plenty of detail in those bathrooms to keep me busy. While each was unique, the common thread linking them all was the use of distinctive finishes for the shower screens. From intense rust-red marble, through to resin panels, filled with the ethereal twigs of the honesty plant, in the case of the master bathroom, and purple petals in the daughter's own ensuite. 

Master Bedroom & Bathroom

The Children's Bathrooms

The Guest Bathrooms

These images will in due course be included on Lesley's own site which is under construction. As soon as it is up and running, I will post a link here.