If you want insight into the mind of someone, you can’t do much better than observing the place where they spend the majority of their time – home.
Most people’s homes are an unfiltered reflection of the personalities that reside in the dwelling. Classic or modern, rustic or contemporary, tidy or messy, our homes say much more about us than we’d care to believe.
Our detection work into the homes and personal spaces of those from within our community continues this month as we hear from Paul Kelley.
Paul is a two-time Design Guild Mark holder for the BOB storage system and Magnetic Copper Cube, the latter of which was awarded the Jonathan Hindle Prize for Excellence in the 2018 Furniture category.
Paul, tell us about one of your favourite spaces in your home.
During the first lockdown I redesigned the upstairs rooms of our house so my wife and I could have a dedicated room for each of us to work in. I took some influences from Rietveld and made two bookcases from Douglas fir, the lights are from Rietveld, Mark Holmes and Bestlite, chair by Marcel Breuer and the daybed by Mies van de Rohe.
Other pieces in the room include an early Tapestry by Justine Randall that I’ve owned way before we got together, the drawing is also by her, the photograph is by Benedict Luxmoore, the sandpaper record by Factory records and the poster is by The Faces.
Finally, I made myself a small desk from solid rosewood and the room is looked over by who else but Big Ted who has been by my side for 57 years.
The room is me through its straight lines, quality materials and design but with a sense of humour through the various odds and sods.
What hobbies have you been pursuing during lockdown?
Apart from deciding to taste a lot more wine from around the world I’ve just been using the time to design and make new pieces as well as develop previous designs, such as my cubes.
You can find out more about Paul Kelley here: http://www.pk-designs.co.uk/
