MidCentury Magazine, December 2013

In November 2013 I visited The Homewood, one of only two Modernist properties owned by the National Trust, and interviewed resident curator, David Scott, for MidCentury Magazine.
The Homewood

Image ©National Trust Images/Stuart Cox

The National Trust owns just two Mid Century properties. One of them is The Homewood in Esher, Surrey. It’s not only a striking example of early British Modernism by a talented young architect, it’s also a record of his life.

Patrick Gwynne designed the Homewood in 1937, aged 24, as a home for his parents, himself and his sister. It replaced their Victorian villa on the same plot, and was completed in 1938. The family celebrated with a party – Pimms was followed by dinner on the terrace. For a year “we danced like mad,” said Patrick. Great entertainers, they made full use of the living room’s sprung floor and built-in gramophone.

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We Heart, October 2013

I wrote a series of profile pieces for We Heart on the top graduates at the Design Academy Eindhoven graduate show as part of Dutch Design Week. This one is about Victoria Ledig and her Precious Skin project…
victoria ledig precious skin

Victoria Ledig is petit, attractive and immaculately presented, from her precarious heels to her perfect black bob. She is the last person you would expect to find in a slaughterhouse. And yet this is where her dedication to her graduate project at Design Academy Eindhoven took her. “It started with a fascination with leather as a material. I did an internship at Ecco, in the design department of a tannery in Dongen in the Netherlands. I started to get a feel for what a fantastic material leather is. You can do so much with it – you can turn it into something that seems almost artificial,” says Victoria. “I realised that the connection with what leather is and where it comes from has been lost, which is a pity in my eyes.”

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