James Shaw

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    James Shaw’s light-filled London home is almost entirely underground

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    Lumpy recycled plastic furniture and circular skylights characterise this sunken London house, which designer James Shaw concealed on a 60-square-metre plot for himself and his family.

    Located in a conservation area in east London, the two-storey dwelling was constructed by Shaw and his friend, architect Nicholas Ashby.
    James Shaw built himself a sunken but light-filled homeThe neighbourhood’s planning restrictions required the pair to build all but 2.7 metres of the building out of sight from the street level, resulting in a sunken home with a large basement invisible from the outside.
    An open-plan kitchen, living and dining area feature in this underground space, which has exposed concrete walls interrupted by large, floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a small terrace with a dinky plunge pool.
    The designer squeezed a bespoke sofa into one of the irregular cornersShaw and his writer-curator wife Lou Stoppard chose eclectic interiors for the home they share with their baby daughter – a collaboration that began with the duo’s 2022 London Design Festival installation of clashing furniture, created to poke fun at the tensions that arise when couples move in together for the first time.

    Made by Shaw, the pear-shaped walnut table from the installation features in the living area, surrounded by spindly stacking chairs first designed by furniture brand Blå Station founder Börge Lindau in 1986.
    Veneered MDF defines the kitchen cabinetsA custom aluminium bookshelf stretches across the wall opposite the table, built by Shaw to fit the unusual space. The designer also squeezed a bespoke burnt orange sofa into one of the irregular corners, illuminated by a large circular skylight.
    Known for his Plastic Baroque furniture made from recycled and extruded HDPE, Shaw placed a lumpy two-tone blue lounge chair next to the sofa – another piece that featured in his previous installation.
    The bathroom features Anni Albers-style mosaic flooringOpposite the living and dining area, the rectilinear kitchen cabinets were finished in veneered MDF, while the fridge was also fitted with a knobbly plastic handle.
    Stainless steel and pale blue HIMACS make up the worktops – one of which is on wheels to allow for flexibility when hosting.
    Squiggly pear-shaped sculptures top the bedpostsAcross the basement, a combination of oak finger parquet and raised-access metal tiles were used to create contrasting flooring. The silver-hued tiles can be lifted to reveal extra storage.
    Also underground, the bathroom was designed with a playfully patterned mosaic floor informed by the work of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers, including an abstract illustration of the couple’s cat, Rupert.
    The mirrored bathtub reflects and enhances the intricate flooring, while another rounded skylight adds natural light to the space.

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    An extruded blue plastic bannister snakes up the staircase to the bedroom – the only street-level room in the house.
    The Shaw-designed oak and brass bed features bedposts topped with squiggly pear-shaped sculptures, while the thin timber wardrobe was hand-painted with decorative panels by artist Marie Jacotey, who completed the project on-site.
    The bedroom is the only street-level roomStoppard’s vast art collection features throughout the sunken home, including delicate paintings by emerging artists Lydia Blakely and Mary Stephenson and antique artefacts from various travels.
    Elsewhere in London, Shaw’s trademark plastic furniture has also been used for retail projects. Footwear brand Camper’s Regent Street store includes bumpy yellow shelving by the designer, and a Traid charity clothes shop in Shepherd’s Bush has a wiggly bench upholstered in unsold clothes salvaged from the Traid warehouse.
    The photography is courtesy of James Shaw and Lou Stoppard. 

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      Hemingway Design and James Shaw create furniture from recycled clothes for Traid

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      Local studio Hemingway Design collaborated with designer James Shaw to transform a London store interior for charity retailer Traid, which features colourful furniture created from leftover second-hand clothes.

      Hemingway Design renovated Traid’s Shepherd’s Bush branch as part of a wider rebrand for the retailer to mark its 25th anniversary, including its visual identity.
      Hemingway Design has redesigned the Traid store in Shepherd’s Bush, LondonTraid sells donated clothing and accessories in 12 stores across London to fund global projects that tackle the issues caused by producing, consuming and wasting textiles.
      As part of the Shepherd’s Bush store refurbishment, Hemingway Design worked with Shaw to create furniture out of poor-quality clothes salvaged from the Traid sorting warehouse that the retailer deemed unsellable.
      James Shaw created furniture and lighting made from recycled clothesShaw, whose practice centres on repurposing waste materials, created curved pendant lighting from the leftover clothes, which were shredded back to fibres and combined with a plant-based binder.

      The designer applied this method to make the rest of the furniture. One piece is a low-slung bench for trying on shoes, upholstered with a yellow, green and blue patchwork of old denim jeans and corduroy trousers.
      Shaw designed the bench’s lumpy legs in his trademark extruded HDPE plastic, finished in the same colours as the patchwork seat.
      This included changing room door handlesElsewhere in the store, boxy pinewood changing room doors feature multicoloured handles created from the leftover clothes, defined by a speckled appearance thanks to the combination of shredded fibres.
      Silver scaffolding previously used for a different purpose in the original shop layout was used to create a “staff picks” clothes rail positioned at the front of the store.
      The designer combined shredded fibres with a plant-based binder. Photo by James Shaw”To align with Traid’s manifesto of reducing waste and prolonging the lifespan of items, a fundamental objective of the refurb was to reuse and repurpose existing fixtures and fittings within the store where possible,” explained Hemingway Design.
      British designer Charlie Boyden created chunky pastel-hued plinths from other offcuts and materials salvaged from the strip-out. They display merchandise in the shop window illuminated by more of Shaw’s clothing-based pendant lighting.
      Existing silver scaffolding was used to form a “staff picks” clothes railSwirly linseed-based oil-stained pine also characterises the geometric cash desk, fitted with an accessible counter and positioned in front of an existing timber stud wall painted in bold pink.
      Next to the counter, bespoke bright green Unistrut shelving creates additional space for hanging clothes and displaying shoes.

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      According to Hemingway Design, Traid has put 228 million garments back into use to date, saving 622,059 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 105.3 million cubic metres of water.
      “The charity retailer maximises the potential of the clothes you no longer wear, demanding change from a throwaway, fast fashion culture that continues to destroy this planet,” said the studio.
      Charlie Boyden designed display plinths using off-cutsShaw recently applied his extruded plastic designs to another store renovation in central London for shoe brand Camper, which includes a jumbo foot sculpture.
      Hemingway Design previously created a minimalist but colourful logo to celebrate 100 years of the Dreamland amusement park in Margate, Kent.
      The photography is by French & Tye unless stated otherwise. 

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      James Shaw installs jumbo foot in London Camper store

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      British designer James Shaw has renovated a shop for fashion brand Camper on London’s Regent Street, which features a giant foot-shaped sculpture that functions as a till and a bench for trying on shoes.

      Located in a ground-level room within a building on Regent Street in central London, the store reopened last week.
      James Shaw has renovated the Camper store on Regent StreetShaw redesigned the interiors to reflect the Mallorcan heritage of Spanish footwear company Camper – a brand known for its bold and colourful creations.
      The designer constructed a 3.5-metre-tall sculpture in the shape of an oversized foot, which was covered in terracotta-hued wool and positioned on the shop floor.
      His design includes a jumbo footVisible from the street, the cartoon-like structure is multifunctional. It includes internal storage for products and a small booth that houses the till.

      Shoppers are also encouraged to perch on the jumbo toes while trying on shoes, making the foot a bench as well as a display unit.
      Shaw also created recycled plastic furniture”The foot is the key feature of our proposal. Somewhat surreal and unexpected yet fully connected to Camper’s sense of playfulness and whimsy,” said Shaw.
      “Reflected in the fully mirrored wall, it appears as a giant standing in the middle of the store.”
      Walnut was used to make display unitsThe designer, who works predominantly with recycled plastic, also created lumpy yellow shelving made from extruded slabs of the material, which – like the large foot – is reflected in the floor-to-ceiling mirror that makes up one of the walls.
      Shaw also combined his trademark gloopy plastic with walnut wood to create rounded stools, positioned underneath the yellow shelves.

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      On the opposite side of the room, the designer added smooth walnut display units mounted to the wall with twisted polished metal fixtures – also custom-made by Shaw.
      At the back of the store, shoppers can rest on geometric seating topped with textured mohair and clad in mirrored metal. The recognisable red Camper logo, positioned above the seating, was also reimagined with a Shaw-style, lumpy backdrop.
      The interiors are “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist”Shaw created the store’s flooring using orange resin to match the colour of the large foot as well as the painted walls and ceiling, which are all finished in similar hues.
      The mix of materials is “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist,” according to Camper.
      “Mediterranean roots are present in the colour scheme, where warm earthy tones meet shades of yellow and blue,” added the brand.
      Elsewhere, designer Jorge Penadés dressed a Málaga Camper shop with materials chosen to match the brand’s warehouse while architect Kengo Kuma created scalloped shelving out of concave ceramic tiles for a Barcelona branch.
      Shaw showcased pieces of his extruded recycled plastic furniture at the 2022 edition of London Design Festival in an installation he created with his partner, Lou Stoppard, that playfully explored tensions between couples who move in together.
      The photography is courtesy of Camper.

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