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      The Mint List fits out London office with mid-century-style movable furniture

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      Bespoke furniture with a mid-century feel can be rearranged to alter the use of this office space in north London, which interior design studio The Mint List has created for a music management company.

      Camilla Kelly and Lucy Tudhope of The Mint List designed the headquarters for management company Everybody’s, which recently upgraded to larger premises on the ground floor of a former shipping depot.
      Everybody’s office is located in a former shipping depotArchitect Duncan Woodburn developed plans to reconfigure the large, light-filled unit as an open-plan workspace including a high-ceilinged entrance along with a kitchen and dining area.
      For the interior scheme, The Mint List focused on retaining the building’s existing character and creating a flexible workspace with a midcentury feel.
      The Mint List designed custom joinery to divvy up the interior”We wanted to ensure that we respected the modernist nature of this industrial site, whilst integrating a sense of creativity that was absolutely key for the client,” Kelly said.

      One of the main challenges was zoning the large space to create different functional areas. This was achieved using custom-built joinery to separate self-contained yet open-plan spaces.
      Modular furniture features throughout the office interiorMuch of the joinery is modular, allowing the space to be reconfigured if required. Large storage units at the entrance are accessible from both sides and completely movable so they can be rolled away to create an open event space.
      Most of the time, the units serve to separate the office from the entrance area and provide staff with a degree of privacy from visitors.
      The office also houses a lounge for playing musicThe main workspace is flooded with light that enters through the building’s glazed frontage. It contains desks and bespoke oak credenzas that can also be easily moved to completely clear the open-plan room.
      At one end of the office is a kitchen with built-in storage, including coloured drawers and cupboard fronts that complement the African sapele wood joinery.

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      The kitchen contains bar seating next to the windows and a dining space arranged around a three-metre-long leather-topped artist’s table.
      A full-height glazed wall specified by the client separates the workspace from private offices and a cloakroom on the ground floor, as well as a mezzanine that houses an acoustically sealed meeting room and a lounge for playing music.
      Glossy tiles feature in the stairwell”The brief was a seamless, vertical grid of glass,” explained Kelly. “So we helped to translate that in terms of the finishes – textured glass to obscure vision through to the office and a beautifully finished oak frame that complements the midcentury scheme.”
      Throughout the project, The Mint List applied a palette of tactile and honest materials including sapele wood, oak, concrete and burnished brass.
      The Mint List added wood surfaces and brass detailsA colour scheme based on natural hues including greens, creams and earthy browns adds visual richness to the spaces.
      The office’s Marmoleum flooring is a custom design that subtly separates the space into different zones. The renewable material was chosen for its excellent acoustic properties in order to help absorb sound within the open spaces.
      The bathrooms are playfully decorated with colourful tilesBathrooms located on the ground floor feature retro sanitary- and brassware complemented by playful tiles, with each wall laid in different patterns and colours.
      Other recent office makeovers in London include Office S&M’s self-designed studio inside a former paint-making workshop and creative agency Ask Us For Ideas’ Soho office, which is split across two diametrically opposed floors.
      The photography is by Dave Watts.

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      Gonzalez Haase AAS evokes Iceland's volcanic landscape at 66º North store

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      Architecture studio Gonzalez Haase AAS has completed a store on London’s Regent Street for Icelandic clothing brand 66º North, featuring curved walls and freestanding plinths made from rammed earth.

      The Berlin-based studio headed by Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase set out to create a holistic concept for the store that represents Iceland in an original way, rather than relying on stereotypes.
      The shop interior was informed by Iceland’s volcanic landscapesGonzalez Haase AAS let the natural elements and the country’s geology inform key design features such as curved grey walls that evoke the shifting weather and rammed-earth islands that represent the earth.
      “The weather in Iceland is a very real and prominent feature in the land and we classified this as static (the island) and forever changing (the weather),” the studio explained. “The static island of Iceland stands still in comparison to the constantly evolving and adapting weather, but this influences the perception of the island.”
      Rammed-earth islands add colour and texture to the shop’s interiorUpon entering the space, visitors encounter a series of curved walls rendered in natural pigmented clay sourced from Cornwall in the south of England.

      The designers said the use of different grey tones represents the changing weather: “the immaterial, movement, changing, blurry and informal”.
      Grey walls represent Iceland’s shifting weatherThe curved walls vary in height and frame different views within the store. At the entrance, one of the walls stretches back 18 metres, drawing the viewer’s gaze into the space and offering a tactile introduction to the experiential interior.
      “These curved walls create different perspectives and atmospheres,” the design team added. “They sit in front of the existing white walls to create a dramatic foreground of rolling soft curves.”

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      A series of monumental rammed-earth islands are inserted throughout the floor plan, adding colour and texture that evokes the earth and magma of Iceland’s volcanic landscape.
      The islands were created by artist Lennart Frank, who cast and sculpted them from an aggregate mix of different lava rocks to create a layered effect.
      The islands were made from an aggregate mix containing different lava rocksA combination of pigmented aggregate and sand gives the islands their reddish-brown hue, while the rugged texture brings a tactile element to the space that complements the brand’s clothing.
      The earthy tones are echoed in the metal clothes rails, as well as in the colour of a carpet applied to the surfaces within a more intimate space at the rear of the store.
      Earth-toned carpet was used in parts of the shopA custom-made mesh ceiling was designed to evoke a misty white sky, while also concealing lights and technical equipment.
      Mirrors and screens displaying films of the Icelandic landscape help to define the flow of movement through the space and add a playful dimension to the shopping experience.
      The shop is located on Regent Street in LondonGonzalez and Haase founded their Berlin-based studio in 1999. The firm works on commercial, residential and cultural projects, developing spatial concepts and experiences that foreground the interplay between light and architecture.
      Previous interiors designed by Gonzalez Haase AAS include a minimal office for a Berlin communications firm and a sparse, white-walled concept store in Lisbon that occupies a disused warehouse.
      The photography is by Thomas Meyer, Ostkreuz Photography.

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      Pink-tinged paint store Lick pays homage to London's art deco buildings

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      Dusky pink surfaces appear throughout the Lick store in southwest London, which local practice Oskar Kohnen Studio has designed as a “deliberate celebration of paint”.

      Lick’s store is nestled among a parade of boutiques on Northcote Road and is the first brick-and-mortar outpost opened by the paint brand since its launch in 2020.
      Lick has opened its first physical store in LondonTo honour the occasion, Oskar Kohnen Studio wanted to design the 55-square-metre store as a “deliberate celebration of paint”, which he describes as “one of the most immediate and most intuitive ways to create a space”.
      “We live in a time where interiors are full of marble and precious finishes and I wanted to do the opposite,” said the studio’s titular founder.
      Pink paint was applied to the store’s ceiling and part of the wallsPink-tinged paint store Lick pays homage to London’s art deco buildings

      Lick’s facade, ceiling and a majority of its walls were therefore painted a bespoke dusky pink hue called Northcote 65 that the brand created specifically for the opening.
      Walnut wood trims run around the central tableKohnen says this largely monochromatic colour scheme is a nod to the Northcote Road of the past.
      “Looking at old pictures of the high street shops from the 1950s, every one of those stores used their own simple colour combination to give identity,” he explained. “It’s so beautiful how colour was used back then.”
      The store’s floor has white and grey tilingIn the store’s central room, the lower half of the walls was painted off-white to create a contrast with the ceiling and in turn draw more attention to the loftiness of the space.
      This room was designed to have a distinctly art deco feel with the help of a handful of clean, shapely details. At its centre is a white oval table with walnut wood trims and a curved metal pendant lamp suspended directly above.
      “Northcote Road pretty much ends at the iconic Battersea Power Station, which has exactly those deco elements,” said Kohnen. “I’ve always been a fan of London art deco, which is somehow less fancy and simple, quite often just painted simple ornaments.”

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      Lick’s paint tins are showcased on a custom shelving unit, with one side finished in pegboard panels for mounting brushes, rollers, finishing tape and other handy tools.
      “I wanted to create the feeling of a workshop or atelier,” added Kohnen. “I wanted to stay true to the Lick DNA, making sure the store was a place one could not only pick colours but also try them out and get creative.”
      In this spirit, the store’s grey-and-white tiled flooring mimics that seen in the Atelier Martel – an art studio that architect Robert Mallet-Stevens completed for sculptors Jan and Joël Martel in Paris in 1927.
      Products are mounted on pegboard panellingShould customers want a more in-depth consultation with one of the Lick team, they can head to the back of the store. This area is centred on a vintage steel-legged table by Danish designer Nanna Ditzel and black editions of the curved 3300 chair by Swiss designer Bruno Rey.
      Another small seating area located near the storefront features a duo of sage-green velvet armchairs.
      Vintage furnishings feature throughout the interiorAnother striking paint store to be featured on Dezeen is Helsinki’s Cover Story, in which a number of unfinished details are meant to evoke thoughts of renovation and home improvement.
      Previous colour-focused retail projects by Oskar Kohnen Studio include a mint-green eyewear store in Berlin with towering floor-to-ceiling cabinets.
      The photography is by Alexander Edwards.

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      Wood and stone surfaces bring “rich texture” to Primrose Hill House interior

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      Architecture for London has updated a 1960s house in London, creating an open-plan interior filled with natural materials and an improved connection to the rear courtyard garden.

      The house is one of two detached properties set in a modernist estate in Primrose Hill that primarily consists of painted brick courtyard houses and small terraces.
      Primrose Hill House was designed by Architecture for LondonThe new owner asked Architecture for London to transform the interior into a modern layout that is better suited to their lifestyle.
      “The house had a very broken plan consisting of lots of small rooms,” the studio’s director Ben Ridley told Dezeen. “The client wanted to create a family house that was more open plan with better views of the garden.”
      The studio added a rooftop extension clad in white bricksThe remodelled interior improves the connection with the garden by incorporating a large picture window in the kitchen, along with sliding wood-framed doors in the living area.

      The ground floor also contains a smaller reception area next to the entrance hall, with folding doors allowing this space to be separated from the kitchen and dining area.
      Sliding wood-framed doors open the living room up to the gardenA bespoke blackened-steel staircase provides access to four bedrooms on the first floor, including a main suite with a juliet balcony overlooking the garden.
      Following a detailed cost and sustainability review, a decision was made to demolish all of the property’s interior walls and rebuild them in order to achieve the required spaces.
      The interior was finished in a rich material paletteThis solution also offered the best energy-efficiency potential, according to Ridley, with a layer of wall insulation added alongside a heat recovery ventilation system (MVHR).
      The home’s first-floor plate was replaced using steel beams and timber joists to enable the demolition of the ground-floor walls and the opening up of the interior.
      Flooring was used to define different zonesspThe project also involved the addition of a timber-framed rooftop extension, clad with white-painted brick to tie in with the rest of the house and set back so it’s largely hidden from view.
      The extension contains a flexible mezzanine space for yoga and meditation that is accessed from the main bedroom suite.

      Architecture for London uses natural materials to renovate studio founder’s home

      Throughout the home, Architecture for London applied a pared-back palette of natural materials that is intended to create a sense of calmness and connection with the garden.
      Internal walls treated with breathable lime plaster provide a neutral backdrop for furniture including a dining table made from locally sourced London plane trees.
      Doors and windows are framed with wood”We intentionally didn’t use a lot of colour so there’s a strong feeling of consistency,” Ridley said. “The choice of stone and timber brings a rich texture to the palette.”
      A reference image of a Portuguese manor house, featuring a tiled trompe l’oeil frieze around a doorway, informed the use of materials to define space within the interior.
      The shared living areas have an open-plan layoutIn the living room, stone floor tiles in different shades create a border around the room, as if an area rug has been placed on the floor to demarcate where furniture could be placed.
      Ben Ridley founded Architecture for London in 2009 following his studies at London’s Barlett School of Architecture. The studio aims to create places that improve how people live and work, with a focus on reducing their operational emissions.
      Wood lines the interior walls of the homeRidley’s own London house recently featured in our round-up of five UK house renovations designed to improve energy efficiency.
      “Ultimately we are going to have to accept some changes in the appearance of our traditional homes,” he said, speaking to Dezeen as part of a feature on architects who have retrofitted their own homes.
      The photography is by Christian Brailey.

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      A-nrd brings “beachfront feel” to restaurant in London's Soho

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      London design office A-nrd has used a palette of neutral and natural materials to give this restaurant in Soho a laidback atmosphere reminiscent of an Australian beach club.

      Milk Beach Soho is the brainchild of Sydney-born restaurateur Elliot Milne, who wanted to create an all-day eatery and night-time hotspot influenced by some of Australia’s casual dining venues.
      A-nrd has designed London’s Milk Beach Soho restaurantThe restaurant, which can seat 150 people, is located within the Ilona Rose House development in central London and occupies what was previously an empty shell and core unit.
      A-nrd set out to design a transportive space for the eatery that replicates the feeling of coastal hospitality in Sydney’s Milk Beach neighbourhood without feeling alienating in its urban setting.
      The eatery features natural materials like wood and rattan”We chose a natural, neutral palette to give the restaurant that beachfront feel,” said Alessio Nardi, who runs the studio together with Lukas Persakovas.

      “We wanted to avoid any direct nautical motifs or tacky references to the seaside,” he told Dezeen. “Our design is intentionally quite minimal and plays with textures and subtle colours instead of using obvious motifs like ropes or model boats.”
      Bamboo pendant lights by Lion Iron hang from the ceilingThe bright and airy space is grounded by a polished Palladiana terrazzo floor that was laid in situ, with large chunks of tonal marble set into a base of sand-coloured cement to create the effect of walking on a beach.
      Walls treated with stucco and limewash bring warmth to the spacious interior, as well as creating a sense of consistency throughout the dining area and the adjacent bar.
      The bar area is backed by glossy white tilesArt deco buildings found in Sydney and the surrounding area informed some of the shapes used in the restaurant, including a curved nine-metre-long bar and the stuccoed wall that separates it from the main space.
      The bar’s backsplash is formed from glossy off-white tiles that nod to the facade of the Sydney Opera House. The tiles alternate between a plain and relief pattern, adding texture and visual interest to the space.

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      The ceiling above the bar was lowered and clad in oak slats to create a cosier atmosphere, helped by flush art deco-style lights.
      A-nrd designed much of the furniture for the restaurant, including sofas, banquettes and tables with soft shapes that extend the art deco influence.
      Other bespoke designs used in the space include the two-metre-wide pendant lights that were crafted from bamboo by British metalworker David Barker’s company Lion Iron.
      Sandy-hued Palladiana terrazzo covers the floorThe use of natural materials also extends to the restaurant’s seating, made from timber and rattan or woven leather. The tables feature solid travertine tops and sculptural oak legs.
      Wall lights made from Japanese paper by artist Celine Wright and an Abaca fibre pendant from Pinch provide warm, diffused illumination within the dining area.
      Travertine was used to form tables throughout the restaurantThe layout of the space takes advantage of the building’s large lightwell, which floods the interior with natural light and provides views to the exterior.
      The restaurant is designed as an indoor-outdoor experience, making the most of a large courtyard area with seating for 65 guests.
      Art deco-style sconces bring a warm glow to the interiorAlessio Nardi founded A-nrd in 2015 and was joined in 2018 by long-term friend and collaborator Lukas Persakovas.
      A-nrd’s previous work includes the interior of London restaurant Kol, which aims to capture an authentic sense of Mexico through its material palette and furnishings.
      The photography is by Charlie McKay.

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      Office S&M unveils its own colourful office with plastic-bottle-wall enclosed meeting room

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      Architecture practice Office S&M has completed its own office inside a former paint-making workshop in Hackney, London.

      With an entire wall of material samples and areas for modelling and sketching, Office S&M’s workspace aims to act as a laboratory to support its ongoing exploration of materials “that are both practical and fun.”
      Material samples are loosely placed to allow experimentation in the officeThe studio, headed by architects Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen, frequently experiments with materials and colour.
      For its own office, complementary shades such as electric blue, yellow, red and green, were combined.
      The office combines bold colours”For this workspace, we particularly used an electric blue and a bright yellow to contrast with each other and make the space larger,” McEwen told Dezeen.

      “At the same time, because the workspace is south facing, we used the blue to cool the light and even out the warmth of the sun when looking at samples or drawings.”
      The space has been broken into spaces for different usesThe office features a separate meeting room acoustically isolated with sheets of recycled plastic bottles.
      The plastic-bottle wall also works as a point of light thanks to the bulbs it contains inside.
      According to the architects, the recycled-plastic-bottle “provides excellent acoustic insulation””For our own office, we decided to use another common waste material, plastic bottles, but reimagined, to build a soundproofed meeting room,” said Stewart.
      “The recycled plastic insulation is easy to work with, and irritation free, compared to traditional insulation.”
      The studio also includes ergonomic workstationsThe space was divided into areas focused on collaboration, discussion and making to reflect Office S&M’s commitment to community-led design.
      “We live in east London, and do much of our work in the areas near where we live and work,” said McEwen. “This gives us really local knowledge, so we can make sure projects have the most impact and can give back to the area.”
      The building is owned by Bootstrap, a charity that supports emerging businesses in HackneyAdditionally, Office S&M added plants, air purifiers and ergonomic workstations that intend to maintain the well-being of its occupants.
      Other projects by the studio include a rental home for a young property developer that aims to offer a solution to London’s rental market, and the renovation of the Mo-tel House, a residence that features pale colours and bathroom counters made of discarded milk bottles and chopping boards.
      The photography is by Ellen Christina Hancock.

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      David Thulstrup decorates Ikoyi restaurant with copper walls and curved metal-mesh ceiling

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      Copenhagen-based designer David Thulstrup drew on spice-making processes when designing the interior of London’s Ikoyi restaurant, which features a variety of materials including copper and oak.

      The 150-square-metre restaurant, which has a menu based on seasonal British produce and spices from sub-Saharan west Africa, is located inside the brutalist 180 The Strand building in central London.
      Studio David Thulstrup has clad London’s Ikoyi restaurant in copper sheetsThulstrup completely renovated the interior, adding panels of a specially-designed metal-mesh weave that curve up from the restaurant’s windows and cover the ceiling. The ceiling design was informed by the process of spice production.
      “I was inspired by sifting spices and thought the mesh could both capture and reflect light coming from the outside, the street light in the evening and sunlight in the daytime, but also be respectful to the exterior,” Thulstrup told Dezeen. “The lights from inside the restaurant will be captured and ‘sifted’ towards the street.”
      Decorative metal mesh was used to cover the ceilingThulstrup also layered materials to create a restaurant interior that references the “boldness and intensity of the gastronomy” delivered by Ikoyi’s founders Jeremy Chan and Ire Hassan-Odukale.

      The restaurant walls were lined with oxidised copper sheets finished with beeswax, while the floors were covered in Gris de Catalan limestone that was flamed and brushed to develop a hammered surface.
      Ikoyi is located inside a brutalist buildingThe custom-built furniture and built-in joinery were made from British oak, while banquettes, chairs and wall panels were lined with ginger-coloured leather.
      “I always work with contrasts and I like honest juxtapositions of materials that activate your senses – the copper that is warm in colour but cold when you touch it, the warm natural ginger leather against the colder steel mesh and the rough Catalan limestone floor against the warm English brown oak,” Thulstrup said.
      The colour palette was kept warm and earthyThe earthy, rustic hues chosen by Thulstrup for the interior were informed both by the restaurant’s food and the building in which it is located.
      “Ikoyi is placed on the ground level of the beautiful and very active brutalist building 180 The Strand,” he said.

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      “The restaurant’s gastronomy plays an essential role in the palette as well,” he added. “It’s not an interpretation of a dish but an exchange in colour and tracing ingredients back to their natural form and colour.”
      On arrival, visitors to the restaurant are also greeted by a large copper-clad fridge that shows the produce served at Ikoyi, with slabs of meat and fresh fish hanging from meathooks.
      Large copper fridges showcase fresh produceThulstrup wanted the fridges to remind people of where their food is coming from.
      “[The idea was] that we know where a piece of fish comes from and that we are aware what a piece of meat looks like,” he said. “It traces the story back to when the animal was alive and underscores that we have to take good care of them and appreciate them.”
      “I thought it would be a modern interpretation and celebration of our awareness of food.”
      Wooden and leather-clad furniture was used for the interiorThulstrup founded his studio in 2009 and it is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The studio works in architecture, design and interiors.
      Previous projects by the studio include an office in Borough Yards, London, and the revamp of a winery in California’s Sonoma County.
      The photography is by Irina Boersma.

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      JamesPlumb fuses bulrush and hemp elements at Cambridge Aesop store

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      London design studio JamesPlumb blended handwoven bulrush shelves with earthy hemp accents to create the interiors for this Aesop store in Cambridge, which takes cues from the nearby River Cam.

      Located on the city’s Trinity Street, the Aesop outlet was conceived as a “woven reading room” that provides a place to shop and leaf through books, according to the Australian skincare and cosmetics brand.
      The JamesPlumb-designed shopfront features a facade informed by leatherThe store’s understated shopfront is painted a dark brown hue informed by well-worn leather, which nods to antique book bindings in reference to Cambridge’s history of academia.
      Inside, a curved and slatted window seat doubles as a plinth for potted pelargoniums that frame the store’s light-filled, street-facing room featuring earthy-toned walls.
      Potted pelargoniums line a street-facing window seatThis space is defined by oversized, textured shelves created from freshwater bulrush plants – locally sourced and handwoven by rush weaver Felicity Irons of Rush Matters.

      “The city itself and the surrounding landscape were the starting point for our design,” studio founders Hannah Plumb and James Russel told Dezeen.
      “The River Cam plays a huge part in that – we were increasingly drawn to it and felt strongly that it sets the pace and the pulse of the city of Cambridge.”
      Hemp and bulrush form shelving and other cabinetryOther shelving in this room is made from hemp grown on the nearby Margent Farm, which was combined with bio-resin to form geometric slabs of cabinetry that display various Aesop products, as well as a large sink.
      “[The hemp] absorbs a huge amount of carbon as it grows, and to be so local to the project was wonderful,” acknowledged Plumb and Russel.
      “We wanted to use materials that were as local as possible, and bulrush being literally of the local waters made sense – both because of its beauty and tactility, and also because of the chance to use a material that would travel so few miles, and use so little energy in production,” they added.

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      At the back of the store, another room features walls painted in a darker hue than the street-facing space, which takes cues from the brown flowers of bulrush plants.
      Visitors are invited to sit in a low-slung antique armchair upholstered in floral fabric or browse the various books displayed on the same hemp and bulrush cabinetry that exists throughout the store.
      The back room is dressed in darker huesOriginal nineteenth-century polished wooden floorboards also feature in both rooms and intend to echo the outlet’s emphasis on local history.
      “Each Aesop store has its own character, and for this one, we responded specifically to its location in the heart of Cambridge,” concluded Plumb and Russel.
      Similar shelving found in the front room features various books on displayThis Cambridge branch is not the first Aesop store designed by JamesPlumb. The studio also created one in London’s Bloomsbury where water runs from shelf to shelf and a stone-based store in Bath that celebrates the city’s architectural landscape.
      Other Aesop outlets worldwide include a Tokyo branch defined by plaster and steel and a Toronto store featuring Victorian balustrades.
      The photography is by Oskar Proctor. 

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