The highly personal London apartment of designer India Holmes never stands still for long; continually shifting, growing and evolving. In this extract from creative director Benjamin Reynaert’s new book The Layered Home, he explores the inspirations behind India’s layered, thrifty and wildly creative home in Islington
INDIA’S ART AND ANTIQUE-FILLED LIVING ROOM, PAINTED IN SETTING PLASTER BY FARROW & BALL WITH A SPLASH OF VIVID RED ON THE WINDOW RECESS. THE ROOM HAS HAD NUMEROUS LAYOUTS OVER THE YEARS. IMAGE: MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
India Holmes has lived in a world of colour, pattern, and play since she was little. It’s built into her outlook on the world, and expressed through her work as a designer and creator, and Co-Founder of Pelican House. She’s always interested in fresh options for how her home can look; rooms are spaces for embracing change and instilling opportunities for purposeful inquisitiveness.
She has a lot of art gifted by friends, all of it cherished. And much of what is kept hails from somewhere or someone else, as recycling and reuse are extremely important to India’s way of living – a philosophy that shows in her commitment to working with a community of conscious buyers, designers, and artisans. The sofa cushions with playing card designs, for example, were made from her childhood bedroom curtains. Her entry is amazing and deserves all the attention it gets. For this space, she had good “tent” reference points and was able to create something magical on a bit of a budget. She’s quite skilled at getting at the essence of an idea and executing it herself for less, with her signature wit and whimsy.
In the two-bedroom home of India, the creative director of Pelican House – a design studio that produces statement rugs and homeware collections – the first sign that one might be stepping into a winsome portal to somewhere unusually special is apparent as soon as you set foot in the entryway.
(LEFT) THE COLOURFUL ENTRANCE AREA SETS A JOYFUL TONE WITH A TENTED-EFFECT CEILING AND STRIPED BUNTING; (RIGHT) INDIA HOLMES SURROUNDED BY ART, ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE TREASURES AT HER HOME. IMAGES: MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
Strikingly theatrical, the room evokes the spirit of a homemade circus. Above, a treatment of red and white stripes radiates across the ceiling, with the walls drenched in a vibrant blue-green shade. Disparate patterns, stripe widths, and chromatic tones unite largely in part to the tasselled bunting, which is equally a visual distraction from the bold ceiling, and a quiet harmonizer for the busy space. These small yet substantive decorative details hold similar sway in every room India has designed, constructively bringing order and alignment to rooms where colour, pattern, objects, and textures massively converge. India is an avid collector of anything that strikes a chord.
“Like a magpie drawn to shiny objects, I have an insatiable love of decorative objects, ceramics, paintings, fabrics – anything and everything handmade or just beautiful to look at. I am a total sucker for souvenirs and trinkets. During wonderful trips abroad, I have always made sure to fly out with half a suitcase free!”
As India is also an avid bargain hunter, nearly everything inside the house was some kind of deal, like the burly haberdashery with twenty-four drawers scored from a nearby auction house for £300.As a tenet of good living, India advocates for the staying power of furniture and objects within living spaces. “Once something has served its purpose, I often resell it and buy what needs to go in its place. Where possible, I like to sell and rebuy within the same price point, creating my own cycle of free design—these being secondhand objects to begin with—and buying secondhand or antique in some cases.”
India’s personality plays out in the heavy influence of colour and pattern that imbues each space. The default is layering patterns, a reflex that is informed primarily by gut feeling and a penchant for taking chances. For anyone looking to loosen up their pattern-mixing skills, India says colour can be a good reference to use as a guide. “If you know you love a pattern and every time you look at it, it makes you happy, the likelihood is it will fall into place with the rest of the patterns in your house.”
(LEFT) A STORAGE HABERDASHERY FOUND AT AN ISLINGTON AUCTION HOUSE HOUSES INDIA’S COLLECTION OF ARTS AND CRAFTS MATERIALS; (RIGHT) INDIA’S KITCHEN IN STIFFKEY BLUE BY FARROW & BALL WITH A HAND-PAINTED WALLPAPER INSPIRED BY PORTUGUESE AZULEGOS TILES BY DE GOURNAY. IT IS COVERED IN AN EXTRA STRONG LACQUER TO MAKE IT DURABLE FOR US IN THE KITCHEN. IMAGES: MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
AN ECLECTIC GALLERY WALL FEATURES, ON THE LEFT, INDIA’S FAVOURITE ARTWORK – A FRAMED DRAWING A SMALL WILD BOAR MADE BY INDIA’S MOTHER. IMAGE: MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
Extract taken from The Layered Home: Inspiration for Crafting Cosy, Collected Homes by Benjamin Reynaert, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by Manuel Rodriguez
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