1｜London Studio · The Beginning
Calm, Compact, Connected — Designing a small home for clarity, pace + purpose.
After years of being put up by film studios in Chelsea and South Kensington, and falling in love with the rhythm, charm, and history of those neighbourhoods, we finally decided to invest in a small studio of our own. When you live between Los Angeles, Vancouver, Sydney, and London, finding stillness becomes an art form — and this small studio apartment, our London base for minimal luxury living, isn’t just a pause between cities. It’s a carefully considered space designed to remove the small frictions of temporary accommodation and carry the familiarity we crave.
London studios teach you restraint — to prioritise what matters and let go of what doesn’t. When we began designing this space, the goal wasn’t to make it look larger, but to make it feel effortless: a place we could step into and instantly exhale.
Usually, that sense of calm arrives while travelling — through the quiet ritual of unpacking our set suitcases, each curated for function and ease. Our travel uniform, packing systems, and routines are built to work across climates and long days on set. It was that same thinking that shaped this small studio.
The studio isn’t about filling the space with objects; it’s about shaping a mood — creating a feeling that holds you the moment you step inside. The images in this post capture the atmosphere we envisioned long before anything was installed: a palette of textures, light, and calm design principles that set the tone for the renovation. They reflect how we wanted the apartment to live — warm, intentional, and quietly functional.
These early visuals were more than inspiration; they became the foundation for how the space would work day to day. The studio was designed to feel like a small, luxurious apartment — a place where we could arrive after travel or a late-night shoot and move seamlessly into the next day — while still offering the comforts we need during longer stays. Every texture, colour, and lighting choice was chosen to support that rhythm: calm when we needed rest, practical when work stretched into long hours, and welcoming when life required pause.
People often ask where I want to end up living. After years in Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Vancouver, and beyond, the truth is simple: nowhere is perfect. Each city carries its own rhythm and its own frustrations. That’s why the studio — our pied-à-terre — matters so much. It’s a grounding point, a home we curate, a space shaped by the pieces of each place we’ve loved.
In essence, the studio embodies what home means for us right now: calm, functional, luxurious, and intentional — a small space designed to carry the weight of our travelling life while still offering a pause, a breath, and a sense of sanctuary.
The Calm Edit
If the first part of designing the studio was about function and mood, the next layer was shaped by light, texture, and atmosphere. Natural light is everything to me — it determines how a space feels, how colours settle, and how calm you feel inside it.
I first noticed this in Vancouver. Even on its dullest days, the light is bright, clean, almost silver. That awareness deepened in Los Angeles, where sunlight feels expansive and warm nearly year-round. Bringing that understanding into this London pied-à-terre was essential: the apartment needed to feel luminous and open, even when the skies were overcast.
The design choices reflect this. Light, neutral interiors extend the natural glow; soft fabrics diffuse it; reflective surfaces guide it quietly across the room. With both south-facing windows and skylights, every corner — whether a small work nook or the kitchen — receives daylight. Even on the busiest winter afternoons, the studio feels open and alive.
Texture and calm guided everything else. Before anything was installed, the aesthetic was shaped through a study of materials: soft linens, gentle boucle, warm woods, natural ceramics. Together, they create a quiet, luxurious atmosphere within a very small footprint.
The studio is meant to be a grounding space — a home that works as seamlessly as a well-run hotel after late nights on set, yet holds the warmth of somewhere lived in during longer stays. Every choice was deliberate: fabrics that feel good to touch, muted palettes that encourage rest, layouts that honour every inch of daylight.
This pied-à-terre is the calm at the centre of our London life — a place to breathe, work, rest, and reset while moving between cities, time zones, and projects.
