We roundup some of the most beautiful home offices and studies that have crossed our desk in the past year from the world’s leading interior designers and stylists
The home office or study might be a place to work – but it’s also a place of refuge, creativity and contemplation. For those fortunate enough, it’s an essential room to have at home, one that enables flexible working or just somewhere quiet to take a call or do the crossword.
Here are eight of the best examples we’ve come across from the interior designers we’ve spoken to over the past year – and each of them is the kind of room you’d want to spend Saturday in, too.
Albion Nord: Marylebone Terrace
From the mid-century Nordic desk (pictured above) to the hand-painted aesthetic of the tapestry, the floor-standing lamp to the wood panelling, this is a room of impeccable design credentials; and above all, it’s a space you want to be in. It’s a room of grown-up elegance, but also of playful touches – the vintage address stamp and ink well on the table, and the cocktail stand behind the door, as if Don Draper were about to drop by for an Old Fashioned.
The design team behind this is Albion Nord, known for their effortless blending of vintage, antique and contemporary pieces. Work never looked so cool.
Corey Damon Jenkins: American Study
No one blends classicism with exuberance like Michigan-born New Yorker Corey Damen Jenkins, and he’s certainly done it here, in a study created around the tastes of his client, from the mulberry plaid on the walls to the sports motif. There’s a traditional American masculinity about the space, yet it’s subversive, too – the dark ceiling, the splash of colour from the ottoman, the cool elegance of the brass and marble side-table. Jenkins is famous for his intuitive and fearless approach to colour, and he’s pulled it off perfectly here, in a room of rich, enveloping tones without being heavy.
Katharine Pooley: Notting Hill Study
Cobalt and gold; jewel-tones and caramel: this is an office of soothing luxe imagineered by the supremely tasteful hand of Katharine Pooley. Ensconced in a substantial Notting Hill villa, it’s a composition with serious attention to detail, from the layering and depth created by the artwork hung in front of the bronzed mirror, to the chandelier that stays the right side of fey as a nod of respect to the purpose of the room; and to the ceramics, burnt and glossy, and echoed by the vase of roses on the desk.
Bergman Design House: Mayfair Mansion
The London-based Egyptian Swedish duo of Marie Soliman and Albin Berglund do edgy luxe like no one else, which is why their company Bergman Design House is in such demand for projects from super-prime London residential to global private members clubs. True to form, this office is part night-club, part C-suite. Black and gold abound, and the room has that wonderful quality of revealing itself slowly, the layers taking time to unpeel. The vintage desk chair is elegant and light; the pieces on the desk perfectly chosen. The uncluttered fireplace, with its peach chairs, creates a quiet spot for contemplation. It’s a room to launch a thousand ideas.
PINTO: Office in the sky
We’re cheating a bit here – because this office is also a bedroom. And it’s in a private jet. This envy-inducing ‘study’ has been interior designed by Paris-based firm PINTO, one of Europe’s leading luxury design houses. Yves Pickardt, aircraft interior designer for PINTO, tells us: “We approach aeronautical design like any general interior design project. Each project is different, and custom-made to fit the client’s personality and needs. We can provide them with almost every style or trend they may want, even for an aircraft.”
Alidad: Buscot Park
No one does sumptuous interiors like Alidad; and while this might not be what most of us picture as the place we’ll be doing Zoom calls with the kids fighting in the background, it’s a study nonetheless, and a beautifully put-together one. Restoring the room, says Alidad, “gave me the opportunity to repair and revitalise a magnificent 18th-century room… What you now see is a restored and recoloured room: to set off the gilding on the panelling, I used a particularly chartreuse-green tone and had a green silk damask specially woven for the walls.”
For more about the extraordinary work of Alidad, read our upcoming piece in Effect Magazine
Albion Nord: Mulberry Townhouse
We’re returning to our friends at Albion Nord as something of a palate cleanser thanks to the refreshingly clean sharp lines of the desk, carpet, shelves and curtains, counterbalanced by textured materials, circular lighting and storage. Minimal mid-century desk furniture keeps things simple – and the desk itself was designed by Albion Nord specially for this project. Muted dark colours keep your eyes on the task at hand. It’s a place to unclutter your mind.
Night Palm: L.A. writing retreat
We’re rounding off with something special. No one pulls off effortless vintage cool like Night Palm founder Tiffany Howell, and she’s created a whole home-from-home for screen writer and producer Mara Brock Akil, creator of Girlfriends, Love Is, and Black Lighting.
In this West Adams retreat, Howell has created an office where every facet inspires creativity, and everything sings together: the desk, the wallpaper, the solitary picture, the chairs – each one a find. Part L.A. Noir, part Hollywood Glam: this is next-level stuff.
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