Step inside an Alice In Wonderland-inspired dwelling in North London

When a house is designed by an industry-leading studio and full of a profusion of objects from artisans, makers and craftspeople, it begins to transcend performance. OntheSq, a ‘design home’ refurbished by Irenie Cossey and her studio, Irenie Studio, looks like a hybrid between a residence and a showroom, without delay cosy and aesthetically elevated.

This Neo Jacobean dwelling in North London’s De Beauvoir has been become what Cossey calls a ‘residing wonderland’. She was impressed by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with the house enjoying with scale by integrating each outsized and miniature components; introducing surprising areas and divulges; and imparting refined references from a keyhole lower out of a door to arches in chimney breasts recalling the massive and small doorways of Lewis Carroll’s fantasy.

OntheSq is stuffed with surprises, quirks and particulars which may solely be the results of a patchwork of contributions. Cossey invited a roster of designers, makers and artists to populate the home, so that every room looks like a gallery and each furnishings piece an exhibit.

All through this, the historic essence of the house, which is Grade II-listed, shouldn’t be misplaced. ‘At each level within the restoration it left clues as to how the area may very well be revealed and enhanced,’ says Cossey. ‘The distinctive options of the Neo Jacobean design and the constructing’s listed standing have given me so many alternatives as a designer.’

There’s a fixed dialog between outdated and new occurring: for instance, Tomoyo Tsurumi’s textiles, which act as wall hangings, dividers and curtains at varied factors, use outdated curtains torn into ribbons and woven along with Kvadrat materials in an outsized lattice. Rio Kobayashi’s showpiece eating desk, in the meantime, is manufactured from doorways that have been discovered on the location, and glass vessels by J. Hill’s Customary impressed by glassware found in the course of the excavation are scattered all through.

One of the vital distinctive options of the home are the spectacular unique home windows which, says Cossey, ‘invited [her] to showcase the area in numerous methods’, permitting totally different areas to be linked not solely by color but additionally by gentle and shadows. She designed ‘by means of the wanting glass’, she says, bringing the house’s theme full circle.

In step with its fantastical origins, the home is an explosion of carefully-curated color. All paints used are from Fenwick & Tilbrook, from a dark-but-vivid inexperienced known as Marram Grass to the fragile Classic Peony. The customized shade Rosa Purple is impressed by the rose backyard in De Beauvoir Sq., whereas a fairytale inexperienced known as Curioser and Curioser was additionally combined specifically for the home.

In addition to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this shade additionally nods to Irishness, as does the home as a complete. Cossey is Irish, as are lots of the designers and makers that she employed. Craftsman Michael Murphy (Muck) has created the Upside Down Chair in collaboration with designer Kasia Kempa, a chair formed from a fallen oak which is hung the wrong way up (within the custom of Irish kitchens) alongside a positive grass hand broom by Flavia Brändle, based mostly on her YBriger brush mission. Paintings curated by Dee Morgan-Smyth showcases the work of Irish artists together with John Kingerlee, Fergal Types, Ronan Dillon and photographer Doreen Kilfeather. ‘The actual magic and vitality of the area has been felt by the designers who’ve visited and I’m delighted to see how their designs will inform one other aspect of OntheSq’s story,’ says Cossey.