Like many British schoolchildren in the 1980s, I went on a day trip with my class to York Minster. If I'm really honest I actually don't remember if I went with school friends or my parents, possibly because it was over 40 years ago, but mainly because when you're faced with that kind of beauty, everything else seem to just fade away.
Architectural detail is something I've always been fond of. At the age of 8 I had a fascination with chimney pots and managed to find a roofer who was willing to search for, find, and deliver a certain type of pot to my house, which to my parents' surprise, he did. Looking back I'm not sure what's more unbelievable: how I managed to find a roofer to talk to at the age of 8, the roofer taking an 8 year old child seriously, or the fact my parents paid for the chimney pots unquestioningly when they arrived! I was in love with those pots and I believe they're still in my father's garden today.
I also spent a lot of time looking at styles of houses I liked, and would spend hours drawing facades and interior plans during my evenings after school. I liked the way Arts and Crafts houses mixed materials like brick, stone, and tiles, all in one wall. I was fascinated by roofs and how there was a logic to them: a series of rules that, if followed or even broken, could make a plain house, something spectacular. And then there were churches, castles, and everything they inspired.
To this day I can't enter a church without stopping and wondering at the beauty, creativity, and genius of the architecture. They also often seem to have a magic about them, something more than just architectural merit.
The age and how time adds a whole layer of history onto floors, doorways and the structure of the building, is something that inspires me. I think it's the imperfect that is so perfect.
What also fascinates me about such buildings, especially old houses, is their evolution. How a building can start off as a modest dwelling, then get enlarged, then catch fire and have to be rebuilt, then abandoned and rediscovered... this is what makes a building truly beautiful to me. Sometimes it's the simplicity of a cottage, other times it's the shape of a tower... they all become an internal resource for future projects.
Since moving to No 19 this pass time has become so much more than just that. Every time I see a façade, the treatment of a beam above a doorway, a stone archway thick with 5 hundred years of paint, plaster, and life, I'm thinking of a way I can bring a little bit of that magic into my house.
I might not be able to recreate a Victorian glasshouse or Romanesque Church, but I can certainly take the shape of a corridor or an ancient whitewashed wooden beam.
Whilst being in England we've managed to squeeze in endless catch ups with friends and family and that has taken us to some wonderful places. It just takes a second to snap a couple of pictures and save that moment... and it is just that: a moment.
These are details - carved stone and wood, painted walls, windows breaking the rules of formality, but they're also magic moments of joy, and by capturing them, and even using them as inspiration, we're taking a little of that joy with us and sharing it ♥️
