Meet The Coolest Couple In Interiors
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ON THEIR HOME
Angus: Our first home together was a tiny basement flat in Notting Hill, which we renovated together. After a few years we moved to a house in Kensal Rise, which we also renovated, and now we are in Harlesden, so we’ve just moved slightly further out with each house. This one is an Edwardian, semi-detached townhouse with a lovely garden.
Charlotte: We were always on the hunt for another renovation. Our current house belonged to one family for generations, with almost no modern interventions. It was rundown to the point where it only had one bathroom – in the garden – and not even any glazed windows on the top floor. It also had a Japanese knotweed-infested garden that you could hardly walk through. But we fell in love with its beautiful proportions, and its potential. This was in the middle of the first lockdown and, because there wasn’t a huge amount of interest, we managed to secure it at a fair price.
Angus: Our family was our first priority when it came to planning. We have two children, now seven and five, so we focused on creating spaces for them that they could use and grow into. There were a few must-haves, too – like a laundry room, a larder and an Everhot cooker.
Charlotte: We knew we wanted to experiment. We have amazing clients who give us creative freedom, but designing for ourselves meant we could push ourselves and implement ideas we’d been pondering. A stainless-steel kitchen was also something we were excited to finally realise.
Angus: Our design process starts with the property and the architectural potential. We then look at room layouts to ensure the final outcome works with how the inhabitants would like to live their lives, because everyone is unique. We loved the original Edwardian features that ran through this house and wanted to retain as many of them as possible. We then had an ambitious planning approvals process to navigate to end up with the ideal layout we wanted for our family.
Charlotte: A huge ground-floor extension created the kitchen, laundry and larder, and we extended into the loft with front and rear dormers. We also gained permission for an open garden room that has a large outdoor kitchen and dining area. The process was long and complex, but we had a great planning consultant to help, which was invaluable. By the time we had received all our planning permissions, we’d spent hours in the house already, thinking about decorating elements like the colours and materials we wanted to use, so we were ready to hit the ground running.
Angus: The kitchen was something we were going to do regardless of the house we ended up buying. In fact, the kitchen in our home is not a domestic kitchen. It’s been made and installed by one of our commercial suppliers. Most of the rest of the house has been designed to be very neutral, as we knew it would form the backdrop for us to experiment with our growing product and fabric offering. Our kids’ bathroom is an extension; was a very standard small box with no architectural merit – an ideal space to create something more dramatic. In fact, we have sometimes described the house as a Buchanan Studio prototype graveyard. It’s full of samples and we love that we can use the house to test them. The Studio Chair or Studio Sofa feature in almost every room, we have a few Studio Ottomans, one of the very first Muse Tables, and all the curtains are in our fabrics. Our philosophy is always that if we love it, and it improves our lives, then hopefully some other people will love it too.
Charlotte: A lighting brand that we have used on every single project and constantly return to is Original BTC. We love its utilitarian yet beautiful products. Somewhere we go back to time and again is Retrouvius – owner Adam has the most incredible eye and there’s always something interesting to be found there. We’ve used a lot of his Iroko wood worktops, which were reclaimed from school desks in chemistry labs. They still have the kid’s names carved into some of them. We also love Bettina Ceramica.
Angus: My favourite item is the large antique pond yacht on the mantlepiece in our bathroom. Charlotte gave it to me for a birthday and I replaced its sails with some of our own fabric, Ticking Rose. It is beautifully made, and I Iove how oversized it feels in the space.
Charlotte: My favourite item is a painting of some boats by an artist called Civet. It was a gift from my aunt and uncle when Angus and I got married – they inherited it from my grandfather, so it’s very sentimental.
ON THE BRAND
Charlotte: Angus and I both grew up influenced by our parents who had had family businesses themselves. Buchanan Studio came about very organically – Angus was working as a set designer and receiving a lot of interest from people wanting him to help with the design of their homes and commercial spaces. It eventually got to the point that Angus was overwhelmed, so I left my old job and joined him to build a studio. This was 2018 – at first, we were a service-only business working on design projects around the world. It wasn’t until 2021 that we launched our first product – the Studio Chair – without much expectation. But it went really well, and we’ve been slowly adding more pieces to our collection ever since.
Angus: Our influence comes from everywhere – whether it’s seeing something in a film, a bar, an advertising campaign, a restaurant… We also love to experiment with new materials, so that always plays a big part in our designs. And, of course, a large part of what we do is influenced by the client and the brief. We like to create a narrative around a project and, even if that narrative is at times fictional at the start, by the end of the project it has become reality. A huge influence on me will always be Michael Howells, a very well-known set designer I worked under for many years, and I always say he has been my ‘education’. He was an exceptional talent. Choosing a favourite project is like choosing a favourite child. Each one has its own nuance but Maison Colbert was special. Our clients, Philip and Charlotte Colbert, are very talented artists and it was a really collaborative process.
ON STYLE
Angus: My style is simple, with a focus on quality and cut. I feel like I have to make hundreds of design decisions every day, so for my wardrobe I tend to keep it fairly decision free. I lean into a fairly monochrome and neutral aesthetic – well-cut trousers or jeans, a well-fitted white shirt and then a simple workwear jacket. I love a relaxed suit and could wear one almost daily with white trainers or simple loafers. My favourite item is my black Acne trench coat, which was given to me by Charlotte.
Charlotte: My style is also very relaxed. I love tailoring, so you’ll find a lot of suits in my wardrobe, which I usually wear with trainers, oversized blazers and oversized white shirts. I also love jeans, white t-shirts, chunky boots, and I have a weakness for knitwear, particularly by &Daughter. Another favourite brand of mine is Dôen, especially for summer dresses. I’m a bit of a contradiction because I love monochrome, but I also love a colourful print in the summer. In terms of my favourite pieces, that would be a toss-up between my Saint Laurent black velvet blazer, and my Isabel Marant leather and shearling jacket.
Angus: A go-to look for me would be a relaxed workwear suit, black with a white shirt, and trainers. My day tends to involve studio time with the team, then meetings with clients and suppliers, so wearing something that’s comfortable but still smart enough for a meeting works best. I’m a big believer that shoes can elevate an outfit so, to switch it up for special occasions, I’d ditch the trainers and go for a proper shoe. I’m always drawn to a double monk in suede.
Charlotte: I like a relaxed fitting suit in winter or a short dress in summer. A failsafe option for me when I want to feel good would be a black dress with chunky heels and some amazing jewellery. And getting my hair done by Nicholas Hardwick at Josh Wood.
ON TRAVEL
Angus: I love Italy. I am lucky to travel a lot with the projects that we work on and, before Buchanan Studio, I travelled a lot working for the photographer Mario Testino. I am still completely seduced by Italy – the food, the people, the attitude. It can’t be beaten.
Charlotte: Nowhere beats Italy. I spent lots of summer holidays there with my family growing up, so it's very nostalgic for me, and it’s now where we gravitate to most. That said, the Greek islands are strong competition in the summer. We currently have a project in Venice, so we are there a lot, which is wonderful. A while ago we went to Ponza, a small island that’s a short boat ride from Naples – it’s slightly off the tourist trail and it has the most incredible rugged and wild beauty.
Angus: I’m also desperate to go on the Orient Express. To be honest, any destination with Belmond would be a dream.
Charlotte: I’d love to stay at Claridge’s some time. It’s so timeless – I’ve visited often but I’m yet to spend the night.
Angus: For a long time, I wanted to live in New York, just for that frenetic energy and attitude – but now with two kids, a dog and the studio in London, I think it would be Cornwall or somewhere incredibly remote and quiet…
Charlotte: I would love to live in Stockholm, but only in the summer. I’m not sure I’d cope very well with the dark winters.
ON GOING OUT & STAYING IN
Charlotte: I have a real thing for a good hotel bar. I don’t know why, but I just love them.
Angus: Having lived in West London for 20 years now, the place I have probably been to most is The Cow on Westbourne Park Road. My favourite drink is a negroni, or an ice-cold glass of Della Vite – a prosecco brand we created with the Delevingne sisters. Charlotte is an amazing cook – she’s perfected a healthy Mediterranean diet, heavily influenced by Lebanese flavours thanks to having a Lebanese grandmother. I love cooking outside and we have built a large outdoor kitchen in our garden. One of my most prized possessions is a ‘fire-made’ BBQ grill – I would happily cook anything and everything on it.
Charlotte: Cooking is how I unwind after a busy day. We eat a lot of veggies and fish, not so much meat, but we do love roasting a chicken or a shoulder of lamb for friends on a weekend. Diana Henry is my all-time favourite chef for inspired home cooking. On Instagram, I love following Imogen Kwok – her food is art – and Florence Knight whose creations are as delicious as they are beautiful.
Angus: When it comes to chefs, I love watching Gill Meller videos as he uses outdoor fire so well, and of course Francis Mallmann is always inspiring.
Charlotte: Because I am a massive foodie, my weekends tend to revolve around mealtimes. We love hosting, so we’ll usually have some friends or family over and then I also love eating out – spending money on good food is one of my biggest indulgences.
Angus: Running your own business together means there is a temptation to never stop working. We have to be really strict to keep weekends as a special time to be with our children, and to see family and friends. We are lucky that we can escape London and see grandparents who live in the country, but we also love our local London weekends. There is an amazing farmers market nearby, and we are always in search of a new walk for our dog.
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