Inside job

Designer James Shaw's latest creation is a delightful self-built home in east London, filled with vintage finds and his trademark extruded plastic furniture

- ROSA BERTOLI

Designer James Shaw had been looking for a spot to build a house in London for a while when, in 2017, he came across an overgrown plot near his flat in east London. Fast forward five years and the 60 sq m parcel has become home to him and his partner. Designed in collaboration with architect friend Nicholas Ashby, the house develops over two floors (with the living area taking over the basement, and a bedroom on the ground floor) accessed from a courtyard facing a quiet street. ‘The house design was a reaction to the irregular plot,’ Shaw explains.

Despite being largely underground, the house is designed with light in mind. ‘When I moved in, there was no staircase, no floor. It was basically a concrete shell,’ recalls Shaw. ‘And that was really nice, because it meant I could see the way the light moves, and plan it from there.’ A portion of the basement features double-height ceilings with windows on two sides, while the lower ceilinged area is equipped with circular openings that add brightness to the space. A deck with a small plunge pool dug into the concrete extends the space with an indoor-outdoor vibe. Shaw and Ashby chose to keep the architectural elements exposed, with concrete walls and ceilings and brick pillars cohabiting with softer elements, such as expressive wood veneer over the kitchen and bedroom walls and colourful mosaic tiles in the hallway and bathroom. Shaw personally built and put together every element of the house.