The New Creative Home: London Style - Read an Extract

This is an extract from The New Creative Home: London Style, by Talib Choudhry and with photography by Ingrid Rasmussen.

GILLIAN HYLAND
PHOTOGRAPHER AND STYLIST

Most people would rip out an orange Formica kitchen and replace it with something sleeker, but Gillian Hyland decided to put one in when she renovated her two-bedroom 1930s flat in Clapton. ‘I’m really into colour, so I was very excited,’ she says, ‘but the builders thought I was mad.’

In another colour-confident move, Gillian offset cabinets with bright teal-blue walls, which carry through into the open-plan living area. Fishscale-patterned floor tiles in myriad blues and whites sweep from the kitchen down into the hallway and the bathroom beyond. It’s safe to assume that Gillian is no decorating wallflower.

‘I had a freestanding 1950s kitchen unit for years,’ she says, ‘with doors made from Formica, which has a vintage retro feel. It’s a brilliant material, because it’s very hardwearing, is wipeable and comes in a million colours. Whereas most people want a kitchen in an open-plan space to recede into the background, for me it was about how to make it pretty enough to be part of your living room.’

The strength of vision is equally bold here: vintage mid-century furniture sits alongside kitsch travel finds and contemporary lighting, including brass and opaline glass fittings by Michael Anastassiades.

‘They were inspired by 1930s moon lights,’ Gillian notes. ‘A lot of high-street stuff has a characterful, vintage edge to it. I like an eclectic mix of things.’

Having worked in magazines and TV as a fashion stylist and set designer in her native Ireland before moving to London 11 years ago, Gillian is well practised in the art of conjuring dramatic sets. ‘I just really like materials, colours and textures, whether in wardrobe or interiors,’ she says. ‘Clients like the fact that I can do all the set design and props, as well as the wardrobe: there’s one person overseeing the whole look.’

Gillian also takes evocative art photographs based on her own poetry, which hang around the flat. They often depict isolated characters in emotional situations and have the air of classic film stills. ‘It brings together every side of what I like to do,’ she says. ‘I’ll plan them, find the locations, source the props and wardrobe, do the casting and take the pictures. I’ll sit with the images in my head for ages before actually shooting.’

She took the same approach to revamping the flat, planning the revised layout and project-managing the six-month build herself. Although everything was replaced, the finished interior feels timeless, or rather out of time, like one of Gillian’s photographs. ‘They’re both such personal projects – that’s why I wanted to do everything myself,’ she explains. ‘Giving someone else control just didn’t feel right.’

This is an extract from The New Creative Home: London Style, by Taleb Choudhry, published Thames & Hudson, 2018.