We loved the idea of a New York loft but done in a really elegant way, with no exposed beams or wires, but instead being able to create a beautiful elegant penthouse.
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e were super excited to photograph the home of fashion designer Philip Start and his wife Brix Smith-Start, former guitarist and singer with the post-punk rock band The Fall, now a televesion fashion stylist and successful entrepreneur.
Brix was the consummate hostess ordering in delicious Vietnamese food and happily chatting away while having her hair done by a top stylist. The couple live in a huge warehouse space in the heart of East London’s Shoreditch with their two infamous pugs Pixie and Gladys and have created a glamorous home filled with mid century design and contemporary art, which is the perfect entertaining space for all their close friends and family.
The couple found their new home while they were driving through East London and Brix spotted a for sale sign on the side of the building back in 1999. At the time they were living in a townhouse in Notting Hill, but they both dreamed of living in a large open plan loft, “We loved the idea of a New York loft but done in a really elegant way, with no exposed beams or wires, but instead being able to create a beautiful elegant penthouse,” says Brix.
The apartment was the last remaining one for sale and was just a shell, so it was the perfect blank canvas for them to create the exact home they wanted. Not only that, but the apartment provides the perfect location for the couple to walk to their uber successful fashion boutiques Start and Mr Start, described by Vogue as two of the best fashion stores in the world.
Theirs is a home which is carefully edited, considered and well designed, just like a fashion collection. “The house has a very strong sense of style and it is very masculine but there are very softening feminine touches,” says Brix. “God is in the details and there’s a particular eye in everything we bring into our house.”
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