Rosie Wolfenden

I absolutely love stuff and I’ve collected things all my life. From pebbles, pressed flowers and birds nests when I was a child to colourful ceramics, textured pottery and retro glassware nowadays.

The three bedroom house in North London that Rosie Wolfenden, co-founder of jewellery design company Tatty Devine, and her husband Anthony live in is filled with the quirky and colourful collections of retro ceramics, glassware and family heirlooms that inform Rosie’s playful designs.

“I absolutely love stuff and I’ve collected things all my life,” she says. “From pebbles, pressed flowers and birds nests when I was a child to colourful ceramics, textured pottery and retro glassware nowadays.”

Despite being home to two creative personalities, the flat is a comfortable and harmonious mix of retro furniture, high street finds and family hand-me-downs, including an elaborate rug hand stitched by Rosie’s grandmother and a set of antique dining chairs from a great aunt.

“I love colour and only want things that have a purpose and a history,” says Rosie. “I’ve got some pen pots I bought in a flea market in Germany and I love them because they’re orange plastic – if you’re going to make a pen pot then why not make it orange?” It’s an aesthetic that is reflected in her brightly coloured perspex jewellery designs, which earned her an MBE for services to fashion earlier this year.

Oranges, reds and yellows feature prominently. The kitchen on the upper ground floor is inspired by the retro orange of a Le Creuset pan and was hand made by a friend from wood and formica. Dark wooden worktops were crafted from reclaimed school science laboratory worktops, complete with original graffiti, while a light made from a science funnel hangs above a vintage Heals dining table.

In the adjoining sitting room, a mustard yellow 1970s reproduction club chair sits alongside a red contemporary sofa and chair from Heals – a last minute purchase to accommodate friends and family last Christmas. “The flat is great for parties and has a lovely fluid energy because you can access both floors from outside and the inside spaces are open,” says Rosie. “Being able to fill our home with people is so important to me – I love bringing people together and it’s the basis for everything I do.”