My Sanctuary: Buchanan Studio
While home has often been considered a feminine space, too few opportunities have been given to women to tell their stories about the places they inhabit and the objects they value. Our sanctuaries articulate our unique aesthetics, rituals and needs and so become a beautiful expression of selfhood.
In this series we discover the stories of home and life told by some of the wonderful women in our midst.
A creative design studio based in London, founded by Angus and Charlotte Buchanan, they work on interiors, set design, creative direction, branding and events. Their colorful, playful yet enduring approach to design makes them experts at creating idiosyncratic spaces that you don’t want to leave. Angus and Charlotte take a moment out of their Sunday to show us round their London home.
“The open fire makes this a prime spot in winter and at the moment this is always where you can find us at the weekend, often reading a weekend paper or a good magazine or book. We made the ottoman out of a rug we designed, and the trays are made form marble offcuts”
“This is our favourite spot to have breakfast as it really catches the morning light. We love being surrounded by plants and our kitchen often seems to look like a greenhouse!”
“It’s a space that has been filled over time with an eclectic mix of items both old and new. As a creative design studio our job is to bring “life to life” and in our home it is no different, each item is special to us for the memory or significance it holds and it makes our space feel like a sanctuary”
“This corner contains some items that we’ve had for years which makes our home feel like such a sanctuary. This side table was a vintage toboggan which we crafted into a table for the very first flat we moved into 10 years ago. The art on the ways has meaning to us, but perhaps the most significant is the large black and white print of Gisele which was given to Angus by the legendary designer Michael Howells, who is one of Angus’s most important sources of inspiration. This picture is from a Nick Knight shoot which was one of the first set design jobs Angus ever worked on with Michael. Michael sadly died a few years ago so this gift is now more poignant than ever”
“One of our favorite corners for lazing around on a Sunday (especially when the fire is lit). The chair was an antique and is abnormally deep as it was made in the 1940’s for a gentleman who was almost 7ft tall. IT became even more special to us when we had our children as we often used it as a day bed for them to nap in. The image behind the chair of the swan lake was taken at our wedding, he kindly gave it to us as a wedding gift and it makes this corner of the room particularly special to us”
“The mantlepiece in our bedroom is full of treasured items that we have collected. IT’s a mixture of new and old, the beautiful pink books are antiques we picked up last year, the Diamonds are Forever book was given to us as an engagement present from Angus’s mother, while items like the shell and pieces of driftwood are recently acquired treasures that our daughter collected at a beach in Cornwall this summer. The mirror is one of our favourite things in the house”
“Our bedroom catches the light amazingly so it’s always a very calming space to spend time in. The candle the side is Hymn Naturals, a 100% natural scented candle started by a friends of ours, this one called Home has scents of Rose and Geranium which is such a lovely smell to catch a whiff of as we wake up”
