…the uncommonly astute author Rachel Cusk tore away another veil for me in her essay ‘Making Home’, describing our houses as a loci of tension and considered design, simultaneously looked at and lived in. She examines our psychological compulsion to make living spaces that reflect us back to ourselves and others – mirages of confected perfection or careless authenticity – and the kudos, pleasure or insecurities from these acts of making as the texts on which we inscribe our dreams and personal mythologies. Reading this, I recognised the subconscious bat squeaks of envy, anxiety and pride that I’ve been half-listening to for much of my grown-up life. Like Cusk, I am fascinated by the stage sets in which we enact ‘home’ ( so-called ‘real homes’, not those made by professional designers), and like her I think this is a subject worthy of examination and appreciation.
I thought this book was going to be a history of British interiors, and therefore useful for research. Instead, it’s a generously illustrated, very enjoyable, extended sticky-beak into a whole lot of private British homes. Some are artistically dishevelled or even a little slovenly (unmade bed! clutter! leads and cords not tidied away!), some are beautifully curated and arranged, but all look as if interesting people live there. I grew up in a house with old furniture (a few antiques but mostly just old), the creative clutter of my artist father, lots of books, paintings, ornaments and objects, and a distinct lack of vinyl couches and Laminex benchtops. Some of my little friends thought our house was a bit weird, and I became rather ashamed of it. How I envied them, with their modern houses and modern stuff. I think Ruth Guilding could have had a great time snapping pictures at our place.
There are lots of lovely pictures, and an introduction featuring a trio of ‘great British tastemakers’. They are William Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement; the artistic and literary Bloomsbury group; and another group Guilding calls ‘the Spitalsfield Fogeys’, after the people who rescued and restored decaying Georgian buildings in the London suburb of Spitalsfield in the 1970’s and ’80’s.