White City Living, London
Jigsaw Interior Architecture was thrilled to be selected to design the first show home for St James (Berkeley Group’s luxury London residential division) at their extensive development White City Living, opposite the former BBC television studios on Wood Lane. Alix Roman, from the Jigsaw Show Home team was tasked with creating a design that would meet the client’s brief for a fresh, striking scheme to complement their development. Alix’s primary focus was to bring the natural elements of the extensive landscaping being planned around the new development into the design of the show home apartment. St James are creating a large area of new parkland surrounding White City Living, which is situated behind the Shepherd’s Bush Westfield shopping mall. Mature trees, grassy areas and beautiful planting will provide a significant new green space for West London.
Taking inspiration from the CGIs showing this proposed planting around the development Alix selected a springlike colour palette of green, pink and yellow for the show home’s interior design.
In the open plan living/kitchen/dining area a light-coloured textured wallpaper from Casamance was selected to accentuate the airy feeling within the space and place the emphasis on texture above pattern. The relief and shading within the Johara wallpaper design from Casamance is reminiscent of the texture of tree bark.
The off white linen weave of the sofa upholstery fabric, a hand woven, silky rug the colour of palest shell from Jacaranda Carpets and the natural Carrara marble on the round coffee table all add to the natural, light and airy quality of the interior design. These neutral finishes are punctuated with verdant pops of colour in the two green velvet armchirs in the living area which are balanced by a green wall behind the dining table, painted in one of Farrow and Ball’s newest colours, Bancha.
Geometric fabrics in muted pink and clay tones from Kirkby Design were chosen for the scatter cushions on the off-white sofa and a bespoke abstract artwork using the same shades was commissioned for the oversized canvas to hang on the green wall in the dining area. The round marble tables in the living and dining areas adhere to Feng Shui practices allowing for ease of movement within the living and dining spaces. A profusion of plants trailing from ceramic wall planters, bamboo shoots in a stem vase, a clipped architectural bonsai, fiddle leaf fig trees planted with moss and branches of cherry blossom and forsythia play on the underlying Oriental influences throughout the apartment. The use of lush greenery also promotes the Feng Shui principles of indoor plants providing a sense of calm, serenity and prosperity. This abundant use of greenery and blossoms in the interior design was also intended to echo the landscaping design of the new leafy green spaces which will be viewed from the balcony; bringing the outside indoors.
Above the round, marble dining table Jigsaw Interior Architecture specified a brushed brass Multilite pendant from Gubi as matte metallic brass elements are a key finish used throughout the scheme.
On the sideboard a pair of pale pink Mid-Century lamps sit either side of a wall mounted Samsung ‘The Frame’ television, which when not in use becomes an additional piece of wall art; and clothbound Penguin classics (with covers as beautiful as their written contents) are styled with petrified wood bookends on a brass shelving unit and also match the colour palette of the master bedroom where they are placed on a bedside table.
In addition to accessories, abstract art has been used throughout the apartment to pick up on the colour palettes of the various room designs.
In the master bedroom woven silk effect wallpaper in a sepia/blush shade, along with yellow jacquard and embroidered satin fabrics, all from Casadeco, play on the Oriental elements in the design; whilst a bespoke headboard upholstered in an off white weave and crisp white bedside tables keep the room feeling modern and fresh. Extra wide bedside lamps and large drum footstools, upholstered in the softest pink velvet have fun with the idea of scale and proportion in the master bedroom, adding an extra sense of glamour.
For the second bedroom Jigsaw’s show home team decided upon a contrasting more masculine look with shades of petrol blue and eucalyptus providing a moodier backdrop for the brass domed lamps. The bedside tables in the second bedroom are finished in faux shagreen with a dark bronze frame and have a very luxurious quality.
