FIELD TRIP TO THE HEART OF ENGLISH DESIGN: BLOOMSBURY & CHARLESTON FARMHOUSE

Well, THAT was incredible! The first trip I booked when I knew we were moving to England was a pilgrimage to the Bloomsbury group’s home base in Sussex, UK called Charleston Farmhouse. I kept reading about it via my interior design favorites - Kit Kemp, Beata Heuman, & more - and now I see how it IS the jumping off point for so much of inspired English design. Let’s dive in!!

First, to get your bearings — Charleston Farmhouse was the country house outside of London (view of the area below) that Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa & Clive Bell occupied primarily between World War I and World War II. Today it is a living laboratory of creative design, open to tours of the home, gardens and the site of many fascinating workshops such as the one on decorative painting that I took part in.

Image of Sussex courtesy of Charleston House website

After you get oriented to the natural beauty of the area, you land at the house — only to be gobsmacked by the complete immersion in creative expression that each occupant lended to the house over the years. The Bloomsbury group painted EVERYTHING: walls, boxes, doors, fireplaces, textiles, pottery, and of course fine art…

The iconic fireplace in the main study as you enter Charleston Farmhouse

Their dining table - with painted firescreen in background…

Painted pottery - with backdrop of hand stenciled walls

It’s not hard to see why today’s design luminaries are so moved by Charleston House and the Bloomsbury group - there is a certain accessibility and whimsy and “devil may care” attitude to it all. It feels incredibly personal - they did it for themselves, for their own enjoyment & sanity during a very challenging time in history. Maybe it strikes a chord with us so much now because of how we have all had to retreat to our homes during the pandemic…? Whatever it is, it is potent & inspiring!!

Above - an image from Beata Heuman’s portfolio. (Congrats to her by the way for making the AD 100 list this year - so well deserved!!)

Amazing applique textile design on plump armchairs (above) at Kit Kemp’s Charlotte Street Hotel, situated in the Bloomsbury section of London (where Woolf, Grant, Bell et. al. lived before decamping to Sussex). The whole hotel sings from their songbook of bright, bespoke, cheeky design - ie; the lively hotel restaurant, below.

What I think I loved most about Charleston House is it is one of those places that doesn’t feel like a museum - more like the owners just stepped out. All their books, photographs, work-in-progress (doodles, sketches, letters) and yes, even libations are right where they left them…

Below, Vanessa Bell’s bedroom with the famous painted cabinet —doesn’t it look more like 2022 than 1922??? She was WAY ahead of her time!

Beata Heuman’s homage to that room, in this case for a modern young family….

The decorative painting class I took there was all about how to translate the Bloomsbury group’s design style and vocabulary into our own day-to-day lives. We were all challenged with painting a box in their style - so much fun!

Our instructor, the supernova artist Melissa White (follow her on Insta @melissawhiteuk) with all of our finished creations…

I’m counting down til my next visit there — who wants to come with me!!? Hope you all are well & that you might find some inspo here to create a tiny bit of cheerfulness and personality in a corner of your own space - whether just a doodle on a pad, or tucking a colorful postcard into the edge of a frame. Do more of what makes YOU happy! That’s my take away from Charleston House - and clearly other people have found it a source of joy too.

Cheers to a brighter year ahead,

Lee