The handsome
bones of this
house are still
here, such as
brick flooring
that resembles
an abstract
modernist
painting
Right In the kitchen the
original features left by
the former owner Jocasta
Innes include reclaimed
cabinets and shelves made
from old chemistry lab
worktops. Ashby added a
bespoke green marble table
and vintage chairs
recovered in fabric by Le
Manach from Pierre Frey.
The Levitate pendant lights
are from Menu. Below The
guest room has an Olympia
Vanity dressing table
designed by Nika Zupanc.
On the bed is a vintage
kantha quilt from Sister
is so simple but resembles an abstract modernist painting,
and whimsical touches such as an alcove in Rainbow’s
room, its tiles hand-painted in a pink plaid. The exterior of
the house still has its ochre limewash.
“We moved from a small flat in the old BBC building
in west London,” says Casely-Hayford, the heir to the
fashion label set up by Savile Row’s national treasure Joe
Casely-Hayford back in the 1980s. “I was left some art by
my father when he passed away, so to have a larger space
gave us more wall space to add to our collection.”
The couple are both former art students and have a
great eye — and complementary tastes. Ashby wanted
to mix brighter photography and paintings with Casely-
Hayford’s collection, and to lift the mood of the rooms
with African-style upholstery and artwork by young
artists from her former home of South Africa. “I spent a
lot of time talking to galleries and curators during the
pandemic and they were really struggling,” she says.
“It was a good time to support artists and craftspeople —
we had a lot of sizeable shipments from South Africa.”
Ashby has been doing a lot more than shopping and
restyling the family home during their time in Spitalfields.