Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.With their elaborate gables and jewel-like latticed windows, the Neo-Jacobean homes surrounding the garden of De Beauvoir Square in Hackney, east London, have a romantic air. But when Irenie Cossey first stepped through the door of number nine in 2022, the roof leaked, the walls were covered in mould and there was an acrid whiff. The former resident\u2019s belongings were still strewn about.\u201cIt left me cold at first,\u201d says the Dublin-born interior designer, curator and founder of Irenie Studio, of the Grade II-listed house, built in the 1840s. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t what I was looking for at all.\u201d Cossey had been searching for a property to renovate and sell, but also saw this as an opportunity to provide a temporary exhibition space \u2014 a \u201cresidential design house\u201d, as she calls it \u2014 where she could collaborate with brands and designers. \u201cI\u2019d been hunting for a house with large volumes that I could open up.\u201d The rooms at number nine are modest and a narrow, curving staircase requires tall people to duck. But a year (and some 30 house viewings) after she first saw it, Cossey was still struggling to find the right property when an agent encouraged her to take a second look. In 2023, she bought it from the Benyon Estate.\u00a0This April, the now renovated house will open for six weeks under the name OntheSq, furnished with newly commissioned pieces by designers including Rio Kobayashi, Flavia Br\u00e4ndle and Tomoyo Tsurumi. Specially created glassware is by J Hill Standard.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt was the windows and the way they made patterns of light dance through the house that struck me,\u201d says Cossey, who lives in nearby Canonbury with her husband and three children. \u201cI must have visited on a dull day before. The house had a magic to it \u2014 it just needed to be brought to life again.\u201d\u00a0Cossey quickly realised that many smaller rooms meant more walls \u2014 and more space for hanging art. \u201cI could play with scale in the renovations, which made me think of Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland.\u201dBut before she could add her narrative to the house, the roof needed replacing; walls and floors needed restoring; and it lacked a generous family kitchen. \u201cIt was a risk but my dad always says: \u2018Buy something with a problem, as no one else will want it.\u2019\u201dThe previous owner had put love into the house over the decades before he became a recluse and it fell into disrepair. I wanted to respect that and make it part of the storyShe added a kitchen extension with a panelled skylight, and moved the family bathroom from the top of the four-storey house to the first floor. With herself as the client, Cossey felt she could be brave with colour and pattern. The three-bedroom house also gave OntheSq\u2019s design partners \u2014 Domus, Kvadrat and Fenwick & Tilbrook \u2014 a place to show their tiles, fabrics and paints and host events. Five chairs designed by Robin Day in the 1950s have been reupholstered in deadstock Kvadrat fabrics by Stow Studio. Diamond-patterned tiled floors in the basement take their cue from the diamond window panes, their shapes scaled up to make you feel as if you have shrunk, like Alice. The Rosa Red paint in the hall, made by Norfolk-based Fenwick & Tilbrook, is inspired by a rose bush in De Beauvoir Square. There are pops of colour throughout, such as a brilliant red door in the basement.Every vista is meticulously composed. \u201cI always design with apertures,\u201d says Cossey, holding up a piece of card with a hole, used to envision a view through a door.Cossey challenged her collaborators to reuse elements of the house, such as the old silk curtains and woodwork. \u201cThe previous owner had put love into the house over the decades before he became a recluse and it fell into disrepair,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to respect that and make it part of the story.\u201dTextile artist Tomoyo Tsurumi tore a floral curtain into ribbons, then wove them through Kvadrat fabrics to create new artworks. \u201cI was surprised by how bright the red, yellow and indigo tones were, despite having faded over time,\u201d says Tsurumi. Some of her works are hung on rails above windows, but they are not \u2014 she says \u2014 intended as functional curtains. \u201cMy work has always been about creating conversations between materials, spaces, and people.\u201dKobayashi salvaged wood from old doors, shelves and fireplace surrounds, cutting it up and assembling it \u201cwithout much planning\u201d, he says. \u201cI used new cherry wood to connect everything and create this crazy, futuristic table.\u201d The result resembles the skeleton of a rowing boat with a glass top. \u201cUsing salvaged materials alongside new elements felt like a way to honour [the house\u2019s] transition \u2014 connecting what was with what will be,\u201d he says.\u00a0Along with the site-specific furniture and artworks, the exhibition will feature pieces by designers and artists including Attua Aparacio and Bethan Laura Wood \u2014 much available to buy. \u201cIt\u2019s about giving a really exciting cohort of London-based and Irish designers and artists an unusual backdrop for their work, and stirring visitors\u2019 imagination about how they could live with these pieces,\u201d says Cossey. OntheSq will hold a selection of open days, which can be booked via the website (onthesq.co), and can be visited by appointment. Cossey will also host a \u201cSane Luncheon\u201d for design collaborators, a riff on the Mad Hatter\u2019s Tea Party. Kobayashi\u2019s \u201cThrough The Looking Glass\u201d table stands in the kitchen, awaiting clear-minded guests.Asked who she can imagine might live in the house in the future, Cossey says with a smile: \u201cI need to find my Alice.\u201donthesq.coFind out about our latest stories first \u2014 follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.With their elaborate gables and jewel-like latticed windows, the Neo-Jacobean homes surrounding the garden of De Beauvoir Square in Hackney, east London, have a romantic air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-256694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256696,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256694\/revisions\/256696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}