According to Robert Tisserand, an Essential Oil Educator and Aromatherapy Expert from California, “Clinical studies have shown that aromatherapy by inhalation can have real benefits for people with, for example, anxiety, [problems with] mental focus, depressive symptoms, and menstrual pain.”
Further research has supported this, showing that essential oils can interact with the brain and nervous system to positively impact your health and mood. That said, Jo Kellet – essential oils expert at Tisserand – added that essential oils should not be applied directly to the skin, even with their numerous benefits. Indeed, Jo explained, “Essential oils need to be diluted before being applied to the skin in either a base oil, lotion, or cream, for example. They are concentrated essences that can, if used neat, cause a severe skin reaction, or over time build up a sensitivity to that essential oil.” Enter: the essential oil aroma diffuser.
When essential oils are concentrated in an essential oil diffuser – and subsequently inhaled – they can easily stimulate the olfactory system in the brain. Thus, running an ultrasonic diffuser can effectively reduce feelings of anxiety and stress – and help you nod off to sleep.
Is it OK to use a diffuser every day?
Yes. Essential oil diffusers are safe, and their risk of harm is minimal. In fact, inhalation is arguably the safest means of administering essential oils like eucalyptus or tea tree. To be extra safe, when shopping for your essential oil blend, be sure that it specifically says on the bottle or website that it’s considered safe for internal consumption. This means the essential oil is safe to diffuse indoors and is high-quality.
Jo explains one of the ways she ensures her oils are still safe for use if you’ve owned them for a long time: “Essential oils may change odour or colour and more importantly may cause skin sensitivity if used beyond their best before date. We, therefore, recommend that you use your essential oils within one year of opening them to minimise this risk.” She continues: “A good way to keep a check on this is to place a sticker on your bottle with the date of opening.” Take note.
Do electric diffusers use a lot of electricity?
Not particularly, and they’re not particularly expensive to run. If you’re worried, you go for something cordless or powered via USB. You just need a few drops of essential oil and some water, and you’re good to go.
How we tested the best essential oil diffusers:
We surveyed the GLAMOUR office to find out what editors and wellness experts look for in the best electric diffuser. Then, we tested every model over a period of at least one month in our homes, assessing them on factors like fragrance intensity, ease of use, automatic shut-off, water capacity and design. Our edit features only the electric diffusers we really loved – and we’ve given each a star rating to make your choice even easier.
What are the best essential oils for electric diffusers?
One of the best things about investing in an essential oil diffuser is that you can switch up the oils you’re using depending on your needs at that time. Lavender is good to help you relax before bed (we recommend the Tisserand Lavender Essential Oil), while rosemary will help you stay focused when you’re working from home. Cedarwood, lemon, bergamot, vanilla, lemongrass, orange and valerian are good for stress and anxiety, while peppermint is good for a mood boost.
Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Pure Essential Oil Blend, 10ml
In homes across the world, particularly in Millennial and Gen-Z households, a trend for houseplants is flourishing. Gone are the days when a solitary yukka plant or kentia palm occupied a corner of a living room. Now a profusion of plants and a much bigger variety of species fill homes to luxuriant and exotic effect – from the classic monstera deliciosa, commonly known as the Swiss cheese plant, to the sinister-sounding but decorative Neoregelia “Hannibal Lecter” with its dramatic, aubergine-on-green tiger-print pattern and prickly leaves. Houseplants are assuming as much importance as pieces of furniture in a room, and today’s plant propagators are not only increasingly horticulturally savvy but also know how best to pot plants and maintain them to ensure they thrive.
The craze harks back to 1970s homes – the revival of the retro macramé hanging plantholder is a bit of a giveaway. The 70s loved Victoriana, and the houseplant boom is a throwback to that era as well. And the widespread environmentalist adoption of biophilic design and architecture – which highlights greenery, water, fresh air and natural materials and forms in interiors – is fuelling this phenomenon.
“Social media is boosting the boom, with people who love plants sharing pictures of them everywhere,” says Hilton Carter, US-based “plantfluencer” (a horticultural influencer) and author of new book Living Wild.
“The fascination with houseplants stems from people wanting to reconnect with nature,” says Emma Sibley, founder of the shop London Terrariums, which holds workshops teaching how to make terrariums – another facet of the trend. “Throughout lockdowns, people were glued to their screens while working from home, unable to be in nature.”
Houseplants satisfy people’s nurturing qualities, she tells BBC Culture: “They’ve introduced a ritual into the day that disconnects people from screentime and allows them to look after something that needs them.” We spoke to several plantfluencers to discover eight of the latest trends in styling houseplants.
“Using reclaimed and recycled materials is a vital part of the circular economy that we need to establish if we are going to fight the climate crisis,” writes Craswell. Historically, the circular economy has been much talked about in the worlds of fashion and products, but increasingly interior designers and architects are getting in on the act. And their decisions can help eliminate waste by reusing buildings and their material components.
In Reclaimed, Craswell makes the point that “Architects and interior designers can tackle pollution through the choices they make. Architects have a responsibility… to divert useable materials from landfill. Interior designers can do even more,” as interiors often have a shorter lifespan than the building itself. She cites author Katie Treggiden, who researches the use of recycled waste in design. “She believes that building materials and interior finishes made from waste or ‘second-life materials’ are becoming more accepted – or sought after,” Craswell adds.
Pete Collard, curator of RIBA’s exhibition Long Life, Low Energy: Designing for a Circular Economy, backs this up. “When you’re reusing materials directly, there’s an obvious second-hand quality. It’s good to wear your language on your sleeve, presenting your history up front.” Collard believes that “using waste products found on site, which have an aesthetic of their own, means rethinking visual languages, away from pristine.”
Of course, repurposing materials from old buildings is nothing new. In Roman cities, pieces of stone were dragged from one part of town to another to form new buildings. And then in the Middle Ages, parts of timber structures found new homes. So the principles of the circular economy have deep roots. But things changed in the UK in the mid-Victorian era, when mass-produced house-building took off. And with the industrial revolution, the production of materials and furniture was scaled up, and people with money wanted to show off their wealth. “Buying brand new was the way to do that,” says Collard.
The living room of Apartment 3 at No.1 St.James. Styled and completed with vintage pieces, reclaimed … [+] textiles and consciously created designs.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
Preserving the historical charm of a period property is a skill which is often overlooked and one which brings depth and soul to a residential space. In the case of property investment and development company Obbard, and design expert Kate Watson-Smyth, this was a critical factor in the recent redesign of No.1 St James, a block of residential apartments owned by, and situated above, the iconic London-based wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd.
The exterior of the iconic No.1 St James, designed and built in 1881-2 by architect Richard Norman … [+] Shaw.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
The red brick, Grade II listed building, beautifully designed with its Portland Stone details (circa. 1881) by Richard Norman Shaw, was originally built as compact apartments for country dwellers coming into the city to attend nearby clubs. The block was divided into a selection of pieds-à-terre, mostly consisting of a bedroom, sitting room and a WC with limited catering facilities. The landlords, Berry Bros. & Rudd, who have been on the site since 1698, and who originally started out as a grocers before diversifying into coffee and finally wine, decided to renovate the block two years ago after it had become outdated with previous improvements which hadn’t been sympathetic to the buildings original architecture and layout. Enlisting the help of Obbard and Watson-Smyth was the first step in the process of reviving the building while being mindful of the heritage behind it.
Now, two years on, the apartments are complete and ready for new residents to move in. And the finishing touches and historic references certainly make them a special rental investment. From reclaimed fireplaces to vintage furniture and restored artworks from the Berry Bros. & Rudd archive, the design team has paid close attention to the impact of each interior element. “The dedication to re-using furnishings in this project was a labour of love,” says Watson-Smyth. “Our design studio was constantly visiting vintage markets and auctions to find perfect pieces for each apartment.”
A cosy reading nook under the penthouse windows, complete with vintage mid-century chairs and a … [+] handmade Moroccan carpet.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
Approaching interior design with this mindset can pose a variety of challenges, especially when working within strict timelines and budgets. And, as Watson-Smyth reveals, it wasn’t a simple case of placing an order for 15 identical side tables from one supplier, which meant they had to work with a range of styles and finishes across each space. “Some key pieces we sourced were snapped up before we even got a chance to put our bids in,” she laughs, “so our designs had to be a bit fluid and not everything is uniform but to us that’s what we think gives the apartments such charm.” And on visiting, the apartments’ homely, ‘lived-in’ ambience is undeniable, a result that can be difficult to achieve when redeveloping an entire block.
Where new purchases were inevitable, the team also ensured they worked with brands who work tirelessly to reduce their environmental impact. This included beds from The Cornish Bed Company, paint from Graphenstone and sofas from Love Your Home. Repurposed textiles were also utilised in a lot of the accessories within each space, thanks to a collaboration with Haines, a UK-based platform enabling the resale of dead-stock and leftover fabrics.
Striking paint colours from Graphenstone and reclaimed textiles from Haines add a beautiful … [+] sensitivity to the interiors.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
Keeping it personally connected to the history behind Berry Bros. and Rudd, a variety of archive pieces have been repaired and upcycled to fit into the contemporary scheme. Notable items include a letter from The White Star Line (dated April 16th 1912) which is addressed to the company informing them of the loss of a shipment which was on the Titanic. In the bathroom of the penthouse, framed original, handwritten drinks recipes decorate the walls as well as an original hand-drawn plan of the tea clipper ship ‘Cutty Sark’ which is hanging in the first floor apartment: the inspiration behind the original ‘Cutty Sark’ whisky which was developed by Berry Bros. & Rudd in 1923. These nostalgic touches provide beautiful points of interest throughout each space, where the narrative of such a long history is given the room to live on into the future.
Framed handwritten wine recipes hang in the WC of the penthouse, another nod to the heritage behind … [+] the building itself.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
“What we didn’t want was a building that felt completely disconnected,” explains Patti Patrick, Head of Design & Development for Obbard. “A lot of this project has been about reclaiming the buildings narrative that had been erased and, in working with this mindset, we want these apartments to appeal to those that respect the history of St James’s and are genuinely interested by the neighbouring St James’ Palace, and Berry Bros. & Rudd as well as a host of other iconic British institutions.” Far from being stuck in the past, the apartments boast a cohesive blend of both classic and contemporary design, a feat which has been achieved through a curated approach.
Patti Patrick – Head of Development & Design for Obbard & Kate Watson-Smyth – Design Consultant for … [+] the interior design of the redevelopment.
Mark Anthony Fox / Obbard
While the interiors speak for themselves, added services to the block also add an extra special touch. All tenants of No.1 St James will have access to a dedicated wine concierge, provided by Berry Bros. & Rudd. During store hours, residents are able to ask for advice, recommendations, as well as tastings, which means bottles can be delivered directly to their door. For wine lovers, this is an extremely attractive benefit!
Looking back at the development as a whole, Watson-Smyth reflects on the need to approach every interior design project with a conscious and responsible attitude but also allude to the fact that you need to invest time to carry out the necessary research. “Compared to five years ago there are many more eco-friendly options on the market, even when buying new,” she comments. “It’s about taking the time to research as these brands exist but perhaps aren’t the most known. What’s exciting is that there is change afoot though, specifically in an industry that has taken its time to start evolving for the better.”
Special moments are captured and the architecture has been celebrated in the redesign of No.1 St … [+] James, especially here in the Penthouse’s hidden games room where one can enjoy wine or whisky, directly from the Berry Bros. & Rudd cellar.
Mark Anthony Fox
While this project is just a snapshot of what can be achieved, especially when working at a larger scale, it is a positive step in showcasing the realm of opportunities that do exist when sustainability underpins the ethos of any design project. Paying close attention to impact does not have to mean a compromise in style, in fact it’s quite the opposite. When paying homage to history through sensitive materials and reclaimed designs, a certain depth is created which results in a striking, yet welcoming, aesthetic. For me, it is the foundation to the making of not just a house, but a home.
Oxford Dictionaries’ phrase of the year for 2022 – as overwhelmingly voted for by the public – was “‘goblin mode’: a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” If we all got obsessed with making our homes cosy and beautiful during the pandemic, it feels like last year was the year we gave up: embracing the mess and the chaos that comes with normal life. To understand why we might be newly embracing mess, it’s useful to remember just how strong a grip the anti-clutter movement has had in recent years. There are scores of TV shows beyond Kondo’s, from the BBC series Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out to Netflix’s Get Organized with The Home Edit. And the fact that this obsession with tidying, order, calm and cleanliness has happened at the same time as visual social media apps have become dominant is surely no coincidence. Instagram, YouTube, and more recently TikTok – the video-sharing app that has spawned a thousand trends – have a lot to answer for.
TikTok has proved a perfect vehicle for sharing tidy, artfully styled, impossibly minimalist homes – and yes, of course, there’s a hashtag for that. Posts tagged #aesthetic have had more than 202 billion views, and even if you’re not on the app, you’ll probably recognise the look: beautifully arranged lifestyle shots of calm, soothing, white-and-beige homes full of clever storage solutions and hyper-neat drawers, with just a few scented candles, chic coffee tables, and suspiciously healthy pot plants to lend a (very generic) splash of personality. Think Kim Kardashian’s desaturated interiors, or a White Company catalogue, depending on your generational touchstones.
It is the interior design look favoured by another handy online type: That Girl. You know the one: the girl who gets up and journals, drinks a green juice, does sunrise yoga in co-ordinated pastel exercise gear, then sips a matcha latte with their breakfast bowl. They like clean eating and clean beauty and a clean house, and putting it all online. They are the flawless opposite to goblin mode. But the backlash to all this has now seriously got going – something that should come as no surprise given such lifestyle goals are hilariously unattainable for most people, and given how expensive, time-consuming and, well, boring they are. And not everyone finds tidying therapeutic – for some, decluttering is actually painful.
The biggest new app of last year was BeReal, which prompted users to take candid snaps wherever they were and whatever they were doing, at an unpredictable moment each day – designed to be the authentic antithesis of the highly staged content we’ve all got used to seeing.
Embracing the chaos
And while TikTok may be relentlessly fast-moving and not to be taken too seriously, it is still a handy bellwether for such vibe shifts. Organised mess has been on the rise for a while, with the arrival of the term “cluttercore”: the art of having masses of stuff in your home – often vintage trinkets, collectibles, or retro finds – and embracing colour and noise. Think messy maximalism: chaos, but lovingly displayed chaos.
Another current, supposedly mess-embracing micro-trend on TikTok is girls showing off their untidy bedside tables: but while these might look cluttered, it’s hard not to suspect they’re actually extremely curated, a collection of desirable skincare products, delicate jewellery, stacks of covetable books, more candles – not a grubby mug or snotty tissue in sight…
Danish interior design studio Space Copenhagen also links indoors and out when dreaming up minimalist interiors. “We prefer sheer fabrics for curtains and blinds that allow for outside daylight to filter softly into spaces,” says Signe Bindslev Henriksen, co-founder of the company, who sums up its style as “poetic modernism”. She tells BBC Culture: “Translucency avoids creating a hard boundary between inside and outside. Overall, we choose natural, tactile, organic materials – wood, stone, leather, linen, warm-toned metals and exposed plaster – and subdued, earthy colour tones.”
For David Montalba, founder of Montalba Architects, which has offices in Los Angeles and Lausanne, Switzerland, integrating views of the surrounding landscape into a minimalist home is essential to making it feel warm. “The landscape can be a house’s rural setting or a courtyard with paving and planting, as found within a triple-height atrium at our project Vertical Courtyard House in LA,” says Montalba, who grew up in Switzerland and the Carmel area of California. He is influenced by the Southern Californian regionalist architecture of Irving Gill, whose early 20th-Century houses featured simple interiors, plain fireplaces and skylights, and George Brook-Kothlow, who incorporated an abundance of wood into his houses. “Engaging with the outdoors helps soften a minimalist home, as do bookshelves, art and textiles. In one living space at Vertical Courtyard House, a wall-hung textile piece by Canadian artist Brent Wadden adds warmth and texture.”
Comfort zone
And interior designer Rukmini Patel has created a warmly minimalist living room for a home in Stratford-upon-Avon, using colours and materials inspired by nature. “My client, who has a house with a garden, expressed a wish for the interior to connect with the outdoors,” she says. “When creating a cosy minimalist home, I feel it’s important to use a multitude of natural materials, textures and colours that engage the senses. For the living room I chose autumnal tones – rust, burnt orange and olive green – and wicker and wood to evoke nature. I opted for wood flooring, echoing this with wood, rather than colder metal or glass furniture, and a warm peachy cream shade for the walls. I also plumped for a thick, tactile Berber rug that is calming and relaxing when you sink your feet into it.”
Smith believes a warmly minimalist interior can be achieved simply by combining a limited number of contrasting textures: “Play with the juxtaposition of opposites as transitioning from one to the other heightens the senses. Imagine walking barefoot on a hard smooth floor, then stepping on to a soft textured rug, and the feeling of warmth and luxury that brings.”
Each Diptyque candle is inspired by a time, place or story. For example, the Figuier (Fig Tree) candle was created to capture the memories of the founders’ many holidays in Mount Pelion, Greece, where, each day, they crossed a natural grove of wild fig trees to reach the sea.
There’s no denying Diptyque candles have a certain je ne sais quoi about them, which can only be understood when you’ve burned one for yourself. Unsure which Diptyque candles you should invest in? Keep scrolling to discover the brand’s best sellers, the three candles that started it all, and some of the Who What Wear team’s all-time favorites.
The apartment’s interior was created in the Art Deco style by French architect Jean-Michel in the 1920s, reflecting Saint Laurent’s obsession with the Jazz Age, which was also echoed in his ready-to-wear collections of the time. The designer was in thrall then to the streamlined yet luxurious aesthetic of high-end Art Deco, and the apartment housed Eileen Gray’s Dragon armchair, stools by Pierre Legrain, vases by Jean Dunand, Gustave Miklos’s stools with a red lacquer frame and opulent pieces bought at a 1972 sale of early 20th-Century couturier Jacques Doucet’s collection of modern art and furniture.
A new book, Yves Saint Laurent at Home – Life with Yves and Pierre, written by their friend, the interior designer Jacques Grange, showcases the couple’s 1970s homes. Their other key 70s residence was Dar es Saada, a pink mansion in a secluded spot in Marrakech, acquired in 1974, whose interiors were redesigned by Bill Willis. For Saint Laurent, who was born in French Algeria, their Moroccan villa – surrounded by the paradisiacal Jardin Majorelle created by French “Orientalist” painter Jacques Majorelle – offered an escape from the commercial pressures of Paris.
“As the first celebrities to allow their homes to be photographed for interior design magazines, Saint Laurent and Bergé practically transformed Marrakech into Paris’s 21st arrondissement,” writes journalist Laurence Benaïm in the book. The openly gay couple had holidayed in Marrakech in 1967, and mingled with bohemian Americans Talitha and Paul Getty. The young, epicene Saint Laurent grew his hair, adopted a more relaxed hippy look, and smoked kief (hashish, common in North Africa), with his other main muse, Loulou de la Falaise. In the mid-1970s, he donned loose kaftans there and in 1976 designed a Moroccan-inspired, vibrantly coloured womenswear collection – simple tunics and harem pants in purples and oranges.
Better known as a fashion designer, Saint Laurent is nevertheless admired by many for his taste in interiors, says Martina Mondadori, editor of Cabana magazine and co-author of the book, YSL Lexicon: An ABC of the Fashion, Life and Inspirations of Yves Saint Laurent: “There isn’t a fashion designer or interior decorator in the past 15 years who hasn’t been inspired in some capacity by Saint Laurent’s vision. Dar Es Saada was an ode to the versatile, sophisticated world he lived in. The flow of rooms on the ground floor is the perfect set design for any party. It’s as decadent as it gets, and the velvets, the colours and tiles make the whole house feel very intimate – ultimately the secret to making everyone feel at home.”
Beautifully minimalist and close to nature, the homes featured in a new book offer a glimpse inside the Japanese mindset.
“The home – before it is a place of beauty – is a place for safety, and assessed according to its alignment with its natural surroundings,” says Mihoko Iida, whose new book Japanese Interiors takes a look inside some of Japan’s most interesting private homes. From urban apartments to mountain and seaside escapes, the spaces featured in the book all share this idea of what home interiors mean in Japan, and how they are informed by a sense of harmony and balance with their surrounding environment.
Alongside the homes’ proximity to nature is the pared-back simplicity for which Japanese design has become known. “Minimalism has a long history in Japan,” explains author Iida, “rooted in the teachings of Zen Buddhism that came to our country via China, and found a foothold beginning around the 12th Century.”
In the book, Iida explains how these ideas aligned with Japan’s existing religion, Shintoism, “a nature religion that does not worship a central figure but rather considers all things – man-made and natural – to possess a spiritual essence.” Interpretations of this vary, she explains. “A simplified explanation is that nothing should be treated poorly, and therefore it is better to have nothing. Or as Buddha said, ‘The less you have, the less you have to worry about’.” Many modern minimalist homes in Japan are influenced by shrines and temples as a result. Here are some of the most beautiful and most intriguing.
Peninsula House (Credit: Kenichi Suzuki)
Set among the rocks, sea, wind and sky of the Kanto region, Peninsula House is a monolithic structure that seems to rise up from its surroundings. It was designed by Mount Fuji Architects Studio, and has an arresting, Brutalist simplicity. The spaces of the structure are flooded with light on the ocean side, with double-height walls of windows offering epic views of sea and sky. Iida elaborates: “The scene evokes a contemporary take on shakkei, the Japanese concept of scenery borrowed from nature, as is often seen in traditional garden design – with the seascape surrounding the residence, stealing the show as its most defining interior feature.”
Lotus House (Credit: Daici Ano)
The striking Lotus House was created by award-winning architect Kengo Kuma, and with its innovative, bold checkboard-style walls, it nevertheless blends in with its natural surroundings. The airy home in Eastern Japan faces a pond planted with lotus plants, and is surrounded by dense forest. The residence has, says Iida, “an unusual sense of structural lightness, as though every stone panel… is hovering in the air”. Shafts of sunlight, light breezes and forest aromas all seep through the property as a result of this innovative structure.
Lotus House (Credit: Daici Ano)
At Lotus House there is a floating staircase on the rear wall, and the living room overlooks the lotus pond. As the architect Kuma puts it: “The lightness of the stone is an expression of the gentle lotus petals.” According to Iida, the term ‘interiors’ is defined rather differently in Japan. “When Japanese people talk about interiors, it’s more about where the sunlight enters a room, how the wind travels through the entrance,” she explains. “Or creating a space to withstand the natural elements in the mountains or along the coast.”
Stairway House (Credit: Shigeo Ogawa)
Another defining element of interiors in Japan is, says Iida, “how limited space is used efficiently within the urban confines of a thriving city such as Tokyo”. Function, playfulness and a quiet minimalism are combined in Stairway House in Tokyo, created by young design studio nendo to accommodate an extended family of various generations. Central to its structure is a vast stairway-like structure starting in the gravel garden and cutting through the whole interior, rising up to the skylight on the ceiling. “As functional as it is surreally playful, the role of the staircase is clear,” writes Iida, “to connect the family members within a single yet private series of spaces.” The interior is monochromatic and simple, with plants placed across the steps offering greenery. The result, architects nendo explain, is “a space where all three generations could take comfort in each other’s subtle presence.”
Polygon House (Credit: Makoto Yarnaguchi Architects)
With a futuristic edge, Polygon House sits on a hillside surrounded by forests in Karuizawa, outside Tokyo, and was designed by Makoto Yamaguchi. “Boundaries between inside and out are nearly invisible,” explains Iida. “Large south-facing glass windows invite inside charismatic vistas of the changing seasons – from blazing autumnal leaves and leafy summer greens to serene wintertime snowfall.” The place, she says, is “imbued with an almost Zen-like minimalist serenity”.
House S (Credit: Ben Richards)
With walls of glass framing lush garden views, House S feels close to the natural world, despite its central Tokyo location. A roomy family home, the residence was designed by Keiji Ashizawa. A bold open staircase connects all three floors, and a long wall of glass spans an entire side of the building. The whole structure is designed to make the most of the proximity to nature.
Garden House (Credit: Ben Richards)
Alongside House A, the owners recently added a garden house, a contemporary tea-house-like building surrounded by trees. A simple, one-room structure, it has a tiled roof of steel, underlined with cedar, reflecting its closeness to nature, and giving the interior a textured warmth. Inside there is a blend of traditional touches and sleek modernism. An iconic white paper lantern by master designer Isamu Noguchi is among the classic touches. Surrounded by the stunning garden, it is, says Iida, “the perfect natural escape in the midst of the city”.
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For Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, the founders of online design magazine Sight Unseen, the pandemic brought about a newfound appreciation for the myriad objects they had both accumulated over the years. “We were sitting in our homes and our objects were really bringing us comfort, and making us feel less lonely,” Khemsurov tells BBC Culture. This sparked the idea for the duo’s book, How to Live with Objects: A Guide to More Meaningful Interiors, published this week, in which she and Singer offer up their tips on “how to maximise the visual and emotional impact of your space” through objects.
This involves taking a more intentional approach to both acquiring and living with objects, prioritising heartfelt connection over what Khemsurov dubs a “keeping up with the Joneses” attitude. “It’s the basic idea that an object can very easily become imbued with meaning and memories,” she says. Whether it’s something a friend made you which reminds you that you are cared for, or a nick-nack purchased while travelling abroad, she observes, objects allow us to relive moments, or feel closer to loved ones, at a glance. “In terms of the aesthetic of the object, we tend to be quite agnostic,” Singer adds. “The whole point is building an interior around your personality.”
Surrounding yourself with treasured objects is, of course, only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to compiling a personal space that makes you feel good. Lindsay T Graham, a personality-and-social psychologist specialising in how we affect – and are affected by – the spaces we inhabit, suggests taking an intuitive stance right from the start. “First, go into the space, and look at how it currently makes you feel,” she tells BBC Culture. “Don’t overthink it, just ask yourself, ‘Am I feeling stressed? Or happy? Am I ready to wind down? Or am I amped up?’ Then take a step back and think about what you want to be feeling. Noticing the mismatch between the two will offer clues to what needs to be shifted in order to create an environment that’s really going to support you.”
Home sweet home
From there, it’s all about selecting the right tools to achieve the desired psychological effect. One element is lighting. “Lighting can transform a space instantly,” says Graham. “Plus, there’s been so much research about its influence on our circadian rhythm, which impacts both our mental and physical health.” Much of this research centres on using different coloured lights to incite different moods. “You can buy warm or cool light bulbs,” environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, PhD, tells BBC Culture. “If you’re trying to create a calming atmosphere where people will enjoy spending time together, for example, you want a warmer, softer light, whereas for something that requires concentration, you want the light to be cooler and more intense.” Warmer light is most effective when emitted from a lower level – “say, from tabletop or floor lamps” – Augustin explains, while cool bulbs should be placed in ceiling fixtures or overhead lighting sockets.
