Creating a considered home with Katie Robinson, creator of The Here Home.
#01. INSIDE with Katie Robinson, exploring home as a place of nurture, creativity and an anchor to our surroundings as the seasons turn.
I am excited to reintroduce the INSIDER series of interviews, now with a focus on our homes as places that reflect the way we live inwardly; that express ourselves creatively and that also anchor us to our surroundings by paying attention to the seasons.
I am delighted to introduce you to Katie Robinson, friend and close collaborator — we co-founded THE | here THREAD in 2020 as a platform for exploring the natural elements within design and the home.
Our paths first crossed back in the autumn of 2016 on a transformative yoga teacher training with Leila Sadeghee and Bridget Luff. Our worlds collided again during the experience of early motherhood in the pandemic; a metamorphosis we both felt deeply and yet wanted a creative outlet to explore our mutual interests in interiors, design, yoga and the living world.
I am always inspired by the way Katie is led by intuition, her incredible eye for beauty and her background as a trained architect to create spaces that are intentional, uplifting and balanced, i.e. places that you want to spend a lot of time! There is always a sense of things being considered, deeply felt and experienced by her, weaving her story and personality into the fabric of everything she does.
I loved speaking to Katie about her lovely home — a place of both stillness and creativity and how it shapes the way she and her family live…
Describe who you are and what you do.
My name is Katie and I am an architect by training, although for the past four years I have been doing a range of different things, rather than working in-house at a practice as I had done previously.
Where is home?
In 2018 we made the move from London to Bristol to set up home with our newborn and so the past few years have been a mix of creating a home, mothering, some design tutoring and freelance work, as well as evolving creative inspiration through Instagram and training to become a Passivhaus designer.
What led you to move from London to Bristol?
We lived in a small two-bedroom flat in Hackney which was amazing place for my husband and I to start life together; however, we knew we couldn’t afford to stay in London longer term, and to be honest I was beginning to find the scale of the city a bit overwhelming. We wanted to still be in a vibrant, creative city, but with better access to the countryside and coastline and Bristol was a place we already knew and loved.
How has the move affected your life and work?
The move felt quite massive at first as it was coupled with becoming a mother and so there was also a huge shift in identity and lifestyle to contend with, on top of being in a new place where we don’t have family and only a small number of friends.
We then also hit the pandemic so it’s actually only really the past year or so that I feel like I have been able to build a deeper connection with Bristol. I am so glad we came here though, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to find the home we did in a location that I can walk to most places.
The move has impacted my work as well in as much as I left my old office (something I may not have had to do had we moved in the pandemic!). It felt like the right time to go though, as I had been there for almost a decade and whilst I loved working on educational buildings my focus has shifted more towards home spaces.
Describe your home and garden.
Our home is a classic Victorian terrace and on a street that’s seen a lot of changes over the years. It isn’t necessarily what you would call pretty with its mismatch of brick, render and pebble dashed fronts, but the road has a real community spirit and there is a feeling that the neighbours are here to support one another.
Having a garden has been one of the greatest gifts of the move and I love spending time in it, or gazing at it through the kitchen bi-folds, depending on the time of year. The garden has developed a bit of a wild feel, which wasn’t intentional but I am finding really suits my gardening spirit. I don’t want to use sprays to keep bugs away so nature is slowly guiding what grows. It is a mix of grasses, sedum, perennial flowers like geum and verbena on the sunny side, and anemone, hellebores, ferns and hostas on the shady side. We have also planted a birch tree at the back and have three other trees in pots, which I actually think makes the garden feel bigger as they draw your eye upwards, as well as defining the corners of an inviting seating area at the back wall, which gets most of the sun.
How do you feel in your home?
I definitely feel nurtured by my home. It’s a safe place that feels like an extension of all the people that live here (me, my husband and our little boy). It is a space that allows me to be creative, to rest and retreat when necessary, and has provided the inspiration to share on Instagram which has also fostered lots of beautiful connections with incredible people. I’d say I feel very comfortable and content here.
What were your intentions for your renovation?
We didn’t really set about with a grand plan for how we were going to tackle the place, and in fact four years on that might have been useful! But in all honesty when we moved we thought we might only be here 3-5 years, which would mean moving now. The more we have settled and grounded into the space and the location, the less keen we are to move on, so perhaps a more in-depth renovation would have suited the building fabric more.
That said, our initial intentions were to only do the work that was necessary, partly led by a desire to be as sustainable as possible, but also with a view to affordability and the level of disruption we could handle with a newborn. So we first re-did the bathroom, then the garden and kitchen, and completed the major works with a loft conversion.
What is your favourite part?
Oh, hard to choose, each part has a particular flavour I suppose, and feels made for a particular part of the day or year. I would say the kitchen is the space that’s had the biggest impact on how we feel day-to-day, particularly as we added the bi-fold doors to connect the space with the garden and so it’s kind of got an inside / outside energy which is very uplifting.
How do you bring meaning to your home?
I think we are quite intentional about what we choose to buy, and have been naturally since before we met, both being designers. Most objects carry some kind of back story, whether it’s a family treasure, from an independent maker we admire, a holiday momento or something we have made ourselves, and I think that adds a certain quality to the space.
Where do you feel most creative at home?
I generally find that creative energy flows when I am not trying to force it, and occupied by something that brings me joy or allows me to be present. So it could be that doing yoga in the loft, watering the garden or dancing around the kitchen are actually my most creative moments.
Where do you spend most time in your home as a family?
We use pretty much every part of our home each day but I would say, as with most families I guess, that the kitchen is a natural centre. It is where we start and end most days and provides the container for our most consistent daily rituals – tea and coffee making!
How and where have you considered the needs of your family within the design of your home?
I was keen that our little boy feels like he has some control over our home too, so in addition to his own room I designed in areas for him in the kitchen and the living/dining spaces. These are just simple shelves and a cupboard that form part of built in storage in these rooms, but I think it’s important that he feels like he has some space that’s his to look after. It also means toys tend to spread less as he knows where they should be!
How do you pay attention to the seasons within your home?
Observation I think is fundamental to connecting with the seasons. You have to make an effort to notice — the way the light enters deeper into the kitchen in June, or the view from the loft extends in winter as the trees outside lose their leaves.
We try and have snack times and breakfast in the garden in summer and heat mince pies on the log burner in the living room in winter. I am also a lover of fresh flowers and bringing in seasonal foliage and flowers, especially from our own garden, is great for connecting with the passing seasons.
How will you mark the summer solstice this year?
I think this year it will be really simple by just noticing. I am going to be out with a friend so I plan to enjoy the evening outdoors and take note of how long the light lasts.
You work with the natural elements in your work at THE | here THREAD, why is this an important consideration for a space?
I think it provides an additional way of seeing a space, and when you think of it, it really is quite natural we should consider the elements as we interact with them everyday, often without much attention. We can probably explain the difference in feeling of having a shower vs. a bath, how one feels more invigorating and the other more restful. It’s about the motion of the water. I think we also all understand the power of sitting next to an open fire, the sense of wildness. The elements connect us with something deeper.
Is your home complete or do you have any further aspirations/plans?
In some ways it is complete and in other ways there is lots to do! As I mentioned previously we had only intended to be here for a few years and now that idea has changed and we may be here much longer I would like to address bones of the property at some point. We kept the old windows, and I am glad we didn’t rush with this, but I think a future upgrade to something with better thermal performance is needed. I would also like to insulate under the floors and re-roof the back of the property, perhaps also insulating externally if possible. Basically, any future changes would all be about reducing energy demand and future proofing the built fabric.
Follow Katie @the_here_home and @the_here_thread for more mindful renovation and elemental design inspiration.