Renovators with a seemingly endless DIY list will be comforted to learn that, despite calling a Victorian house near Victoria Park home for almost four years, Henry Holland is only midway through doing it up.
“We did the top half of the house and now we’re saving up again,” explains the fashion designer turned ceramicist with signature honesty. There are benefits to taking it slow.
“Doing it in two halves has given us the headspace to really consider each of the spaces in their entirety. We wanted it to feel much more reflective of us and our personality and who we are,” says Holland, 41, who lives with his husband of six years, David Holland-Hodgson.
With its laminate flooring and microscopic kitchen, the ground floor feels somewhat underwhelming for a double-fronted grande dame.
The “nana attic room” wrapped in a William Morris wallpaper (Sarah Brick)
An awkwardly shaped back room holds metal rails groaning with Holland’s Vinted inventory.
But the recently completed upstairs hints at what’s to come. Halfway up the staircase, calming blue walls drenched in Sanderson’s Danbury are flanked by a striped runner which ceremoniously “melts” onto the first-floor landing.
Created by Holland in collaboration with London rug studio Floor Story, the playful effect recalls the patterns found in his ceramics, which are created through a Japanese hand-built technique called nerikomi.
“We were on our hands and knees, drawing on greaseproof paper and stencilling it all out,” he explains of the process.
One of Holland’s lamp bases and a candle on display on his bedside table (Sarah Brick)
A photo shoot last autumn to showcase Holland’s expansive debut range of wallpapers and fabrics in partnership with luxury brand Harlequin made for a hard decorating deadline. He was grateful for it.
“Often you get 90 per cent of the way there, and then you don’t get around to hanging the art and the faff stuff, but we had to do it,” he says.
David, a fellow fashion creative who designed accessories for Loewe, Proenza Schouler and Smythson before joining Henry’s new business, is just as involved.
They share similar tastes, “but it’s always difficult when you’re doing it with a partner and agreeing… David likes to ruminate on everything. We’d set up a wish list for each room on Vinterior and I’d put stuff in, and then David would take it out,” he laughs.
Silk-lined wardrobes, ‘obnoxious’ dressing room and a nana attic
The view from the bedroom through the bathroom to the dressing room (Sarah Brick)
Unsurprisingly, the couple’s vision culminates in the most desirable of interiors.
Their indulgent bedroom suite could rival that of a boutique hotel: the TV is concealed in an antique cabinet while the curved bed is upholstered in a marble tapestry from the Harlequin collection.
The plush curtains match the moiré-style walls, which boast a silk emboss to give the impression of a textured fabric.
On display are artworks by Christabel MacGreevy, Tomo Campbell and Cristina BanBan, but the ceiling is pretty captivating too — Holland splurged on bespoke mouldings and cornicings by the plaster specialist Keaneys.
The Twenties dentistry cabinet and fabric-covered wardrobe in Holland’s dressing room (Sarah Brick)
Through the compact yet covetable en-suite is what Holland self-deprecatingly refers to as the “obnoxious dressing room”.
Sacrificing a bedroom created space for full-height wardrobes with doors luxuriously encased in his graphic Southborough fabric. The insides boast silk lining and automatic light sensors.
“The reference was opening a jewellery box,” he explains. For small accessories there is a Twenties rotating dentistry cabinet which his late antiques-dealer mother bought for him and held on to for 20 years until he finally had room for it.
There is still ample space for guests, though. A single cabin bed nestled behind a hide-and-seek curtain appeals to the couple’s young nieces and nephews, while the double bedroom next door wrapped in a traditional William Morris print has been nicknamed the “nana attic room”.
A curtained-off bed appeals to the couple’s visiting nephews and nieces (Sarah Brick)
‘We rarely need to leave east London’
Visitors are plentiful as Holland admits: “We rarely need to leave east London. There’s really nice restaurants and a lot of our friends live and work here.”
His own studio, where a small team of seven hand-make and package each order, is only a short cycle away in Hackney Central. Weekends usually involve a long walk around the park, or a game of tennis with the landlord of their local pub, The Empress.
The Lancashire native has found his happy place not just in villagey Victoria Park but in the world of interiors.
Another of Holland’s ceramic lamp stands on display (Sarah Brick)
“The amazing thing about clay and ceramics as a medium is that you’re never done. There’s so many different techniques and ways of experimenting, and I actually feel so involved in that creative process, whereas in fashion I wasn’t the one making the clothes,” he says.
His eponymous fashion label House of Holland — once a starry London Fashion Week fixture — went into administration in 2020.
“People forget that the expectations on small, independent designers and businesses are exactly the same as the big companies,” he says.
But he remains sanguine. “It’s a real skill to know when to walk away from something as much as tuning in to an opportunity.”
He clearly has a gift for this: his fashion brand was born off the back off cheeky slogan T-shirts produced while he was fashion editor at Smash Hits magazine (and which went on to be a bestseller at Dover Street Market).
Getting behind the wheel
Unemployed for the first time since he was a teenager, Holland took ceramics lessons and shared his creations on Instagram. His DMs quickly racked up with orders: in one evening he fielded 170 requests. Then came a message from a Liberty buyer wanting 600 pieces.
Bestsellers include the multi-tasking Chalice footed bowl — “it’s a good crowd pleaser” — and the chunky Art Deco mugs (£55).
“That fills me with joy because [the mug] is the first piece I ever made in my pottery class and it’s still going strong. We must have sent almost a thousand around the world,” he says. His sculptural lighting pieces are also finding favour with interior designers globally.
Holland is not averse to getting his hands dirty and helping to fulfil orders, but he enjoys developing new designs when he has the studio all to himself.
Generating partnerships, such as those with Harlequin and tile company Bert & May, also take up a chunk of the working week. “It’s an important part of our revenue so I do outreach and keep those moving,” he says.
What would be his dream collaboration? “I would love to work with someone on some furniture,” he says. Knowing his track record, he’ll likely make it happen.
Discover the Henry Holland x Harlequin collection at harlequin.sandersondesigngroup.com