How I Curate My Space: Anna Jewsbury’s Eclectic Living Room In A Converted London Pub
In this interiors series, we ask designers and tastemakers to open the doors of their most-loved room, sharing the stories and inspirations behind its style and their favorite pieces within it. Next up, jewelry and ceramics designer ANNA JEWSBURY, artistic director of London label Completedworks, invites us into the charming converted pub she shares with her family. By KATIE BERRINGTON
“Creating an interior is such an emotional process,” considers Anna Jewsbury about the former London pub that has become her family home. “When creating Completedworks collections, I often have a very clear idea of a character and mood – and an environment that they inhabit. And I think people’s personal spaces can reveal a lot about them – not just the individual pieces they’ve chosen, but the way they bring it all together.”
This is certainly true for Jewsbury, who moved into the house, a three-storey converted pub in London’s Marylebone district, at the end of 2020. “I loved the challenge of creating a contemporary and functional family home whilst also respecting the history of the building,” she says. The aforementioned building was actually in complete disrepair when she and her husband bought it, but the bones were there for the making of something exquisite: the beauty of the 1820s property and its huge windows, the proportions of the rooms, the architectural detailing.
The space Jewsbury enjoys most is the open-plan living area, where the family spends the most time together, having initially fallen in love with “the way the light comes in, articulating different areas of the room at different times of the day.
“Its aesthetic is raw, eclectic, unfussy, but with small, deliberate details,” she says of the way her vision for the room came to life. It reflects her overall design style – asymmetric, contoured, with sculptural pieces that evoke movement and juxtaposition. “I’m trying to create something classic and sophisticated, but always with subversive undertones; something a little strange. I think there is more longevity to approaching design in this way.”
With a desire to live in a minimalist environment in which interesting textures and materials can sing, Jewsbury kept the palette calm with a lime-wash finish, “which has this rawness to it that I really love. It’s muted in color but rich in tone and variation.” Vivid character is added through some of the designer’s favorite features within the space: the lilac upholstery of her dining chairs, which sit around a table she inherited from her grandparents, and the huge canvas that hangs on the wall, Gestural Involvement with Others by Irish artist Sian Costello.
“I always think a room shouldn’t be static. I like to move things around, try new arrangements, have the room evolve with time,” Jewsbury continues of the fluid, emotive approach she takes to creating a space that doesn’t feel too formal. “Rather than being heavily influenced by a particular design period or movement, I think, for me, it’s about surrounding yourself with pieces you love – whether they make sense or not, and without overthinking how it all goes together. I like to add personal, unexpected, even illogical details to a room – details that make the eyes dance around.”
My five favorite pieces
Mid-century dining table
“The table was passed down from my grandparents, so it’s really special to me. I have so many memories from childhood, gathering around that table as a family every time we visited. The chairs needed reupholstering, so we chose this beautiful lilac Kvadrat x Raf Simons fabric – the color gives me so much joy every time I see it.”
‘The Bubble to End All Bubbles’ recycled glass vase by Completedworks
“I like the idea that, as you walk into a room, your eyes can dart around and, wherever they land, there will be something beautiful or interesting… ideally, both. My four-year-old son loves to move my vases around the room, constantly rearranging. Somehow, he has never broken one! And this vase is one of my favorites. Each of our glass vases is made using melted-down broken window and bottle glass – and they’re hand-blown, so every edition is slightly different, showing the hands of the maker.”
‘Who Dropped the Towel?’ jewelry box by Completedworks
“I have a terrible habit of taking my jewelry off in whatever room I am in and abandoning it there. So, lately, I’ve been keeping a jewelry box in the living room, to try offsetting this. It has a beautiful draped and crumpled fabric motif, but in a hard resin form.”
‘Gestural Involvement with Others’ by Sian Costello
“I could stare at this painting all day. There’s always something new to discover.”
Resin vanity mirror by Completedworks
“It is perfectly impractical and is sort of an ode to one of our first ever earring designs [the ‘Scrunch’], which has become a signature design for us.”