My haven, George Clarke: The architect and Amazing Spaces TV presenter, 43, in the garden studio of his west London home
- George has lived in his home for three years and built a studio in the garden
- He says that he loves escaping to the peaceful studio to read and write
- Here he shows us some of his most prized possessions kept in his haven
George Clarke has lived in his west London home for three years and he built the studio in the back garden where he likes to escape to read and write
1 HOME FROM HOME
This studio, which I built in my garden after buying my house three years ago, is where I escape to read and write. It’s so peaceful except for the rumble of the Tube going past, but I love that.
My house is from the 60s and it reminds me of my mum’s place on an estate in Sunderland – though sadly it’s about 15 times more expensive. I treasure this picture with my dad, as he died a few months later in a waterskiing accident in 1981 when I was just seven.
2 THANKS, HRH
I was sent this thank-you letter by Prince Charles after I showed him round the Ideal Home Show in 2011. He’s got a good heart and a cracking sense of humour. My favourite line in the letter is when he says I helped explain ‘that living sustainably doesn’t necessarily mean occupying something that resembles a flying saucer!’
George's grandfather's Omega watch
3 MINIATURE MARVEL
We may be living in a hi-tech, virtual-reality world, but I still love tangible plaster-cast models. This one is of the Villa Saraceno, built by Andrea Palladio near Vicenza, northern Italy, around 1550.
Every time I look at it, it’s a memory not only of one of my favourite architects, but also of good times with friends. You can rent the villa through The Landmark Trust and I had friends over there for a long weekend for my 40th birthday.
4 A CHAIR WITH FLAIR
It was always one of my ambitions to have an original moulded plywood chair from the 50s by American husband-and-wife design team Charles and Ray Eames. I do have one in my house in Ibiza, as well as this more modern version.
Their creations had such a sense of fun and playfulness. I don’t want to upset any Eames fanatics out there, but I do find that when you sit in them you still need a tiny pillow at the base of your back.
5 WATCH AND LEARN
Dad was a typesetter who loved design and astronomy, and I keep these sketches we did together (on the stool) as well as his father’s Omega watch (on the table).
While Dad taught me to draw, my maternal grandfather got me into building – when he was made redundant as a builder, he went to night classes to build his own trawler and became a fisherman for 20 years. That showed me anybody can do anything.
6 ENJOYING A FLUTTER
As a child I loved David Attenborough programmes and books by Gerald Durrell. I used to draw butterflies from books all the time because I was amazed by the variations of colour, shape and pattern and I was obsessed by the architecture of them. Mother Nature does architecture better
than we do. Then when I bought my first house I started buying framed butterflies. I just think they’re the most beautiful things in the world.
George’s new charity, Ministry of Building Innovation + Education (mobie.org.uk), aims to inspire young people to work in home building and design.
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