The sun is always shining in architect Josh Piddock’s apartment in London’s Hackney. That’s thanks to the kitchen mural, a simple but game-changing circle, that Josh planted in the heart of his carefully orchestrated flat.
When the contractor he was waiting for unexpectedly left town, Josh, who heads his own firm, Studio Merlin, orchestrated the remodel himself. He did his share of the scutwork as well, including stripping the kitchen’s 1970s wallpaper. While painting the walls white “as a temporary lift prior to the full refurbishment,” he left a large, round patch of brown plaster bare because he liked the way it added a moon-like presence (scroll below to see it).
As work got underway, Josh decided to turn to the moon into a sun, rendered in a warm yellow clay plaster. The circle serves as a focal point for his quarters, which are in Gibson Gardens, a late-19th century enclave of brick buildings—Josh chose his palette from the colors outside his windows. He also continued with the decorative wall painting: there’s a Mondrian-style pattern adjacent to the sun. Join us for a tour.
Photography by Richard Chivers, courtesy of Studio Merlin (@studiomerlin).
Simple white floor tiles form, in Josh’s words, a “soft corridor and and circulation zone leading to the other rooms of the flat,” and the kitchen is set off by terrazzo floor tiles.
