Defining Style with John Pawson
In a series of interviews with designers featured in our new interiors book Defining Style, we talk to a true master of minimalism.
“I have always responded to quiet spaces, where the eye is free to travel uninterrupted,” explains John Pawson, the British architect who, since the beginning of the 1980s, has been instrumental in making Minimalism a thing.
“I find profound comfort and pleasure in environments where it’s all about the light, the proportions, the surfaces, and the atmosphere. If these are right, nothing more is required,” he says.
For Pawson, observing the impact of light on architectural space is one of the great joys of life. The British architect and designer, who is revered among those who celebrate the art of understatement, has been practicing his distinctive brand of Minimalism since founding his London firm in 1981.
He spent five years refashioning a series of old stone-and-wood structures—some dating back to the early seventeenth century—into Home Farm, his 24-acre Cotswolds family retreat.
John Pawson - Home Farm, Cotswolds, United Kingdom, 2019 photographed by Gilbert McCarragher
Home Farm is one of 150 contemporary residential interiors from around the world featured in our new book Defining Style: The Book of Interior Design. Organised by 25 timeless design styles, our interiors survey inspires readers to enrich their own spaces by equipping them with ways to identify each style and what elements best speak to their ideal way of living.
Defining Style takes beginners and enthusiasts alike on a journey through familiar themes such as Coastal, Modernist, and Tropical, while including a few surprises like Organic Modern, Spirited, and Textured. Not surprisingly Pawson's work is included in the chapter headed Minimal.
The impact of natural light in and around the buildings and on their surfaces drove every aspect of his design. The great room, says Pawson, acts as “a vast and tranquil light box, whose character shifts according to the time of day, the weather, and the season.”
The architect poured concrete terrazzo floors in a creamy shade of grey, sourced rare elm wood to replicate the farmhouse’s original timber, and coated the walls in a chalky, white lime plaster that reflects the dappled light filtering in through custom sheet-glass doors. Phaidon.com asked John a few questions about defining style, including how he'd define his own. This is what he told us.
John Pawson - Home Farm, Cotswolds, United Kingdom, 2019 photographed by Gilbert McCarragher
How would you define your own personal style? I have always been driven by the pursuit of simplicity - for what I have characterised as the minimum, which is the quality an object or space has when it is no longer possible to improve it by subtraction. This act of subtraction is the essential prelude to achieving the sense of ease and stillness that, for me, defines the feeling of being at home in a place. I find profound comfort and pleasure in environments where it’s all about the light, the proportions, the surfaces and the atmosphere.
How has your style developed over time? In terms of development over time, I can honestly say that when I sit down to design a space or an object now, it is with the same approach and thinking as I did when I started out, four decades ago.
How do you work with a client to define, expand or adapt their style to a particular space? The design process tends to start with an invitation to visit my home, whether the house in Notting Hill or Home Farm. It’s not just a nice thing to do, it’s the easiest and most natural way for people to understand whether they could feel at home in equivalent spaces - whether it all instinctively makes sense to them. All the conversations that follow can then advance on the basis of trust and understanding.
What should someone reading this be aware of when incorporating seemingly disparate elements, or mixing different styles or approaches, to their own interiors? In the end it’s a matter of what feels right and comfortable to the individual, which is very personal. My own preference is to keep things simple, but this doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate or enjoy spending time in very different environments.
How does adding art impact the style of a particular space? Everything you put into a space - even something as seemingly insignificant as a light switch - has a profound impact on the way that space is experienced. This is particularly true of art, which naturally draws the eye.
Is there one key element or piece anyone can add to evoke a personal sense of style? Getting the light right in a space is absolutely fundamental, but not easily achieved. In terms of a single transformational gesture, I would say that if a room were to have nothing in it but a simple, well-designed chair, like Hans Wegner’s Wishbone chair, that room would be quietly complete.
The book features your own personal space - do you ever get restless at all and wish to change or adapt it? I can honestly say that I don’t.
John Pawson - Home Farm, Cotswolds, United Kingdom, 2019 photographed by Gilbert McCarragher
Take a closer look at Defining Style: The Book of Interior Design here, read our introduction to the book story here, and look out for more interviews with the designers and architects featured in the book in the coming weeks.
And if you'd like to read John Pawson on the art he's collected over the years and see how he has incorporated it into his home, read this Artspace interview.