Loading summary
Transcript166 lines
- [00:07]
Matt Gibbard
But what's amazing is that you and Duncan have got such a solidity.
- [00:11]
Luke Edward Hall
Well, I think we've been very lucky. I think we were very lucky. And we met each other very young and we grew up together, basically, you know, we had our whole 20s together, which is a really crazy time, I think, you know, there are moments when Duncan was working, I was finishing university, I had no idea what I was going to do. But I think because we had each other, we did have a solid foundation. And I think that we were there for each other during that whole tricky time when you're figuring out what you're going to do with your life. And I hope home played an important part in that. I mean, I have to say, you know, having that flat in Camden was a kind of. Was a really amazing thing for us because it was a solid place to be, a solid home.
- [00:52]
Duncan Campbell
Hello and welcome to Homing In. I'm Matt Gibbard, co founder of the Modern House. Today's guest is the artist and designer Luke Edward Hall. Luke's diverse output has encompassed everything from homewares for Sphinx 10 to illustrations for Burberry and the interior of a hotel in Paris, all brought together by his uniquely romantic sensibility. He has a fashion and homewares brand called Chateau Orlando and he also writes a column for the Financial Times. Luke has kindly invited us to his house in the Cotswolds, which he shares with his husband, Duncan Campbell, and a pair of enthusiastic whippets. I was intrigued to learn that this modern day dandy comes from a pretty bog standard commuter town. And like many of the people I talk to on this podcast, his creative impulses offered a root out of mediocrity. He tells me his very personal backstory of being estranged from his father at a young age and what it was like to come out as gay to his. We talk about his witty, whimsical interpretation of the English country house style, why he believes you should invest yourself financially and emotionally in a rental, and why he chose to paint his London flat in Pepto Bismol pink before getting rid of it a few days later. Here it is. Happy listening and I hope you enjoy it.
- [02:16]
Matt Gibbard
Thanks. Thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Thanks for letting us be here. More to the point, in your beautiful home, we always start with a kind of glimpse into the background and you're someone that's really. I think we've all read a huge amount about your life, actually. You're very happy to put yourself on show in a way, and you're very present and you're very culturally present at the moment and. But I personally haven't heard your backstory and I'd love to know, firstly, where you grew up, where you're from, and what your sort of family background is and what that was like for you.
- [02:50]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, so I grew up in Basingstoke in Hampshire, which is a sort of quite kind of 60s suburban town, has a really pretty market bit in the middle, but is, yeah, a sort of London overspill where a lot of people commute up to London and. Yeah, that's where I grew up.
- [03:09]
Matt Gibbard
In town.
- [03:10]
Luke Edward Hall
In the town. Yeah, pretty much. And it was good. I think I, you know, I think now when I think about where I'd like to live, I want to live in the city or the country. I probably wouldn't live in it. I probably wouldn't live in a kind of commuter town now. But I think growing up, it was like just where I lived and I had a really nice time there. I had a really great creative group of friends and had a great time. But my family, not. They're not creative, I would say, as such. But they were always super supportive of what I wanted to do. And I think I was making things, drawing, painting as a child. And they were always incredibly supportive. And I've got quite a big family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and they were always really encouraging. And then I. My only access to kind of art and design. I wasn't going to lots of museums and stuff when I was a kid, but I think when I was a teenager, my access into that world was magazines. And I think in a way that it's that classic, like, small town boy trope. Like it's this sort of small town kid discovers the creative kind of universe and then moves to the big city. And I. It was definitely a kind of bit of that. I'd go to like, WH Smith's and buy. I guess it was like Heidi and Dazed and Confused in those kinds of magazines. And that was how I discovered St. Martin's and read about that. And that was. I set my heart on going there when I was, I don't know, 14, 15. And that was the only place I applied to. And then when I was 18, I moved to London. And I think I'd had a great time at home and I had a really lovely childhood and like I said, super encouraging parents. And I had a really fun group of friends that were all. That were all very creative. But I was also really excited about moving to this city. But I was lucky. I think it's really interesting. You talk about school and stuff now. Like, I had a really great time at school. I went to a. The local comprehensive school, had great teachers. I had amazing art teachers, which really, again, was super encouraging. And I think I was really lucky to have. And actually sometimes I still speak to my sixth form photography teacher. We chat on Instagram sometimes. And I was really lucky to have that kind of experience. But I think by the time I was 18, I was like, ready to get out. I mean, because it's quite close to London, I would. I'd go up, I'd visit on weekends and stuff and go to concerts and things like that, but it was the only place I wanted to move to.
- [05:26]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah, it's interesting, that story about learning about culture through magazines. It's something that you hear quite a lot. And a lot of the people I speak to, to be honest, are from very ordinary households that are unremarkable.
- [05:40]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [05:41]
Matt Gibbard
And that's a great thing.
- [05:42]
Luke Edward Hall
And yeah, I think there's this weird thing sometimes, not that people are like, surprised, but when people. When you're like, where are you from? And it's. I'm just from a regular kind of English town. But I think that there's something about that. Sometimes it does really spur people on because I think I had a really great time. But I think also there's this kind of yearning for. You discover what's out there and then it pushes you. I think there is a thing about that, from coming from just an ordinary background that kind of really pushes you to create and. I don't know. Do you know what I mean?
- [06:09]
Matt Gibbard
I do. I don't want to put words into your mouth, but what did you feel? The sense that actually you wanted something more? Yeah, yeah.
- [06:16]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah. I think so. I think just exactly. I think I had a good time, but I think realizing that there was more out there. I'm finding these magazines and learning about some martins and the kind of fashion scene and all of that stuff. And I was like, I was always making stuff and drawing as a kid, but I think then realizing, okay, there's this whole world out there that I can experience at the moment through magazines, but maybe I can be a part of that. And maybe that's through then. Yeah. Applying to art school, going to art school, moving to London, that was really exciting, that kind of discovery. And it's. It's a funny thing because I had a good time in Basingstoke, but I think definitely there was that feeling of, yeah, there's a whole world out there. And I am excited to go and explore that. But, yeah, I think in that kind of scenario, sometimes you need to kind of find your pack, I think. And I think I was lucky in that I did find a really fun, great group of friends who were all into the same things as me. You know, my best friend from school works in film and stuff like that. I think it was quite unusual because. Not unusual maybe, but just I think in those. In that kind of ordinary sort of town environment, it's really key to find that group of friends and you can all push each other on, which is, I think, what happened.
- [07:25]
Matt Gibbard
Okay. Do you see them now still?
- [07:27]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, yeah, I see one. Mainly I keep in touch with a couple of others. But yeah, it's, you know, it was a real kind of crucial time. I mean, it's something I've spoken about before. But when I was a teenager, I used to make this magazine. I made this fanzine cake and it was a DIY kind of collage kind of thing that I put together. And I'd ask my friends to contribute stuff so they would. It was very like jokey writing about fashion and music. And one friend contributed, like a fake diary entry. And it was quite weird. It was quite strange. And then I'd give it to my dad and he'd take it to work and photocopy it and then I'd give it out to people. And then when I moved to London, I started selling it in like a shop on Brick Lane. But I think from a young age I was always doing little projects like that and involving friends. So, yeah, I think it's funny thinking back to that time because I think it was a sort of very regular setup, but I was already exploring creative ideas and having this kind of creative group of friends. But I definitely. Yeah, I think when it got to time to leave, I was excited. But then. But then looking back now, it's funny because when I first moved away, I remember being slightly terrified. I mean, weekends I would want to come home and I did for the first six months. I'd come home at weekends and. Which is funny to think about now. But of course it is scary when you move away and when you do leave that kind of home environment.
- [08:44]
Matt Gibbard
It's interesting because as you're talking, I'm thinking you found your group of people within that small town environment and that that works well for you. Does that mean that you felt quite accepted? Because thinking about again, a lot of creatives that one meets felt like quite an outsider when they were younger.
- [09:01]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [09:01]
Matt Gibbard
Did you feel like you were a bit of an anomaly in some way.
- [09:04]
Luke Edward Hall
I think at home. I definitely knew that I was different. And like I say, my family were very supportive, but I think they were also maybe slightly not confused, but kind of, like, surprised. I mean, I was, you know, I was very opinionated. I was like, like I say, making these magazines, doing all this kind of weird stuff, putting on photo shoots, getting my brother, like, dressing up my brother and taking pictures of him, and I was doing all these projects. My parents were just probably a bit confused, but was so supportive of it. And when I said I wanted to go to St. Martin's they were like, great. But I definitely knew that I was different, I would say. And, yeah, like a lot of creative people. I think growing up in a regular English town, I think you do definitely have that feeling. But because I found my kind of group of friends that really helped me a lot as well, I think is I knew that there were people like me. And also I came out when I was 17.
- [09:58]
Matt Gibbard
What was that like for you?
- [09:59]
Luke Edward Hall
It was a good experience within this group of friends. Two of them were also gay and coming out at the same time. Okay. Which was amazing because I had this creative group of friends and then within that, gay friends as well. And we all helped each other through it. And my parents were good about it. Again, I think it was a bit of a surprise for them. I don't know how, but it was a bit of a surprise for them. But they were. They were. They were good about it. They were very accepting. And I had a really positive experience. I don't think that they really knew any gay people. And I think when you think about their experience of it, it was probably just from characters on television, personalities on television. But they were. They were good about it.
- [10:38]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah.
- [10:39]
Luke Edward Hall
And that's. And supportive. And I think sometimes when I think now, like, in a way, it's all you need from a parent as well, is this kind of. I feel like they gave me loads of love. They let me be who I wanted to be as a gay person, but also as this creative who knew what he wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to work in art and design. I knew that I wanted to go and be an artist designer. I knew that I wanted to go to St. Martin's very. As a teenager, I was very, like, set on my path. And they, to their credit, were always just like, go for it. And I think that maybe they didn't always totally understand it. I wasn't taken to art galleries and stuff as a kid and I found a lot of that stuff myself through friends and through magazines, like I was saying. So I think it was like a journey of self discovery. But my family were always just really supportive of it, which is what you need.
- [11:26]
Matt Gibbard
It's really good, isn't it? It's really great. Especially as you say, if they didn't necessarily have that context in their own lives.
- [11:33]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of kids when they, you know, when you have to go through that experience of coming out, parents are not always supportive, of course. And you might not have a group of friends who are also gay who can help you through it. And I think, you know, it can be a really awful time and a really difficult time. And I think when I look back now, I knew I was gay, but I didn't give it much thought. I probably pushed it or pushed it down, as you have to, I think, because you know that it's unusual and you're already feeling unusual because you want to go to art school and you want to do this. I already felt like I was, you know, one out maybe, but I had these friends who were going through the same thing and then that kind of made it okay. And then my parents were good about it and it was all right. And then I moved to London. So that all happened when, I guess. Oh Yeah, I was 17 and then I moved away.
- [12:15]
Matt Gibbard
Do you remember very vividly that conversation you had with your parents? Did you know what was the sort of build up to it?
- [12:21]
Luke Edward Hall
You know, I actually don't. And I, I weirdly sometimes don't always have. I sometimes like struggle with memories, like as a kid, like I don't always remember stuff and I wonder if that's slightly like you're like, oh, this is, you know, this is a difficult conversation and you unintentionally sort of block it out so you don't remember it like that does. You know, that's the thing is. And it wasn't, you know, like I said, my parents were really accepting, but that didn't mean that it wasn't really difficult to do. And actually I think the way it happened was my best friend Toby had come out and I think it was actually my 17th birthday party and he bought his boyfriend. And I think what happened was my mum took me aside, I think a couple of days later and was like, so Toby's gay? And she basically was like, is there something you need to do? You want to tell anything to me as well about that? And that's how it happened. Which was very tactful. Of her and it was a nice way. And I think because, yeah, I think having these friends around that were going through the same thing, I mean, it made it all much easier. Yeah.
- [13:16]
Matt Gibbard
And have you got one brother or have you got other siblings as well?
- [13:20]
Luke Edward Hall
Two brothers and sister. Two brothers.
- [13:21]
Matt Gibbard
Sister. Okay.
- [13:22]
Luke Edward Hall
And another brother who's gay.
- [13:23]
Matt Gibbard
Okay.
- [13:24]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [13:24]
Matt Gibbard
So where are you? Which number are you?
- [13:26]
Luke Edward Hall
I'm the eldest.
- [13:27]
Matt Gibbard
Okay. And what was that like then? Because I'm an elder sibling as well. And of course there are cliches that one takes on a bit more responsibility and so on. But what was it like for you?
- [13:35]
Luke Edward Hall
I think so. I also have this. I had this setup where basically my parents had me and then they separated when I was really young and I would still see my father, but then I stopped seeing him when I was. I'm trying to think how old I was. I think I was about 9 or 10. And I stopped seeing him. And my mum had a new boyfriend by then and he adopted me. So he became my. He was my stepdad and became my dad, basically. And then they had my brothers and sister. So it's a slightly unusual kind of setup in. In that way.
- [14:12]
Matt Gibbard
So when you talk about your parents, do you talk about your stepfather? Yeah. So your. Your father, father. Do you still not talk to him?
- [14:20]
Luke Edward Hall
No, and I kind of don't think about it very much. And through thinking about it recently, I realized that. And talking to someone about it, I realized it's going quite deeply, but I know it's not deep at all, but I do feel like maybe a lot of that time I slightly blocked out a bit because it was maybe traumatic, I'm sure, and now I can't remember a lot of it, but I remember basically I stopped seeing my real dad. Stepfather became my father, his parents became my grandparents. And it all happened in this very nice kind of organic way where he just, for all intents and purposes, became my dad. And it worked out. It was fine. It was great. But I think it's strange sometimes thinking about it because, yeah, I did stop seeing my birth dad, but I kind of fell into this new sort of very happy environment. I think my real dad was probably a good guy, but quite troubled, maybe.
- [15:15]
Matt Gibbard
What sort of troubled?
- [15:16]
Luke Edward Hall
I think he. Well, he was an alcoholic for sure, and. But I don't remember it. But I have very vague memories of things. It was when I'd have time with him, we would supposed to go to the park or whatever, and we'd just go to the pub and things like that, like small but not a lot, but vague things like that. And then when I stopped seeing him, I don't remember it being. I don't remember finding it mega difficult, but I don't know if that's because I've glossed over it slightly but. But I've never really. It's not something that I felt like I've had to go and I've not ever really felt the urge to fix that because I have. Have had a. I had a wonderful childhood with my stepdad who became my dad.
- [15:55]
Matt Gibbard
So that sort of rift that occurred at the age of nine or ten, do you feel like looking back or can you not remember looking back? Do you feel like that was your decision or do you think that actually, you know, perhaps your mum and her new partner just naturally ushered you in that direction and it worked out well.
- [16:12]
Luke Edward Hall
I think it was a bit of both. I don't totally remember, but I think that I must have not been. I think I knew that it wasn't. That the setup with my dad wasn't quite right and that it wasn't what I probably needed and then I was probably ushered along. But I don't remember. I don't remember finding it difficult or being upset about it. I mean they were very young as well. I mean my mum had me when she was, I think 20. My stepdad, when he came on the scene was like. I think my mum might have been 22, my dad around that time. We know when I was born was sort of 19, 20, really young. Yeah. But like a lot of the dates and even my age and stuff, I get all kind of blurs.
- [16:49]
Matt Gibbard
But I don't think that you can go through a life changing thing like a parent moving out of your life and another parent coming in. That's seismic. And I don't think you can have that not affect you.
- [17:02]
Luke Edward Hall
No. And I think it did in probably ways I don't fully understand still. But it is weird as well because a lot of it is really blurry. And even then when I was talking and I was like, was I nine, was I ten?
- [17:11]
Matt Gibbard
And you never talked to your mum about that period?
- [17:13]
Luke Edward Hall
Not really. I mean we touch on it sometimes. We did the other week actually, but not really. And it's sort of like there isn't much to say about it in a way because it's like, well, yeah, that happened and I don't see him anymore. But it's quite like sometimes she'll be like, if you. But if you wanted to, you could. But there's. I don't see any point in it because I already feel like a slight black sheep within my even, you know, as I was saying, even though it was great, I still feel like a slight black sheep. I don't quite know what would be the point. And I can't imagine that I would have another relationship that's like. I don't think that we would have a connection that would be worse. But maybe, maybe we would. I don't know.
- [17:49]
Matt Gibbard
Do you ever think about what parts of your birth father might be in you and kind of driving you on?
- [17:55]
Luke Edward Hall
Well, maybe. And apparently I look a lot like him then, you know, we might have traits that are alike, you know, things in our personality, our makeup. But is it enough to make me want to reopen that kind of thing? I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe not. I think I know never say never, but I don't really know what I would get out of it. And I also think, to be honest, it was his doing, you know, his decision in a way, if he'd wanted to, he could have tried harder to have not let that relationship just completely fizzle out. So what do I owe him? Not much. I think that's quite sort of. Yeah. Intense thing. But I think. Yeah, I don't know if I really owe him that. And look, also, in all very practical, life is already so busy. I can barely see the friends that I have. I can barely see that I've got a big family and I do talk to my mum a few times a week. I try and go back and see them as much as I can, but you know, it's already enough. Keeping up with grandparents, aunts, you know, parents, siblings. Do I need to add another one into that? I'm happy with like how it all turned out. My dad, my stepdad, my dad, you know, I call him, obviously I call him. My dad was amazing. I mean he was like 21 or something when he took on me not knowing what would happen. I don't know, it's a lot like, I don't know, 21 year old taking on it is. Yeah. And only ever brilliant. And obviously then I had brothers and sister and we had a very normal then setup from a slightly rocky start I guess when I was a kid. So I don't know, I didn't feel like anything was missing. I've never felt like anything was missing. And I think if I felt like something was missing then it would be something worth exploring. But I don't really feel like there's been like a gap to fill. I do find the family stuff quite not tricky to talk about, but I think it's hard to sort of get across that idea. I think that a lot of people have of. You had a great. I had a great childhood. I had supportive family, great friends. But I also knew that I wanted to get out and I moved to London and sort of spread my wings and it's a familiar trope, but it's hard to explain it without sounding like ungrateful. I think probably I think about it too much in that way. But, you know, I had loads of amazing experiences when I was young. From my parents being fine about me being gay to letting me go off to art school. It was all great. I knew that I wanted to go and do my own thing. But you know, I still feel guilty. I feel guilty for not living up, living where I grew up and my family are very tight knit and I, of course I feel guilty. I don't see enough of them. But I couldn't nod. I couldn't not move away. I couldn't, I couldn't have stayed there and I couldn't move back there. But that's okay as well. I think it's okay to feel like that and it's okay to feel both. To feel contented with what you had, but also wanting more.
- [20:33]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. So you're. So your name Luke Edward hall, which is such a part of you.
- [20:39]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [20:40]
Matt Gibbard
So is Edward your middle name?
- [20:42]
Luke Edward Hall
That was my middle name.
- [20:43]
Matt Gibbard
And hall is what, your original surname?
- [20:45]
Luke Edward Hall
No, my. No, it's my. When I was adopted. When I was adopted that became. I was born Luke Edward Jones.
- [20:52]
Matt Gibbard
Okay.
- [20:53]
Luke Edward Hall
And then hall was my new name.
- [20:56]
Matt Gibbard
Okay.
- [20:56]
Luke Edward Hall
When I was adopted.
- [20:57]
Matt Gibbard
Okay. And the Edward is so key in it, isn't it? Have you always called yourself that or is that something that you used as a kind of work name and then it stuck?
- [21:06]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, I think I just, I think. I don't know when I started using it like that. I think probably when I was at St. Martin's I think I started using. Yeah, I did because when I was making my collections that's what I would use as my name and what I'd sign it, you know, sign things as and yeah, I just liked how it sounded. I think it was, it was definitely intentional, but I don't. I think I just gradually started using it when I was at university. I think it's. The initials are quite nice for things and it just, it made. It was also. I felt like I knew that it would be a thing that would be easy to kind of Google and know maybe Lukewarm would just be a bit harder.
- [21:38]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah, exactly. And Luke Jones would be a very different.
- [21:41]
Luke Edward Hall
Exactly, exactly. So I think I just naturally started using it and I liked the way it sounded and I liked the way it looked when it was written down. And maybe when I was already at university, I was thinking about that and a kind of sense of branding and things.
- [21:57]
Matt Gibbard
Okay, so you went. You were art school. And then after that, how did you get started on the journey towards being what you are now?
- [22:04]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, so I basically I went to Martin's. I moved to London when I was 18 and I did a foundation year at St. Martin's and I lived in Bethnal Green when I first moved to London. And I always thought I would maybe do graphic design. That's what I really liked. Or maybe fine art, but I loved. I loved design. But then when I moved to London and I was already interested in clothes and fashion, but when I moved to London, it was that kind of really exciting time in East London. It was like 2,000, I don't know, seven or something. And I got swept up in that kind of. And I was already like reading, like I said, magazines, Dazed and things like that when I was in Basingstoke. And then when I moved to London, it was just so exciting. This whole kind of thing opened up. I hated going to nightclubs, but it was that whole kind of period of Hoxton and Shoreditch and club nights, like Boombox. And it was like dressing up. And it was this really fun, exciting time and I kind of got swept up in it. And I was on my foundation course and I decided that I would apply for a degree in fashion communication, which was maybe what you'd do if you wanted to work for a magazine, styling and photography. And I applied for that and got in. And then I started on this course and I just quickly realised that it was maybe not. I thought that I needed to be more hands on designing stuff. And so I asked to change to menswear and I could do that. I was accepted onto menswear. I did some drawings and I hadn't really designed clothes before, but I whipped some up. But I had to start the next year, so I had some time. So I started interning. I interned with a guy called Nicola Formichetti, who was. I think he was at the time. He was the. Maybe the creative director of Days or the art director or something like that. And I helped out on shoots and. And then I went to intern with Jonathan Anderson when he had just started his label. J.W. anderson was just menswear. And I interned with him for about three or four months. And that's where I met Duncan. And at this age, I was, yeah, 19. And then I started on my degree and did ensue for three years.
- [24:03]
Matt Gibbard
Okay.
- [24:04]
Luke Edward Hall
And then when I left university in 2012, I knew that I didn't want to work in fashion. I don't know, I just was like. I loved, like, elements of it. I loved the storytelling aspect of it and, like, the research. I love designing and I love drawing, but I actually didn't love making clothes. I didn't love sewing. I didn't love pattern cutting. I'm too, like. I'm not very precise as a person and as a kind of artist designer. Like, I'm. I'm stodgy and messy and I couldn't get my head around the sewing. It was too precise and too, like, perfect. And I just didn't enjoy it. Whereas what I loved was the. I loved the drawing part. I loved drawing the clothes, drawing the figures in the clothes. I loved the research. And I just knew that I didn't want to work for a fashion brand. There wasn't really a fashion brand that I wanted to work for. I was just. I wasn't sure about it. But when I left, I ended up working for Toast, the clothing company. And I think I was drawn to them because they were all about storytelling and all about the kind of atmosphere. And I felt like it was a kind of. It felt more kind of me than a big, scary fashion brand. I don't know. There was something quite cosy and I liked the fact that it was based in the countryside in Wales, and I just found it all very romantic. And I worked for them for about six months and then we started selling antiques. We'd started selling antiques when we were at. When I was at university in my kind of last year. And Duncan was. He had a job then, but Duncan and I were together then and with our best friend, we were selling antiques through this website that we created. We'd go and buy stuff at markets.
- [25:35]
Matt Gibbard
What was it called?
- [25:35]
Luke Edward Hall
It was called Fox and Flight. This is so long ago. This was like when I was 21.
- [25:40]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah.
- [25:41]
Luke Edward Hall
But we'd go and buy stuff at markets and clean them and fix them. If they need fixing, photograph them. And we had a website and we'd sell them. And our first customer was Ben Pentree, which a friend was like, oh, you need to. A friend or someone that we met said, you need to send this to Ben. I'm sure he'd love it. We didn't know who Ben was at that point, but we sent it to him and he bought some copper pans and then he invited us to do a sort of pop up shop in his shop on Rugby street, him and Bridie. And we did that and it was great. And I really fell in love with that whole universe. I thought that Ben and Brady had this amazing. I loved the shop. I hadn't been before, so it was great. And I was so taken by Ben's kind of interior design architecture. And it wasn't something I'd really thought about before. I knew that I liked old things, interiors, antiques. And when I was a. When I was a kid I used to work. When I was a teenager I worked at a National Trust house on the weekends in the Castle Cafe. And I think that really sparked an interest in old buildings and interiors. But it wasn't really something I thought about as a career. I was 23 at that point. I was still unsure about the fashion thing. Wasn't quite. I just didn't quite know what path I'd end up on. And Ben basically was looking for someone to come and join his interior design team. And so I jumped at the chance and went to work for him.
- [26:51]
Matt Gibbard
Okay, fast forwarding to the present day. If you are sat next to someone at the lunch table and they ask you the dreaded question about your work work and what it is that you do.
- [27:04]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [27:05]
Matt Gibbard
How would you summarize it Now?
- [27:08]
Luke Edward Hall
I always just say. I say I'm an artist and a designer because I think it, I think it's an easy summary. Yeah, it's an easy way to get out of the question because I think I usually say I'm an artist and a designer and I work on lots of different kinds of projects and then I go off and list them all basically. But I say I'm an artist and designer. And I think when I. Basically when I left Ben's I started working on projects and I always knew from the beginning that I wanted to work on a broad range of things because I think I'd always had this interest in lots of different types of art and design. And maybe it's because I can't choose and I couldn't choose and I can never choose, but I knew that I wanted to work on lots of different kinds of projects. That was my dream and my goal right from the beginning. And luckily from the beginning that's what happened. I started working on illustration jobs, but then a few kind of small interior kind of things would come along. I started Working on collaborations. And so there was a bit of a mix right from the beginning, and it stayed like that. I mean, that was 2015 when I set my thing up. And really since then, it's been. It's just been this kind of whirlwind of projects, a real mix. And there have been times when I've thought, you just need to focus on one thing. What are you doing? This is crazy. You just should get good at one thing. Which is true in some respects. Maybe that is true. But then I always think back to the people that I've always looked up to, which are people like Cecil Beaton, the Bloomsby Group, Oliver Messel, these kind of designers, artists that were always, like, blurring the boundaries between disciplines. And I think that's always given me a kind of, okay, it's fine, just enjoy it. And that's what I love doing. And it's all I've ever known, really. I think.
- [28:36]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. Well, you. It's amazing what you do. And it seemed to cross so many boundaries. And that's what's fascinating about it. And I agree, if it didn't have that cross pollination of so many different things, I think it wouldn't be nearly so interesting for us either, as a consumer. But I'm sure the same for you. But let's move on to talking about houses, flats, because you and Duncan have a flat in Camden.
- [29:00]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [29:01]
Matt Gibbard
And. Yeah, tell me about that. I've been there. It's a really lovely place, but I think it's always evolving. I remember the walls were green when I went. But now they are, I think, what you call Pepto Bismol Pink. Aren't they?
- [29:13]
Luke Edward Hall
They were Pepto Bismol Pink for about three days. Right. And it was so bright that we. And we convinced ourselves that it was fine. We were like. Because we wanted. We had it in our heads whether we would. We really wanted a bright pink sitting room. And we did it. And we knew from the beginning that it wasn't right, but we convinced ourselves that it was okay. We were like, it's fine. It's absolutely fine. But it was horrible. It was so bright that we then went about three days later and painted it a sort of dusky pink. But, yeah, basically we. So I met Duncan when I was 19. At that point, I was living in Bethnal Green, where I'd moved when I was 18. And I continued living in Bethnal Green after I met Duncan for about a year and a half. And then I moved into his flat in Camden, which is where we've been since. So that's 15 years ago. And yeah, it's been through many different kind of. Many different sort of versions of itself. When I moved in, it was white walls, exposed brick. I really remember, like, one of those lights on a tripod, like a kind of film set light.
- [30:11]
Matt Gibbard
Yep.
- [30:12]
Luke Edward Hall
It was a real, like, moment, I think.
- [30:14]
Matt Gibbard
So it's quite sort of habitat looking.
- [30:16]
Luke Edward Hall
It was quite habitat y. It was like Duncan had it. I remember when I first met him, he had this really low, like, kind of Japanese bed. Yeah, you remember those kind of like, really low beds. And so, yeah, that was the vibe when I moved in. But it's been lovely because I feel like basically over 15 years, it's changed so many times. And it's tiny. It's one bedroom, a bathroom and one room that has a sitting room and a kitchen. But it's been through so many different iterations. And at first it was where Duncan lived and I would just come and stay there. Eventually I moved in and then I think gradually we worked on it together and it organically just changed over time. But we love it. We love it there. Camden's a funny place. I think sometimes we're walking on York Way, the road that leads up from King's Cross, and we'll be on York Way and we'll think, God, wouldn't it be nice to live in, like, Bloomsbury or wouldn't it be lovely? And then we'll be like, no, actually, you know, we love it here. There's that. Bracknaught Road is our closest little street. And it's amazing. It has an incredible Italian deli. It has these organic shops. Bumblebee has a great bakery. But not much really changes around there, which is why we love it. And this is an interior designer dealer called Adam Bray. And he moved in really close to us. He's opened a shop near us. And we were talking to him and he was sort of like, I moved. I wanted to open here because it feels like London did 30 years ago or something. Like, it's not. It's just. It's got that kind of nice feeling about it. It just hasn't really been messed around with too much. We're a little way up from Camden Town. We're straddling, like, Kentish Town, Camden Town in Kings Cross. And obviously there's a lot going on in King's Cross. But where we are, nothing really changes. Occasionally something might open on Brecknorth Road, but not really the bay. Cree was the last thing, and that was about five years ago, but it's just great. And it's. I like that it's a bit scruffy. It's not perfect at all, but it's got a really nice feeling up there. I can't really imagine not living in North London now. And it's just. It's just where we know it's where. See it. Apart from Bethel Green, where I lived when I first moved, it's where we've been for so long.
- [32:02]
Matt Gibbard
And you've now got this place here in the Cotswolds. So how much of your time do you spend each one?
- [32:09]
Luke Edward Hall
I'm here a lot. I'm here as much as I can be. So is Duncan. I think he goes in a bit more obviously. He's got his business partner, Charlotte, and he goes in a bit more than me. I'm here as much as I can, basically. We started renting here in 2019 and we used to basically go out to the country a lot when we were in London. We'd go out for weekends in the country as much as we could. And eventually we thought, could we maybe rent somewhere? But we looked all over for somewhere. We looked in Somerset, in Sussex, basically, places that weren't too far away. And I also looked a bit up here as well. And then originally we were thinking, wouldn't it be nice to live in a kind of folly, a sort of Landmark Trust style, like Gatehouse or something like that, which, surprisingly, unsurprisingly, are hard to find. We actually looked at a pair of gatehouses and you have both and you have to move between them, which wasn't very practical. But this house I found on Rightmove for Rent, and Duncan came to see it first, because I was working, and he said, look, I think you're going to love it. I really love it. And I came up to see it and we fell in love with it. But we were coming on weekends from summer 2019 and then there was a whole pandemic situation from March 2020 and we were here. And then we realised, as things were starting to go back to normal, that we could probably just base ourselves here and switch it, basically. So instead of being based in London and coming on weekends, we'd be based here and then go into London when we needed to.
- [33:31]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. What do you think of the idea of really investing yourself, both spiritually and financially in a place that you're renting? Because this could only be Luke and Duncan's house, you've done a huge amount here. It is the embodiment of what you guys are about. So what do you think about that idea about renting?
- [33:49]
Luke Edward Hall
I mean, I think that we knew we wanted to rent somewhere from the beginning because of a few reasons. We. The most important one being that we needed to test it out and see if it could work for us being in the country, being a bit in London, a bit in the country, we couldn't have afforded to afford a house. And yeah, so it was the obvious choice that we would rent. And I think basically how I feel about renting is that I don't think that we could. This house is great because it's on the edge of an estate and what we loved about this house when we came to see it was that you can't see any other buildings from it. Even though we're in the flat bang in the middle of the Cotswolds, you can't see any other buildings from here. It feels very quiet. That's what we loved about it. But it probably wouldn't be sold because it's part of an estate. I don't know why our landlord would want to sell it. And so I think the thing about renting is often you can find places that are unusual and special that wouldn't be for sale otherwise. And. Yeah, and also we looked at lots of really badly done up houses for rent. What we loved about here was that the landlord had put proper love and care into it. So it's got a great kitchen, it's got really good bathrooms, it's got really good windows and ironmongery and stuff like that. But I feel like when you don't quite know what's going to happen, I think that I love it here. Will we be here forever? No. Would I want to buy around here? Probably not. Because for many reasons, I think it's probably out of our price range to live here. I don't know if I'd want to put down like solid routes here, but for now it's great. It's an amazing place to live because we are still quite close to London. I have to travel a lot for work, for being totally practical. It's actually really great for stuff like that. I can get to the airport. We've got great friends around here. But I think there's something quite nice about being a little bit fluid. And maybe in three, two, three, four, five years, I don't know, maybe we'll want to go and buy a house. But I think it just works for us, the renting thing for now.
- [35:40]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah, fair enough. Your aesthetic is. It's really struck a chord with people, I think. How would you describe it? It's obviously a mashup of things, isn't it? What are the influences in there?
- [35:52]
Luke Edward Hall
Interior style or interior style? I think interior style. I mean, what we love. What I love, what we both love is a really, like, eclectic mix, I think. I think that's what I'm about. I love color. I love pattern. I love antiques and old things and stories. I think all of my work really is about storytelling. Whether it's a painting or a drawing or an interior or a piece of clothing. I'm always trying to tell a story. And I think. But I think at home, we don't think of where we live here as an interior design project. It's just the things that we love put together. It's never been a kind of. When we moved in it, we, of course, we accumulated a lot of stuff at the beginning, but it wasn't like, okay, let's like interior design. This house, it's just a reflection of the things that we love and the things that we've collected over time. But what I love is a mix of things. Maybe in the same way that I couldn't choose about what to focus on with my career, with the stuff that I love. I like a lot of things. When you look around, we have Venetian grotto furniture, which is one of our passions. Furniture shaped like fish and shells, gilded. We've got stuff that we've made here. I made this ottoman. It has embroidered arrows on the top that I drew and then had embroidered. There's some things that Duncan's designed. There's painted Regency furniture. It's a mix. And I think that's what I love. And I think it's a true representation of us and our interests and things that we love.
- [37:16]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah, it's obviously, there's that famous Nancy Lancaster quite, isn't there? Which is. Decorating is a bit like mixing salad.
- [37:23]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [37:23]
Matt Gibbard
And I think that's definitely what you guys do.
- [37:26]
Luke Edward Hall
I think it's hard to also explain sometimes your kind of. Your kind of approach. I think that here we tend to accumulate stuff and hope it works well together. We don't worry too much about things matching. We just buy the things that we love. And I think also because Duncan and I don't work together, this is where we get to kind of work together at home. And it's fun. It's fun choosing stuff together. We had a small fire here at the beginning of the year, and we had to redecorate. That's fun for us to come together. And choose paint colors, maybe choose new bits of furniture. It's our kind of way of working together.
- [37:58]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. Do you think that it's important that someone's home reflects their character and personality?
- [38:04]
Luke Edward Hall
Of course, yeah. 100. I think that's. That's. Those are the interiors that I think are successful, and those are the interiors I love when they represent. When they reflect someone's interests. And I've said this before in the sense that a minimalist approach is not my thing, but I think if you. If I see a house that's minimalist, but it's what the owner wants. It's what they're not being. It's not what they're being told that they should have, but it's actually a reflection of them and their passions and interests. Great. That's amazing. I think a successful interior should just be a true reflection of what you love, the things you've collected, the things that you're interested in. Every surface here is covered in a book. But they're all books that I've bought because they're things that I'm interested in, whether it's Greek myths or writers or artists or photographers. And every little object has a story. It's something I've picked up on a trip. This little ashtray came from Venice the last time we were there. Every. Everything has a kind of story to tell.
- [38:56]
Matt Gibbard
Am I right in saying you're into. Quite into witches?
- [38:59]
Luke Edward Hall
Love witches. I do love witches. I am really interested in folklore and paganism, and I have been since I was a teenager. And I read a really interesting article, actually, in the Guardian a few years ago that was talking about the gay kids in suburban towns also being interested in paganism because it's a kind of escape into a kind of magical universe. And I think I definitely had that, along with my interest in kind of fashion and whatever. But I was always really interested in it since I was a kid. I was buying books on divination and witches when I was 15, 16 from Waterstones. It's crazy. No, it's not crazy. When I think back now, it's okay. So I was going to WHSmith, getting my copy of Days and Confused, walking up to Waterstones to buy my book on tarot cards. And. Yeah, I think because they were like. They were escapes into this, into these other universes. And. But that interest has really stayed with me. And I'm really interested in kind of folklore. And I think since moving to the country, that's intensified. And I love learning about local legends and superstitions. And that has fed into my work a bit as well.
- [39:56]
Matt Gibbard
It's really interesting. So I often ask people about the rituals that they have in their home environment. I know that you guys, you've got a beautiful garden here.
- [40:06]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, thank you.
- [40:08]
Matt Gibbard
You like cooking, don't you?
- [40:09]
Luke Edward Hall
We love cooking.
- [40:10]
Matt Gibbard
So what talked me through is what a kind of weekend would be, ritual wise.
- [40:15]
Luke Edward Hall
Well, we've had three weekends here recently where we've hardly done anything. We've just been at home and they have been so nice because we've had such busy times at work. And I think we really relish having these quiet weekends. It's just like total time to recharge and be in the country. And we love it. And so I think an average Saturday we'd probably get up and go straight to the straw kitchen, which is, which is a cafe, part of the Witchford pottery, which is about 15 minutes away. And they make terracotta plant pots, like the best terracotta plant pots. Amazing place. And they make them all there. And you can go and visit, you can visit the actual pottery. And it's a family run business and the daughter and her girlfriend, wife run a cafe there and it's just incredible. And it's like the antithesis of a lot of the Cotswolds. It's this, it's a, it's a kitchen, it's a building made of straw and it's food from the garden. Amazing, colorful, bright, just delicious stuff. And we. So we'll go there for breakfast. We like going there on a Saturday. Come home. On the way back, we might stop at a farm shop, buy ingredients, come back, have a long bath. We love baths in this household. And then my favorite thing to do is to spend the day cooking. So we'll do that. We'll take the boys out for a long walk.
- [41:24]
Matt Gibbard
The boys being your whippets?
- [41:26]
Luke Edward Hall
The boys being the whippets are here asleep, folded up together.
- [41:29]
Matt Gibbard
They found the only glimmer of sunshine.
- [41:31]
Luke Edward Hall
On the sofa, haven't they? They love it. And then, yeah, we'll spend the day cooking, which I find when you're so busy in the week. We cook when we're here. But I really love cooking at the weekend when I can spend proper time doing it. I love to have a day of not really doing too much. But I also get that guilt where I'm like, we should go and see something or do something. So we might, if it's, I don't know if it's the summer, we might go and look at a garden or Something in the afternoon. We have friends over all the time as well. We might, if it's like a Sunday. We'll have neighbours and friends over for lunch or go to a local pub. Our favourite is this Woolpack, which is in the Slaad Valley. And actually, I think I remember Mary Porters talking about it on her podcast with you. And it's a wonderful pub, our favorite. And it's about 40 minutes, 45, but we make regular pilgrimages over to there.
- [42:13]
Matt Gibbard
I haven't been yet. I need to go.
- [42:15]
Luke Edward Hall
Oh, God, it's like the perfect pub. Yeah, it's so good. But we're sport for choice here, actually. There's. There's so much good food, but, yeah, I mean, it's bliss when I'm away. I was just away last week in Milan and. No, this week, yesterday, this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and it was great. But I love. I love visiting Italy and I love traveling for work, I really do, and I'm so lucky to do it, but my mind always just wanders back to being here and being with the dogs, cooking my kind of like, Celtic playlist on. That's my, like, happy. It's just where I'm. I just feel so happy here.
- [42:43]
Matt Gibbard
That's really lovely, isn't it? And you and Duncan actually have been together a long time, Much longer than I. I appreciated them and. And you got married, though, not that long ago, didn't you?
- [42:54]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [42:54]
Matt Gibbard
And where did you get married? Was it here?
- [42:56]
Luke Edward Hall
We got married here and I think we've been together for, yeah, 15 years. Ages. Since I was 19, he was 22. And I think we knew that we wanted to get married and we got engaged in 2018, but I think we were just like, where do you do it? What do you do? We knew that we didn't really want to do it in London. It didn't feel right to go to a sort of. It works for a lot of people, of course, but I knew that we didn't want to just go and rent a house somewhere. I felt like we need to. We were just waiting until it felt right, like the right time, the right. And I think when we moved here in 2019, suddenly it just all fell into place and we were like, of course we should get married here. It felt like we had somewhere to do it. And so we got married. Yeah. Last year. And so our landlord lives in a big house down the road and we did the sort of ceremony bit there because it's registered, you can get married there. And then we all walked back to our Cottage across the fields. And we made a little bar in one of the fields. See, it's. Everyone stopped on route and got a drink and then came back here and we just had a big party. We had a. We had a big tent in the garden. We had about 150 people. A big tent in the garden. Our friend cooked dinner. We had three different musical moments and, yeah, it was great. It was just so nice. A lot of people said afterwards, like, it just felt really relaxed and like everyone was having a good time. And I think that's all we wanted. We just wanted it to feel like a fun party. But it was so nice to do it here in this place that means so much to us. And in our speech, when we did the ceremony, we did a little, like, introduction about the area and us moving here and us finding the house and how getting married here meant so much to us. So it was really lovely. It was really lovely and it was nice because it was a big party. But it also was really nice to have everyone at the ceremony bit as well. And it felt like a proper thing and kind of very poignant. It was just like a really moving. And I get quite. I'm quite shy and I was really nervous about all the attention being on me and it just. It's quite unnatural. It's a weird thing, but it was actually just heaven, the whole thing. I totally fell into it and just loved it.
- [44:42]
Matt Gibbard
And Duncan is a bit more of an extrovert, right?
- [44:46]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, he is. I think that's why I fell in love with him instantly, was because he was not what I was. And I think that's. That's what works well sometimes, not always, but I think that I was. I was. Especially when I met him, I was really reserved, really quiet. And it's interesting what you said about work, because I think I've always loved pushing my work out there. I've had no problem with it. It's been my way to express myself, which is why I was making a magazine when I was 15, 16, with my friends. Great. Happy to do it. Loved doing it. But I think as a person privately, I've always been really quiet and reserved and it takes me a while to warm up to people. Less so now. But when I was in my early 20s, whatever. And I. When I met Duncan, I was just like, wow, he's just so comfortable in himself and we all have our own things. But he was instantly just this kind of charismatic out there, like everyone wanted to be around him. And that's what I think I was so attracted to. Yeah, I think we've. I think we've taught each other a lot over the years. I've become probably a bit more calm, I would say. And he. I think he's. Because maybe he was maybe not so wanting to put his work out there and I would. I think we taught each other a lot.
- [45:54]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. Which when it works well, that's what happens. But what's amazing is that you and Duncan have got such a solidity.
- [46:00]
Luke Edward Hall
Well, I think we've been very lucky. I think we were very lucky that we met each other very young and we grew up together basically. You know, we had our whole 20s together, which is a really crazy time. I think, you know, there were moments when Duncan was working, I was like finishing university. I had no idea what I was going to do. But I think because we had each other, we did have a solid foundation and I think that we were there for each other during that whole tricky time when you're figuring out what you're going to do in your life. And home played an important part in that. I mean, I have to say, you know, having that flat in Camden was a kind of. Was a really amazing thing for us because it was a solid place to be, a solid home.
- [46:39]
Matt Gibbard
And like, mental health wise, I was interested in how people's homes come into that. What is this place for you on that front? Do you get anxious about life?
- [46:48]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, I would say that I'm a pretty anxious person. Just anyway, not. I think we're all. I don't know, some people aren't anxious, are they? I think we will have a lot going on and I think that the city maybe, definitely, I think, exacerbates that sometimes. And I think that when we came here we just really discovered this sense of calm. And maybe it's cliche, but I do, do really feel like being here in the country is really good for my head. I just feel very much more relaxed here. I love going into the city and spending time in the city, but it's a lot. And I think when I come here, I instantly like, if we're driving away or I'm taking the train, I instantly calm down and go at a slower pace. And it's just really good. It's really good for me, I think. And I really noticed a difference. I think things I would worry about more when I was in the city, they faded away. And here, even when you're stressed, even when I'm stressed with work, we take the dogs out. You look at some fields and the sun setting and it's okay. Everything's actually fine. And you can have that experience in London too. But I think just for me, for us, it's really made a difference, I think, and it's really helped us.
- [47:51]
Matt Gibbard
Do you exercise or is the kind of dog walking your thing?
- [47:54]
Luke Edward Hall
I try to. We joined this gym near us and that's also been really good. Like, surprise exercise is good for your mental health. I used to do a bit like with a trainer, I mean, in London and then I had a zoom trainer during the pandemic. I don't know. Was I ever putting the effort in 100? Probably not, no. And I. Locally, there's a gym here and we go. And I'm loving it. I've got really into spinning and I think also, to be honest, I used to find it a bit intimidating going to a gym in London. I think I didn't really. I felt really out of place. Whereas here it's lots of, I don't know, lots of nice ladies. It's like actually weirdly like, I feel like, oh, okay, I can do it here. So, yeah, I try to.
- [48:30]
Matt Gibbard
I think that's a really interesting point. There's something about the countryside where actually a. Everything's just generally a lot easier. I don't know, let's say you want to go to the dentist or something. You don't have to queue for hours, you just go to the dentist and then you come home.
- [48:41]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, things like that.
- [48:42]
Matt Gibbard
I hadn't realized until I moved to the countryside. That's what the rest of the country is like.
- [48:47]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [48:48]
Matt Gibbard
London is so overpopulated that things are quite difficult. And as you say, going to a gym can be quite an intimidating process. But. So that's really good to hear, actually. So let's. Let's move on to the future. How do you feel about the future in general?
- [49:05]
Luke Edward Hall
How do I feel about the future? I'm excited about the future. I'm not really someone that worries too much about future plans or getting older or. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling excited. Yes. We've got this new project, so that is. I'm feeling really excited about that at the moment.
- [49:19]
Matt Gibbard
So tell me about that.
- [49:20]
Luke Edward Hall
So that is a house in Cornwall that I am in the process of buying. So fingers crossed that it does actually happen. But I basically. I love the west country and the sea and I think it basically comes from my mum's family. My granddad is from Somerset and we used to go to Somerset a lot when I was growing up. And then we'd also go to North Devon on holiday every year. And I still go. I go every year with my mum, siblings, granddad, aunts, cousins. And I've always just felt very at home down there and I've always loved it. And then Cornwall, we didn't really go to, but Cornwall, in the last few years has entered our lives in this really nice way where we've gone on holiday with friends a few times and then I've made a new friend who lives down there part of the time and I've gone and stayed down there at her house. Duncan's sister actually also lives down there. And I had this idea that maybe if we're going to stay here in the Cotswolds, I had this idea that maybe I could find somewhere that we could go to. And I don't. I've never bought a house, I don't own a house. And so I had this slightly wild idea that maybe I could do it and maybe do it down there, because it's where I love. And so I've been looking around, like, all of us probably obsessed with the right move. It's my. Like, I get in the bath, light a candle and click on right move and see what's for sale, which I think a lot of people do, because it's. It's calming and I'm always looking. And I nearly bought a house on Exmoor that was, like, had no electricity and was. Thank God I didn't, actually. It was at auction and I was calling Duncan saying, is this okay? Should I be doing this? And I chickened out. But basically I found this little house in Cornwall and it's by the sea, near St Ives, and it's an old church hall and I just completely fell in love with it when I looked at it online and we couldn't go and see it right away. And I asked a local conservation architect to go and have a look at it. And then eventually we went and went down and had a look and I just instantly felt amazed by it. I loved it. And the setting, it's in this incredible location, that kind of coast road that leads along, along the sort of coast. St Ives, Zena Sennen, all that kind of area. And it's mad, it's madness, because it's four hours from here. It's completely insane. But I just felt like this was the right thing to do. I just knew that we should be doing it.
- [51:30]
Matt Gibbard
Why is that? Is it just a gut instinct?
- [51:32]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, I think so. And I think I've always had this desire to do a renovation project and it needs so much work doing to it. And I had a lot of interest, people looking at it, but I think that no one really wanted to take it on because it really needs a lot of work. But I was. That's what I'm excited about. I really want to do it and I really want to do it in a really. In the right way. And. And, yeah, and I think I am just. Like I said, I've always had this kind of attraction to the west country, but I think the last few years, I've just got quite obsessed with Cornwall and I think it really appeals to me for many reasons. I think, as you say, as we were talking about my interest in kind of folklore down there, it's just, you can't move for standing stones and earth mysteries. And it's just that, really, I just. I just love. I love that kind of side of it also, obviously, the artistic side. Thinking about the artist colonies and Newlyn, Lemorna, Penzance and Ives. Amazing food. Duncan and I obviously love to eat, love to cook, as we were talking about, and that's really important for us. And there's just so much good food.
- [52:27]
Matt Gibbard
There is, isn't there? It's quite surprising. Yeah. But where have you found that's good there?
- [52:31]
Luke Edward Hall
There's just great. There's great stuff. There's the. I love the Gurnard's Head, the pub in Newlyn. We stayed there in the summer and we just go to the fishmonger in Nyulin and take stuff home and cook. On the way down, we stopped at Coombshead, the farm, which is great.
- [52:46]
Matt Gibbard
And.
- [52:46]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, and I'm really excited about discovering more of that stuff. There are so many things down there. Penzance, I completely fell in love with. It's just this great mix of, like, people. Like, people doing. There's a great bookshop called Barton Books, which is like books on art and nature, but then also great vintage shops, antique shops. It's got real character. I just. And I love it around here, but I think sometimes the Cotswolds can feel a bit smart. And like I said, I love this house where we live here. And it's perfect for us right now and we realize that we don't want to go anywhere else because we love this house. It's. It feels like our own little kingdom here. It feels very private, but I've also got this yearning for, like, somewhere quite wild. And I am going to make it my studio, somewhere we can be. And I'm really excited about it and it's Definitely. Obviously it feels like a kind of mad, crazy privilege to get this other house. But as I say, I've never bought anywhere and I've been like, squirreling away funds and funds, thinking that maybe I could do something, take on a project at some point. And this just, to me felt like also a manageable thing. It's like, small. It's really small. It's an old hall, so it's just one room, basically. I feel like at this time in our lives as well, when we're so busy with work and everything, taking on some sort of big project somewhere is not really an option. I'd love to do it in five, 10 years, but this just felt like a nice dipping. The toe in the water can take it on. I can't wait to think about reclaiming floorboards and old sinks and stuff like that. It's something I've always dreamed of taking on a project like that.
- [54:09]
Matt Gibbard
Have you thought about what that is inside us that makes us want to rescue a building? It's like kind of you're visiting Batsu dog's home or something, isn't it? You know, what is that?
- [54:18]
Luke Edward Hall
I think it's the romance of it. I'm such a. I'm such a romantic. And Dungan said before, maybe we should build a house one day. And I'm always sort of like, no, no, no, no, no. I want. I only want old houses. I want to like. I love. I love that for him. And I think we should at some point investigate that.
- [54:32]
Matt Gibbard
It's not happening, is it?
- [54:34]
Luke Edward Hall
No, I. Maybe there is a thing about building a new house, for sure, there's something in it, for sure. But I love the idea of rescuing an old building and the process of doing and actually, I don't. Maybe I'll hate it. I'm sure it's going to be a terrible nightmare at points. But it's also something that I've dreamed about. We've never done it. The flat in Camden. There's only so much we could do to it. Duncan, when I moved in, he'd already done the work. We've changed bits here and there. We've had a new bathroom, stuff like that in 15 years. There's only so much you can do here. We rent the cottage, we painted the walls and. But that's again, as much as we could do. And I think I've always just dreamt of something like this, where we could breathe new life into a body. But maybe that's again, the romantic in me. Who knows? Famously, these kinds of projects are test one's patience. I don't know what I'm getting myself into. And maybe it's going to be. Maybe it's going to be mad, but I think it's going to be okay. I felt so good about it and I've not had any doubt about it yet. And I've looked at a few places and gone to seeing a few places and doubt has crept in. Whereas with this, right from the beginning, when we actually saw it in real life, we were like, no, this is. This is it. And wonderfully, Duncan really likes it because he's not a fan of the English seaside. And I am like, I love to see. And he's always been like, I'm not sure about it. He's from Scotland. But when we went to see it, he also fell in love with it. And when we were on holiday there in August, he completely fell in love with it too. And I think he. That's because he said that it reminded of him of Scotland. That bit of Cornwall right at the end does feel and look a bit like the Highlands.
- [55:55]
Matt Gibbard
It is very wild, isn't it? I did my. My thesis at university on Patrick Herron, who lived in Zenna, which is very near to the place that you're buying.
- [56:04]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [56:05]
Matt Gibbard
And a lot of his work was really inspired by that kind of craggy landscape and the garden, the very colorful garden that he had. And he did a series of garden paintings and so on. But do you hope that you'll find a bit of inspiration as well from just being there?
- [56:18]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah, totally. That's what I'm really excited about, is to like, immerse myself in it and hoping that it seeps into my work. And I think it will, I think because of this crazy combination of the kind of art side of that part of Cornwall, but also the incredible kind of landscape, of course, and the kind of mythology, history, folklore. And I'm really excited about that. Like I say, I'm going to make it a sort of studio space I can work in as well. So, yeah, no, I'm really excited about.
- [56:46]
Matt Gibbard
It and thinking about the future on a more sort of macro level. You are a. An artist and a craftsman and you're someone that's very. You work with the physical world. It's very tangible. And of course, the way the world is going is very digital. How out of interest, how do you feel about all of that? Do you worry about AI and things like that? What's your view on that side of the future?
- [57:07]
Luke Edward Hall
I just feel like with the work that I do and like my peers. And I think if you've got a kind of distinct style, if you're as an artist drawing, painting, making things with one's hands, I don't know how that can be replicated even with really clever kind of programs and things. I don't know. I think that there's always going to be space for people wanting those things. And I think that in a way, as the world goes more and more digital, people are only going to want more of that personal, human touch. There is always going to be space.
- [57:35]
Matt Gibbard
For singers crafted by hand, space for genuine artistry. Yeah, but your aesthetic is. I was thinking about this on the way here. It's very nostalgic, isn't it? Because your influences are Colfax and Fowler, as you say, Venetian grotto furniture.
- [57:52]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [57:52]
Matt Gibbard
The French Riviera, Cocteau. They're. They're very wide ranging, but they're also very nostalgic.
- [57:59]
Luke Edward Hall
Yeah.
- [57:59]
Matt Gibbard
Is it. Why do you think that is? Is that because you're a bit. Provocative question. But are you somehow uncomfortable with the present day?
- [58:07]
Luke Edward Hall
No, I mean, that's not. I think that I've always loved looking to the past for inspiration and I think that most artists, designers do look to the past for inspiration, but I always say as well, I actually don't like the word nostalgia because I always feel like it has this kind of derogatory feeling attached to it, that it's too cozy. And I love looking to the past for inspiration, but I think my work is always about taking it somewhere else. I've just worked on this book of Greek myths, Queer Classical Stories, a collaboration with a poet, Sean Hewitt, who has done these new translations that are completely amazing. And I've tried my hardest to match his translations with my drawings. So I've done all the illustrations for the book and we've been doing a lot of promotion stuff recently and we've been talking about how the classical world is not. I think a lot of people think of it as like a stuffy old fashioned that has no connection to us. Some people might have that opinion. And I think what we're trying to do with the book is show these stories in a new light. Shaun's translations could be the way that he's written them. The stories could have been written yesterday. They could be talking about an event that happened yesterday, not a mythological story from the ancient world. And I think that with my drawings I try to match that and make these kind of really bold, zesty, alive drawings. And I think I'm constantly trying to do that, Take stories from the past or take inspiration from the past, but make work that feels alive and bold and colourful and for now, for the present. And I don't want to be stuck in the past and I don't think I am, but I think you can look to the past for inspiration and then create work that is, for now.
- [59:37]
Matt Gibbard
Yeah. Final question. Not necessarily related to work, but it could be. But just on a broader level than that. When we're cast into the future and you're looking back over your life, what would you like to give you the most sense of satisfaction? And how would you. What do you think your legacy will be? If I could put it like that.
- [59:53]
Luke Edward Hall
Oh, my gosh, that's such a hard one.
- [59:56]
Matt Gibbard
Because you're so young. That's the problem.
- [59:58]
Luke Edward Hall
No, I just think it's always interesting hearing other people's viewpoints on your work and what you're making, and sometimes it rings true and other times it doesn't. And I think, what do I want to be remembered for? I hope I'm putting work out there that feels like I was just talking about it, really taking inspiration from the past, but making work that feels contemporary and of the moment and beautiful, but also my legacy. It's hard. It's such a. Such a tricky one, isn't it? Because also, I think, I think often when you're in the moment, the projects I work, and I'm never thinking about what is this going to be seen like, what is this going to look like in the future? What are people going to think about this in the future? I'm very much sort of in the moment. I don't plan too much, I don't think too much about the future, which maybe is a bad thing, but I take on the projects I take on. I take on because I think that I can learn something new. I'm such a yes person and I. Maybe it's slightly my problem and then not being able to focus, but I get excited when something comes along that I think, wow, that maybe that's something I've never done before. And I did a hotel project a few years ago. I'd barely done any kind of interior project, but I was so excited about it and I. It was a challenge and I took it on. And I suppose that's. I'd like to have the legacy of having worked on lots of different kinds of projects, but having a very cohesive point of view, I think, and a kind of joyful, optimistic approach. That's so much what my work is about. The word joyful is used so much, but I think I want to bring about joy in my work and a kind of sense of optimism. So I'd like to be remembered for that. An optimistic viewpoint.
- [61:26]
Matt Gibbard
I think that's a really lovely thing. I think if you can bring joy into the world. It's very funny because you might hear it a lot in association with your work, but as you were talking, the word joyful was in my head. That's how I would instinctively describe your work. It is. It's just. Yeah, it's incredibly uplifting.
- [61:45]
Luke Edward Hall
I almost get into this trap sometimes where I think I don't, but it's not like it's about. I think sometimes that can also then make it seem like it's quite light and it's just like, happy. But which I love the idea of bringing about joy in my work, but also that it can. That can also be a deep thing as well. And like I was talking about with this book of the classical stories from the ancient world that are all queer stories, there's a lot on that book, like, we want it to bring about joy and for it to be a happy thing, but it's also. That's quite. It's quite a deep thing because that's the kind of book that I wish I'd had when I was a teenager and was interested in mythology, but also was realizing I was gay, but I didn't have anywhere to turn to a book like that. We made this book, in a way, thinking that's the kind of thing that I wish I'd had when I was a teenager. And I don't know, I think that sometimes these kind of joyful projects can also carry a lot more with them than just being, like, light and fun. So, yeah, it's interesting thinking about, but, yeah, that's my approach. I want to make work that feels alive and optimistic.
- [62:44]
Matt Gibbard
I think it does.
- [62:45]
Luke Edward Hall
That's great. Thank you.
- [62:47]
Matt Gibbard
Thank you. What a pleasure. Thanks. Thanks so much for having us in your home, Joy. Yeah, it's been lovely.
- [62:52]
Luke Edward Hall
Thanks for coming. So nice.
- [62:58]
Duncan Campbell
Thanks so much for listening along today. Don't forget to follow the show on your chosen podcast platform if you haven't already done so. And as always, always, we'd be very grateful for a rating or a review. This episode was edited by Oscar Crawford and produced by Hannah Phillips with music by Father. Thank you very much to them and thanks again to all of you for being here.
- [63:19]
Luke Edward Hall
We really appreciate it.
- [63:21]
Duncan Campbell
Talk to you next time.
- [63:21]
Matt Gibbard
Bye for now.
- [63:31]
Luke Edward Hall
Sa.