Home accessories designer Joanna Buchanan credits growing up in Hong Kong with instilling in her an obsession with all things ornamental and sparkly. After moving back to Europe in 1994, Buchanan spent the next 20 years working in New York and London with retailers such as Banana Republic, Saks Fifth Avenue and Marks & Spencer. In 2014, she launched her own collection of table-top, home accessories and Christmas decorations. At the same time, she moved her family from New York City to Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and two children and runs her ever-expanding business from her very glamorous and glittery garden shed.
Describe your interiors style
I think it is optimistic, colourful and welcoming and a word I know has been used a lot, eclectic. I just put a beautiful Buddha’s head on a classic marble pedestal – and I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. I also love pattern and textiles and always have lots of blankets and throws to cuddle up in. Softness and warmth are so important when you have children – and no hard edges.
How long have you lived in your current home?
We moved into our house three years ago and everyone thought we were mad. But my husband and I were entranced by the magic of the place. It was totally overgrown and rundown but so romantic and essentially quite English-feeling. We love old houses – much to the horror of my two children who can’t understand why we would want somewhere that is a little “worn” in places. They are coming around.
Which room do you most enjoy and why?
My studio/shed is at home – and I love it. It’s full of light and all my things: inspiration, works in progress and scraps of this and that. Because I live and breathe work, I am so lucky that I can work from home and still be close to everyone. I come in here and play around with things at any time – so my work is very flexible. My children also come in and hang out here, do their drawing or some project – or help me with invoicing. We are all involved.
Any advice for keeping things tidy?
Keep on top of it. And if everything has a “spot” then everyone knows where things should be put away. So, no need to do it all yourself.
What would you save from a fire?
I am not so attached to things. Whilst I love my jewellery that my mother and husband have given me, I know my life would go on without it.
Your favourite gadget or machine?
I am not a gadget person at all – it was a big push for me to move from my blackberry to an iPhone. My husband literally ripped it out of my hand one day and returned with a new iPhone with all my contacts and everything set up on it. And now I cannot imagine not being able to take good pics wherever I am. I still struggle every time there is an update. though.
Do you collect anything specific?
I love round things – glass balls, marble balls, boxwood balls – it was never intentional but as I look around the house, I see the sphere coming up time and time again.
Which artist do you most admire?
I love Mark Rothko's scale and drama and proportion and colour. On the other end of the spectrum, I also really respond to Giorgio Morandi – bold and restrained and distilled.
Do you own any of their work?
Not there yet. But my husband paints abstracts on a large scale so we have those around the house, and they mean so much, as I know when they were painted and why.
The biggest interiors turn-off for you?
Everything from one place and too much “catalogue” furniture. There are some huge brands here in the US that dominate the market and everything becomes very homogenous. Vintage furniture is often cheaper than new, often better-designed and made from better-quality materials.
Your favourite travel destination and why?
I am very tied to India. I go there for work several times a year and I always see something new and am inspired again by something I see – the colour, the culture of decoration, the energy. I also always come back with bags of ribbons and sequins and fabrics that I tidy away and use for reference as collections develop.
On another level, it makes me feel very humbled and grateful. The poverty you see every day and the way so many families struggle to exist, reminds me again how extremely fortunate my family and I are.
What does home mean to you?
It sounds so cheesy but home is wherever my family is. I realized that when we moved out of the city three years ago. It was sad to say goodbye to an apartment we loved but it made us realize that we are not attached to a physical place at all. Home is wherever we are making memories as a family.
The Joanna Buchanan Christmas décor collection is available exclusively at Brown Thomas. joannabuchanan.com
Photographs: Miki Duisterhof
