Living with style in Black UK homes
by bbrit project
We Black Brits love our homes and enjoy decorating them to reflect our personal and cultural styles. With heritage ranging from the Caribbean to the vast African continent, mixed with a myriad influences from the UK, the result is a wide array of exciting decor.
For well-known designer Eva Sonaike, it’s the bright, vibrant hues reflecting her Nigerian roots and Africa in general, that bring her home to life. Growing up in Germany, she would visit her birthplace, picking up items from local markets and soaking up the colors around her. Sonaike has interpreted the latter for the modern home, resulting in collaborations like one with Soho Home in 2022, which features limited-edition pieces, including hand knotted rugs, cushions and lamps in prints reminiscent of the rich tones of Ghana’s Aburi botanical gardens.
Meanwhile for lifestyle influencer Paula Sutton of Hill House Vintage, it’s the charms of yesteryear that have inspired her decor. Her Georgian era home in Norfolk is a repository of vintage pieces she collected and traded as a dealer when she moved to the countryside from her South London home years ago. She mixes these finds with contemporary art, many of them modestly priced. Her Guyanese heritage is honored with items like an old chess set that once sat in her parents’ home.
For actress and model Adwoa Aboah, riotous colour is the cornerstone of her period home. A pink fabric-covered coffee table, for example, plays nicely with bright yellow curtains. Eclectic and surprising, Aboah is not a minimalist. Her knick knacks, as she calls them, are unexpected, like a reclining bull made by a friend or a plate made by actress Kirsten Dunst. Her pieces, including a painting her sister created for her graduation from art school, tell the story of her life, she says.
For more on Black UK home style see:
@hillhousevintage
Influencer Paula Sutton’s page.
@BlackHomesUK
Renovator Michelle Healey’s Instagram collective celebrating the homes & culture of the UK’s Black community.
House Beautiful
Article featuring 33 Black-owned UK homes and interior businesses.
https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/lifestyle/a34727218/black-homes-uk/
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Living with style in Black UK homes
The UK’s capital city is home to some dazzling pieces of art celebrating the African and Caribbean experience. They range from anonymous work created in secret to commissioned compositions, they feature joyous colors and forms that mark the presence of this special residents.
Read about some of these works here
Do you know of any others? Please let us know in the comments.
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