At home with Philip and Charlotte Colbert
By Amira Hashish
Artist and filmmaker Charlotte Colbert, who has been described as the ‘lovechild’ of Emily Dickinson and Salvador Dali, and lobster-loving pop artist Philip Colbert, often dubbed the ‘godson of Andy Warhol’, were destined to create a house like no other. A mash-up between Wes Anderson, Tim Walker and a bohemian warehouse, much of the furniture and homeware in the space was designed especially for Maison Colbert.
This lead to the design-driven double act joining creative forces to introduce a collection of objects for the home. From lobster lamps to marshmallow bedside tables, their colourful and characterful pieces would light up any room. They tell Amira Hashish what inspired their homeware editions and why they were drawn to the mystery and magic of Spitalfields…
What drew you to Spitalfields as a neighbourhood?
Charlotte Colbert: We lived in Bethnal Green before and then moved here. It is an amazing neighbourhood with such an interesting mix of people and history; from Huguenots fleeing persecution in France to artists, immigrants and city folk. It became the place where people reinvented themselves and created bold identities. Take Gilbert & George or the fabulous Johnny Woo, for example.
Philip Colbert: Each street corner has a legend or a mystery surrounding it, especially around Old Spitalfields. Layers of narratives pile onto each other and reinvent themselves.
Where do you most enjoy spending time in the local area?
CC: There are so many brilliant places but I have two ultimate favourites. E Pellicci on Bethnal Green Road is a legendary cafe that the wonderful Nev and Anna now run. It is full of banter and fried eggs.
Then there is The Golden Heart, owned by Sandra Esqulant aka the Queen of Spitalfields. Her neon pub sign was made by Tracy Emin.
What inspired the style of your Maison Colbert home?
CC: Artists' homes were always an inspiration. I remember visiting our dear friend the amazing cermacist Betty Woodman and entering her magical, fairytale-like realm where she had made everything around us. I loved it.
PC: We have made most things in this space or collaborated with people to make them, from cupboard handles, to mirrors, beds and chairs. That is actually what got our home collection started, which we launched with a pop-up at The Conran Shop. People kept asking where they could get our home items.
How do you blend art and design in your home collection?
CC: As a filmmaker and an artist I love world-building, whether on sets or in the domestic sphere. I love the idea of functional art, bringing surrealism into the everyday, taking art out of the gallery, out of the frame and into daily life. If simple things can be reimagined and reinvented so can the structures and systems in which we live. Surrealism invites us to dream of better futures.
It does pose all sorts of design challenges. I spent so long working on my eye chair to make sure it was comfortable as a vehicle to facilitating long chats and happy bottoms. I also love dysfunctional art and fun takes on things that do not work such as machines and utilitarianism rendered powerless. Rest assured that is not the case for this home collection, I will keep that for my shows.
PC: I have always loved the spirit of art for everybody, and making my artworks more accessible to a wider audience.
“Each street corner has a legend or a mystery surrounding it, especially around Old Spitalfields.”
Charlotte, what is the meaning behind the eye symbol in your work?
CC: My key emblem, the Eye, appears in various elements such as a crockery series called Eye Will Have My Coffee, which includes coffee and tea pots, mugs and vases. It is a key symbol of my practice. Not only does it have the protective qualities of apotropaic objects, but it also bridges our inner and outer worlds and as such is the symbolic heart of imagination.
Everything human-made around us was imagined by someone. This chair, this building, your shirt were all imagined. What we imagine today becomes our reality tomorrow.
Somehow I feel if you reimagine what surrounds you, you remember that everything could be otherwise, that everything could be reimagined; from our belief systems, to government, to transportation. The eye for me acts as a reminder and enabler of that.
What you think, what you dream, what you imagine has the power to change the world. I really believe that and feel imagination should be more valued within our education systems.
The full version of this interview appears in Volume 3 of Neighbourhood Edit: From Aldgate to Athens.