design et al are delighted to announce that Studio Mills have been shortlisted for Bespoke Cabinetry/Installation Award in The International Design & Architecture Awards 2019.
Bespoke joinery has been integrated to create beautiful storage and display space throughout this private apartment, located within a converted telephone exchange in south east London. The client, a young couple approached Studio Mills to design bespoke joinery and wall panelling to the entire apartment. The couple have an impressive sound system and book collection they wanted to showcase whilst conceal unsightly radiators and pipework. The designers therefore created one element that would elegantly wrap the perimeter and unify the various components.
Studio Mills proposed minimising the material palette to white oak, off-white walls and brass detailing to ensure a sympathetic design to the building’s Edwardian heritage and classical features. The wall panelling and bespoke mouldings ensured the profiles were appropriate to the scale of the property, with modern details such as the oak low-level plinth with sound absorption to house the speaker system. The existing tongue and groove wall panelling to the lounge and second bedroom was replaced with modern classical Boiserie, with the white oak continuing into the snug area to form a full height bookcase whilst neatly conceal the television.
The same moulding on the wall panelling is used on the radiator covers, which recesses into the window sills beneath bespoke shutters. Doors have also been concealed, with a new sliding pocket door between the lounge and office. The classical wall panelling unites the existing industrial fittings to the Edwardian period the property was built in. The joinery sits elegantly between the existing sash windows and parquet flooring and matching the moulding detail and colour to the wall panelling, ensures the space is seamless and considered.
Tone on tone hues create a holistic, elegant environment. Studio Mills favourite detail is the wall panel moulding – where it crosses doorways it has been elegantly cut to provide the opening; the doorways barely visible with subtle break lines. The key element are the vents cut into the top of the white oak – not only beautiful but proportioned to omit sufficient heat and sit central to the windows bays. The design harmonises the space beautifully – modern, mid-century furniture in a classical interior setting is completed with the refined, minimal palette.