Homing In – Details, episodes & analysis

A while back, Tim came to London to perform at the Isokon building in Belsize Park, and I managed to catch up with him to record this podcast.  

As a small boy in the Seventies, Tim quietly absorbed the lessons of modernist architecture. He remembers accompanying his parents to a dinner party at a modern house, where the sound of laughter reverberated around the circular lounge; his career seems to have been about trying to recapture that heady moment. 

In 2003, he bought his own modernist house in Sydney, a move which, he says, ‘changed my life for the better’. His fascination with architecture and design had previously been a solitary pursuit, but the house provided a way to meet like-minded people and a launchpad for his TV career. 

Tim is really great company, and we talk about all sorts of things. He explains how he’s an outlier in his family, and what it felt like to perform on stage for the first time.  

He tells me about the day the Beastie Boys came to visit and wouldn’t leave, why he’d rather learn to be a builder than go through the stress of another renovation project, and why he swears by the uplifting effects of tinted moisturiser.

This episode was recorded in person in Brick Lane, London.

For more: 

Visit The Modern House website to see images of the spaces discussed in this episode

Discover more about Tim Ross and his live shows

See more of his Sydney home

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young and Ben Tucker

Music: Father

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 bog-standard commuter town, and like many of the people I talk to on this podcast, his creative impulses offered a route 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 family. 

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.

This episode was recorded in person at Luke’s cottage in the Cotswolds.

For more: 

Check out the work of Luke Edward Hall

See images of the home he shares with Duncan Campbell over on our sister website, Inigo

Visit The Modern House website

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young and Ben Tucker 

Music: Father 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Akram’s rich career includes performing at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, collaborating with artists Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley, and choreographing tours and videos for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Florence + the Machine. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. 

He kindly invited us to his home last summer and we recorded this conversation in a shady spot in the garden. Akram is of Bangladeshi descent and he grew up above his parents’ restaurant in south-west London. He was bullied at school and harassed by the National Front outside of it, so he’s always had a conflicted view of his community. As a child, he was introverted to the point of being mute, and movement quickly became his primary form of expression. He tells me how he danced so enthusiastically at home that the lights in the restaurant below would start shaking, putting the customers off their food. The word ‘home’ has come to mean many things for Akram: it’s the small studio in the garden where he practises dance for four hours every morning, it’s the stage on which he performs, and it’s also his own body. 

As is the case for so many true artists, there’s a lot of conflicting emotion inside him. He talks particularly poignantly about his relationship with his late father, who always struggled to demonstrate his love. Akram’s story has really stayed with me. Being able to talk to people on this podcast is a great privilege, and conversations like this one really remind me of that.

For more: 

Visit The Modern House website to see images of the spaces discussed in this episode

Check out the latest from the Akram Khan Company

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

This episode was sponsored by Vitsoe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I first met Roksanda in 2006. We were selling her flat in King’s Cross, which was unlike anything I’d seen before: a brooding space with cast-concrete worktops, a black resin floor and mirrored lightwells. It had a subterranean lap-pool that was completely black, like a cave, where one could imagine Bruce Wayne practising his backstroke. Roksanda had recently shown her first collection at London Fashion Week and garments dangled enticingly from rails in her workspace. Some 18 years later, I’ve come to meet her in her studio in the East End to record this podcast. As before, her latest collection is on display, only this time the hanging rails have multiplied by a factor of a hundred. The colours are even more vibrant. Roksanda is no longer simply a name; it’s a brand with a global following.

I loved finding out more about Roksanda’s life story. She talks passionately about the importance of nature in her life, from the old quince trees in her grandparents’ garden to the inside-out living of her favourite Modernist houses in Brazil. She describes how the birth of her daughter was like a portal opening up, which gave her new confidence and a sense of perspective. She tells me about how she’s managed to bring architecture into fashion, and why she believes that clothes are there to provide shelter and protection in the same way that a home does.

Thank you so much for listening, as always, and I really hope you enjoy it!

This episode was recorded in person at Roksanda’s East London studio. 

For more: 

Visit our website to see images of the spaces discussed 

Check out Roksanda’s latest collection 

Check out The Lost House sales listing, over on The Modern House 

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin has been a fixture on our tellies for so many years that we feel like we know him. But, actually, I didn’t have a clue about his life story, so this conversation was really interesting for me. He tells me about growing up in what he refers to as an ‘architectural zoo’ of housing from different eras. We talk about his involvement with Footlights, the famous comedy troupe at Cambridge University, where he collaborated with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson. And he explains why he’s spent years living in a camper van and why his future home will definitely have a view of the mountains. Kevin is one of the most engaging and fiercely intelligent guests I’ve spoken to on Homing In and he’s full of amusing anecdotes and top tips. I hope you enjoy the episode!

This episode was recorded in person at St Anne's Court, a home currently for sale on The Modern House.

For more: 

Watch Grand Designs

Subscribe to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration

Find out more about Matt Gibberd’s latest book, A Modern Way To Live

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

This episode is sponsored by Vitsoe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosh is founder of the brilliant jewellery company Alighieri. We discuss her life story through the prism of the homes she’s lived in, from humble beginnings in Zambia to the beautifully designed flat she now owns in Clerkenwell. When Rosh moved to London at the age of eight, she was the only person of colour in her school. She tells me how she’s managed to channel this feeling of alienation towards a personal mission of bringing people together, celebrating commonality rather than difference. We talk about the importance of ritual at home and why she likes living on her own. We also discuss her suspicion of the colour green, the joy of negative space and why she imagines herself living in the desert as an old lady. Hope you enjoy it!

This episode was recorded in person at Rosh's London studio.

For more: 

Visit Alighieri

See images of Rosh's own home and Frey House over on The Modern House

Subscribe to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration

Find out more about Matt Gibberd’s latest book, A Modern Way To Live

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Production: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

This episode is sponsored by Vitsoe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’ve known Duncan for many years now and he’s definitely one of the good guys. We first met when I was commissioned to write a piece for The World of Interiors about the amazing home in west London he shares with his wife, Lyndsay Milne McLeod, and their son, Oban. Duncan’s kindly invited me back to the house to record this episode. He tells me about how growing up on building sites brought him close to his father, the importance of magic in architecture and why he believes you should always design a house as if you’re playing hide-and-seek in it. Duncan certainly isn’t the first guest to shed a tear or two on this podcast and I think this is a really lovely, heartfelt conversation.

This episode was recorded at Duncan's home in West London.

For more:

Check out Studio McLeod's latest work

Visit our website for images of places discussed, and to read our interview with Duncan McLeod

Sign up to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration

Production: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jacqueline is a jewellery designer whose work I’ve admired for many years, probably because it’s so architectural. As you probably know by now, we try to record these podcasts in the guest’s home whenever possible, and this one is particularly exciting on that front, because Jacqueline lives in a 1960s house perched on a hillside in Los Angeles. As is the custom on this podcast, I asked Jacqueline to talk about a home from her past, her current place, and a home of the future. She told me what it was like to grow up in a big family, and how the soul music that boomed around the house was somehow a form of defiance against the racial tension that African-Americans were feeling at that time. And we also talked about how the pandemic inspired her homing instinct, why she’s enjoying living with less and her love of mid-century modern houses.

This episode was recorded in person at Jacqueline's Los Angeles home studio.

For more:

Head to the Carpenters Workshop Gallery‘s London space, to visit ‘Jacqueline Rabun: A Retrospective’

Check out Jacqueline Rabun’s latest work

Find out more about her dream home, the Loring House

Visit our website for images and details of the places discussed

Sign up to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Production: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Music: Father

This episode is sponsored by Vitsoe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Glenn's a brilliant curator and writer with a particular interest in craft. If that conjures up an image of lace doilies and crocheted waistcoats, then don't panic!

Back in 2011, he put together the amazing 'Postmodernism' exhibition at the V&A in London, which was a riot of Memphis pattern and colour; and more recently, he's co-curated a show called 'Mirror Mirror' at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Glenn writes beautifully – and his book Fewer, Better Things was a really big influence on my own book, A Modern Way to Live. A phrase he uses a lot is 'material intelligence', which is the idea that we should try to understand the things we choose to live with – where they've come from and how they've been made. I don’t know if it's material intelligence or old-fashioned fate that led Glenn to find his home in Upstate New York, but it really is the physical manifestation of everything he believes in. We also chatted about his place in east London, what it's like to be an identical twin, his thoughts on the metaverse and all sorts of other things. Glenn is one of the most erudite people I know and his thoughtfulness is something we could all learn from.

This episode was recorded in person at Glenn's east London home.

For more: 

Head over to The Modern House website for images of the places discussed 

Watch the B-52's 'Love Shack' music video 

Check out the house built by a librarian's collection of bricks

Read more by Glenn Adamson

Sign up to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration 

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

Executive Producer: Kate Taylor of Feast Collective

Production: Hannah Phillips 

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young 

This episode is sponsored by Vitsoe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of us know Mary Portas as a swashbuckling TV presenter with a flame-red bob, but her career away from the screen has been no less remarkable. She did the window displays for Topshop during its heyday and was the creative director of Harvey Nichols when it was immortalised on Absolutely Fabulous. Nowadays, however, she runs her consultancy, Portas, which helps brands create purpose and beauty in everything they do. As this episode reveals, her life story is incredibly rich and filled with both trauma and triumph. 

This episode was recorded in person at the Portas offices, London.

For more: 

Head over to our website for more images of the places discussed

Visit Portas 

Sign up to The Modern House newsletter for weekly interiors inspiration 

Check out Matt Gibberd’s latest book, A Modern Way To Live 

Follow Matt Gibberd on Instagram

Follow The Modern House Instagram

Watch our Homing In films on YouTube

This episode is sponsored by Vitsoe.

Executive Producer: Kate Taylor of Feast Collective

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.