Homing

John Pawson is one of the founding figures of minimalist architecture, known for designing spaces pared back to almost nothing. His own house in Notting Hill, where he has lived for thirty years, is no exception – stripped back to its shell and conceived as one continuous space.

Minimalism isn’t just a design philosophy for John; it's rooted in his psychology. Far from being naturally serene, he describes having a restless, “scrambled” mind.

In this conversation, John reflects on how spending much of his childhood at boarding school, with little control over his surroundings, instilled in him a desire for a space of his own. He describes how his sensitivity to the environment eventually led him to architecture in his late thirties.

We discuss the label ‘minimalist’ and why creating a pared-back space is anything but simple. We also discuss the discipline it takes to live in a minimal home, and how it can sometimes be at odds with the rhythms of family life.

This is a conversation about the relationship between our inner and outer worlds, the need for control, and the compromises we make for the people we love.

We filmed this episode of Homing inside the iconic Pawson House in Notting Hill. Join our Patreon community to watch the visualised home tour with John Pawson: https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

To hear more from John:

Instagram: @johnpawson
Website: https://www.johnpawson.com/

John Pawson's book, The Minimal Home, is out now from Phaidon: https://www.phaidon.com/en-gb/products/john-pawson-the-minimal-home-the-minimal-home

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, for the video version
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

Is the obsession with creating the perfect home actually making us miserable?

Psychology lecturer and broadcaster Claudia Hammond has spent much of her career examining the ways we think, feel and behave. She presents All in the Mind on BBC Radio 4 and is the author of several books, including Overwhelmed: Ways to Take the Pressure Off.

In this conversation, we explore how our homes shape how we feel, why some people hold on to objects as a connection to their past, and why the promise of a better material life doesn't always deliver the happiness we expect.

We also discuss the role of rest and solitude, how our routines shape the way we experience time, and the challenges of finding space to unwind – especially when work and home life overlap. 

Claudia considers how our culture of perfectionism contributes to the pressures of modern life, and why embracing the belief of ‘good enough’ might actually give us some room to rest.

To hear more from Claudia:

Website: www.claudiahammond.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudia_hammond_/?hl=en

Claudia Hammond's latest book, Overwhelmed: Ways to Take the Pressure Off, is available here: https://canongate.co.uk/books/5261-overwhelmed-ways-to-take-the-pressure-off/

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt

Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

For jazz drummer and composer Moses Boyd, home is more than where he lives – it’s the physical realisation of a generational dream.

Moses is one of the most exciting musicians to emerge from London’s jazz scene. He’s a two-time MOBO Award winner, nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2020 alongside Dua Lipa, Stormzy and Michael Kiwanuka.

Moses grew up in a lively household of six children. As a teenager, he discovered music, which he describes as the one thing he didn't have to share. Immersing himself in everything from jazz to grime, he found purpose at a time when some of his peers were drawn into violence and crime.

In this conversation, Moses talks about his extraordinary determination to turn ideas into reality, from selling snacks to his schoolmates after PE lessons to save for his first drum kit, to designing and building a recording studio at the bottom of his garden.

Moses explains why he approaches music more as a science than an art, reflects on his almost spiritual relationship with creation, and shares why he has chosen to open his front door as a gathering place for friends and family.

As the grandson of Caribbean immigrants, he reflects on what it means to create a place of security and opportunity for the next generation.

We recorded this episode in Moses' home studio in south-east London. Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough: https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

Moses Boyd's new album 'Song for Sinners' releases on Friday, October 30th. It's an exhilarating, deeply personal body of work that explores the tensions of faith and the push and pull of a lifelong search for answers. Pre-save the album here: https://exodus.ffm.to/songsforsinners

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

Why do we feel homesick when we’re away? And why can it sometimes feel so unsettling when we finally find our way back?

Professor Susan J. Matt is a historian of emotions at Weber State University and the author of several books about our emotional relationship with home, consumerism and technology – including Homesickness: An American History.

Once considered a legitimate medical diagnosis, homesickness came to be seen as a sign of weakness and a lack of adaptability. In this conversation, Susan traces how this shift happened, and what we’ve lost because of it.

Together, we explore why childhood homes exert such a powerful pull on us, how memory tends to idealise the past, and why our homes need to connect us to the world beyond their walls.

We also discuss how envy went from being a sin to a driving force behind consumerism; and what constantly looking at other people’s lives and homes is doing to our satisfaction with our own.

To hear more from Susan:

Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.weber.edu/history/susanmatt.html

Susan is the author of Homesickness: An American History and Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid.

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

Antiques dealer Will Fisher was obsessed with English country houses from age seven – a fascination that sparked a lifelong pursuit of beauty.

Will grew up in southeast London, the son of two working-class teachers, and persuaded his parents to take him on country house visits, dreaming of recreating their beauty in his own home.

Today, Will is one of London's most respected antiques dealers. Alongside his wife, Charlotte Freemantle, he owns Jamb, which is known for its refined fireplaces, lighting and furniture. Their shared home in Camberwell is a treasure trove of objects amassed over a lifetime.

In this conversation, Will talks about his serendipitous journey into the world of antiques, his experiences of dyslexia and feeling like an outsider, and how he's created an environment that helps him feel at home in himself.

He also speaks with remarkable openness about a traumatic experience in his teens that had a lasting impact on his mental health.

This is a conversation about beauty, chance and what it means to build a home around the things you love.

We recorded this episode at Charlotte & Will’s Georgian house in Camberwell. Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

For Turkish-British novelist Elif Shafak, home isn't a physical place; it lives in the stories we tell.

Elif is an award-winning novelist, celebrated for writing about the lives of people on the margins. She has spent much of her life moving between countries, cultures and languages. Yet she feels most at home in the world of books, stories and imagination – a place she calls ‘Storyland’.

In this conversation, we talk about the loneliness that first drew her to stories, and what it means to write in a language that isn’t your mother tongue.

She also tells me about being forced to write with her right hand as a child, her experience of postpartum depression, and why it’s so important that we talk openly about our mental health.

This is a conversation about stories, exile and belonging – and how home can be found beyond the physical.

Guest Info:

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-eight languages. Her new novel IN ONE BRIEF MOMENT ALL ETERNITY is published on 15 October 2026 and available in all good bookshops. Her previous novel, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, was the UK’s bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. 

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

Dan Martensen is a portrait and fashion photographer whose work appears in Vogue, i-D and WSJ Magazine. He’s also the founder of It’s Bagels, bringing the New York-style bagel he grew up with to London.

In this conversation, Dan talks about being uprooted from his childhood home at eleven, struggling to fit in at school, and learning to hide his sensitivity to get by.

We discuss how those early experiences influenced his work as a photographer, his instinctive ability to connect with people, and his marriage to stylist Clare Richardson. 

Dan also tells the brilliantly chaotic story of renovating his house while simultaneously opening the first It’s Bagels in Primrose Hill – a business born, quite literally, from his homesickness for New York. 

Having once been the person his friends thought would never leave New York, Dan reflects on the unexpected process of putting down roots in London, and how this house finally made it feel like home.

This episode was filmed inside Dan’s home in North-West London. Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

Dan Martensen:

Website: danmartensen.com

Instagram: @danmartensen 

It's Bagels:
 
Website: itsbagels.com
Instagram: @its__bagels 

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

Writer and creative coach Amie McNee believes that creativity isn’t a luxury; it’s a fundamental human need, and one that many of us are suppressing.

Amie has a wonderfully broad definition of creativity. It might mean writing a novel or painting a picture, but it could just as easily be gardening, baking a cake, or singing in the shower. It’s not about creating something good, useful, or profitable; it’s about making things because that’s what humans do.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens to us when we neglect the instinct to create, and why modern life makes it increasingly difficult to protect.

We also discuss the role the home plays in creativity—why Amie believes we should leave our creative materials lying around, and why she's fiercely protective of the space and solitude she needs to write.

Amie McNee:

Amie McNee is a writer, artist and creator. Her book We Need Your Art, a manifesto on the vital, human importance for creating art, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462403/we-need-your-art-by-mcnee-amie/9781529937015

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, HomingWithMatt

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt

Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt

Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

At 91, Rose Wylie has one of the most remarkable stories in contemporary British art. She stopped painting in order to raise her three children and returned to it in middle age, finding widespread recognition in her seventies. 

Today her work is exhibited around the world, and earlier this year she had a major show at the Royal Academy.

For the past 58 years, Rose has lived in the same house in Kent. It’s an extraordinary space where piles of discarded paper are strewn across the floor, and the windows are covered in paint. 

Rose has little interest in domestic rules: she doesn’t tidy her studio, leaves her garden to run wild, and lets the house adapt around her life and art.

In this conversation, we explore the influences that shaped Rose’s unconventional life  – from her wartime upbringing as the youngest of seven, to her partnership with her late husband Roy Oxlade, and finding global acclaim later in life.

Rose’s story is one of freedom, creativity, ageing, and the value of allowing a home – and perhaps a life – to develop on its own terms.

Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough inside Rose Wylie’s home and studio: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

Rose Wylie:

Rose Wylie's exhibition at David Zwirner Hong Kong is called Napoleon and Wild Flowers. It is a show of new paintings. It will be on view from 24 November 2026 to 6 March 2027.

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

We spend around a third of our lives asleep, yet for so many of us, getting a good night’s sleep can feel like a real struggle. Could our homes hold some of the answers to sleeping better?

In this conversation, leading sleep expert and Oxford Professor of Circadian Neuroscience Russell Foster rethinks the rules of sleep and explores how we can create a home environment that supports our natural rhythms. 

We discuss why getting outside in the morning is one of the best things we can do for sleep, how to navigate a partner's different sleeping habits and why sleep trackers often do more harm than good.

But perhaps the most reassuring idea of all is that we need to stop trying so hard. As Russell points out, the more we worry about sleep, the more elusive it can become. Sometimes the best thing we can do is create the right conditions and let it take care of itself.

Please note: the views expressed in this episode are those of the guest and are not intended as medical advice.

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, HomingWithMatt

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt

Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt

Contact: Email us at [email protected]

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline