Where does our spirit go when we die? Frances Morris has this question figured out: she will return to the home in which she was born, a Georgian house abreast the Meridian Line in Greenwich. In this deeply personal conversation, Frances explains why her childhood home has such an emotional hold over her.  Southeast London has been the backdrop to her whole life, and it's fitting that she has worked at the forefront of its most important cultural institution: Tate Modern. Not only was she the gallery's first female director, but Frances has also redefined the perception of female artists, spearheading retrospectives of Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Agnes Martin and others. Shortly before we recorded this podcast, it was announced that she will be leaving for pastures new. I've come to meet her in her office within the bowels of the gallery, and, understandably, she is in reflective mood.  

This is one of the most memorable conversations I've ever had. Frances feels like someone I've known for ever, and her background and story have significant parallels with my own. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

This conversation was recorded in person at the Tate Modern. 

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Executive Producer: Kate Taylor of Feast Collective

Production: Hannah Phillips

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young

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Known as the Queen of Colour, India has designed upbeat bars and radical restaurants from Miami to Mexico City. Her Gallery restaurant at Sketch in London became one of the most inspirational spaces of our time, and single-handedly changed the public perception of the colour pink. 

Last autumn, I hopped on the Eurostar to go and meet her at home in Paris. I arrived completely drenched from a rainstorm, but my frost-bitten cockles were soon warmed by a cup of tea and a fireside chat with India in her beautiful apartment. She told me about how her early years in Massachusetts influenced her love of bright colours, from the strawberry milkshakes she drank to the Technicolor cartoons she watched on TV. One day, she and her family relocated very suddenly to Germany, arriving to a neo-Gothic house straight out of the Addams Family. Her world turned black-and-white, and she felt like an unwelcome foreigner. Soon they moved on again, this time to France, where she started to find a way to express herself through making things and tapping into her creativity. 

What I found so interesting about our conversation was discovering how India has reacted against her itinerant childhood and established a very defined sense of place as an adult. Her studio, her showroom and her home are all located in a single block in Paris, where she's lived for more than 25 years. She doesn't even have to cross the road to carry out all the functions of everyday life. 

As India gets older, she feels increasingly drawn to her native countries of Iran and Egypt. She's bought a house in Arles that's hidden among cypress trees and reminds her of Tehran in the 1970s. All in all, India's past, present and future are acutely defined by the notion of home and belonging – everything that this podcast is about.This conversation was recorded in person at India’s home in Paris. 

For more on India Mahdavi:

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

Check out India's website

Read more about The Gallery at Sketch

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Executive Producer: Kate Taylor of Feast Collective

Production: Hannah Phillips

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young

To get in touch, email us at [email protected]

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Nick is a legendary photographer and founder of the influential website SHOWstudio, which has pioneered the use of moving image in fashion. I've come to his London studio to find out more about his incredibly colourful life through the lens of the homes he's lived in. He tells me about growing up in a grandiose apartment in Paris, the impact of his dyslexia, and how falling in love with photography unlocked a relentless work ethic. His unlikely entrypoint into image-making was joining a group of skinheads as a teenager, mainly because he liked the look of the girls. He talks about the life-changing experience of building a house in his twenties, with a certain young architect named David Chipperfield. We discuss the future of AI, how being a photographer gives him unique access to anyone in the world, and the day he turned Lady Gaga into a man. As Nick says, 'there’s nothing more important than the spaces you live in, for shaping you, how you feel about things, making you feel positive about life and love.' He's full of wisdom and wit, and this is certainly a conversation I will always remember. 

This conversation was recorded in person at SHOWstudio, London. 

For more on Nick Knight: 

Head over to our website for more images of Nick’s home 

Check out SHOWstudio  

Read more about the David Chipperfield project 

For more from the The Modern House: 

Sign up to our newsletter for weekly interior 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

Executive Producer: Kate Taylor of Feast Collective

Production: Hannah Phillips

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young

To get in touch, email us at [email protected]

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

What does home reveal about who we are? Almost everything, it turns out, as we have discovered recording conversations with cultural contributors, business innovators and creative luminaires for our new podcast, Homing In, which we are excited to share with you later this week. The show takes over from the previous iteration of our podcast with an updated format. Our co-founder Matt Gibberd asks guests to discuss the place they grew up in, their current home, and their thoughts on future living – revealing the emotional experiences that underpin some of our most inspiring public figures. Be prepared for tears, laughter, and everything in between.

The Modern House is an estate agency that helps people live in more thoughtful and beautiful ways. If you have a modern home to sell, get in touch to find out how we can maximise its value.

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Christopher Kane is the fashion designer known for his subversive yet refined clothes. He’s also a charming and chatty Scotsman, with plenty of humour and good stories to go round, including an incident with wild monkeys at an Indonesian resort and his first encounter with Donatella Versace. His top architectural choices in the world, meanwhile, are full of superstition and spirituality. Plus, he talks the joys of growing up in a Scottish household and explains why he’ll always be a devotee of the TV.

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Architect Kevin Carmody, co-founder of Carmody Groarke, is joined by Matt Gibberd (and some rather sweet special guests) on location at one of his current projects in the verdant countryside of East Sussex. Just like his archive of work, Kevin’s three favourite spaces are diverse and meticulously designed, from a house that appears to be dissolving to one that healed a marriage. Plus, he explains how to design a house so that it doesn’t, in fact, look like one at all.

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Penny Martin is the Glaswegian wordsmith perhaps best known for leading The Gentlewoman’s masthead as editor in chief. Dialling in from her home in Fife, Scotland, where she overlooks the sea, Penny discusses her career climb, including a stint as a tour guide at the Glasgow School of Art, and reveals some of her earliest conversations with her former boss, the fashion photographer Nick Knight. Plus, she shares her favourite three living spaces in the world.

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Eudon Choi is a fashion designer celebrated for his masterful craftsmanship, clean architectural lines and bold colour palette – and his top three living spaces around the world share the same sensibilities as his clothes. Eudon also speaks on the joys of his own home in Shoreditch, and why he finds it more of a challenge to pick colours for his walls than for his collections.

Check out the nowness.com In Residence Series to see the film about Luis Barragan's Casa Gilardi that Matt mentions in the interview.

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Sarah Featherstone is a RIBA award-winning architect, co-founder of practice Featherstone Young, and lecturer at Central Saint Martins. We’re particularly drawn to Sarah’s way of thinking, for when it comes to architecture, she is less interested in bricks and mortar and more in the way in which people inhabit spaces. Listen to the episode now to discover her top three living spaces and hear about her unlikely encounter with Right Said Fred.

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Laura Jackson is a supper-club host, broadcaster and, most recently, founder of homeware marketplace Glassette. She is also known for her love of – and astute eye for – interiors, which makes her well placed to discuss her top three living spaces in the world with our host, Matt Gibberd. Listen to the episode now to discover her choices, tips for creating a home wherever she may be and to find out why she wants to live like Forrest Gump.

Find out more on The Modern House.

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