The Well-Travelled Home
Photographs by Emma Lewis Words by Serena Fokschaner
Filled with exotic finds and unusual objects designer Caroline Goss’ house reflects her love of travel and adventure.
Most of us pick up souvenirs when we travel; a swathe of embroidered fabric, a handcrafted vase in a remote pottery. But when designer Caroline Goss goes abroad she doesn’t just snaffle up the odd memento. For her, every foreign foray is a chance to gather up ideas, inspiration and unusual pieces for her London home. Moroccan basins, Spanish sculpture and Bollywood posters gathered on global travels have transformed this West London basement flat, from a nondescript warren, to an exotic and otherworldly home. Caroline and her three daughters lived in the flat for a year before rolling up their shirtsleeves to transform the space which she says, with a sigh, was "classic developer- all fawn and magnolia". We step in to the sitting room, where Moroccan lanterns sprinkle pin pricks of light over a coffee table fashioned from an old Indian door. There is a sculpture of a bull from Spain and a rug by the New York designer Madeleine Weintraub underfoot. Overhead, light floods in through a skylight; one of the key structural changes Caroline made to theflat. She has also opened up the kitchen, so that it flows directly into the sitting room and dining space- which also benefits from clever illumination by a mirrored wall.
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