My Space | Amee Allsop

THE POETICS OF SPACE

New York-based Australian architectural designer and artist Ameé Allsop takes us through her Hamptons family home and creative studio. We discover what inspires her and how it informs her work and home life.

How is your space a reflection of you?

Our space is a reflection of our values – quality time as a family, relaxed entertaining with friends and a space to cultivate creativity.

When we notice certain patterns of our everyday life we make little adjustments in order to make things flow easier. When we have friends over, we make cocktails in the northeast corner of the kitchen and so recently we rearranged the shelves there to accommodate this growing passion. It used to have a mix of coffee cups and spice jars but now it’s taken on a new life.

In moments of inspiration we can easily go to the studio since it is under the same roof, yet separate from the living. The way our studio is organised is always evolving with what we are working on. It has been rearranged three or four times since moving here, from photo studio to collaborative work benches to quiet corners.

Describe your design and interior style:

I am motivated by the poetics of space.

In the design process I tend to start with a material and imagine its possibilities in relation to form and go on the journey of reduction until it feels right. It’s an intuitive process.

I tend to create spaces that are calm which I think is misinterpreted as bright and white. I love warm, natural materials and tones. That is what drew me to our house. The exposed wood structure gives it character and richness but in a minimal way. It gives the space a rhythm and familiarity that delivers a sense of calm.

Materiality informs your work; how does it play out in this house?

I’m very conscious of how materials affect us - ourlittle wooden house has a certain feeling to it. Forexample, it literally sounds different to how aconcrete house sounds underfoot and therefore feelsdifferent – I can hear where the boys are playingfrom almost every room in the house.. and whatthey’re playing with! I love having a travertine stonecoffee table because it sounds nice when I set myteacup or cocktail glass down. I love our thick wooddining table because it feels solid and warm to leanon and spend long dinners at.

Art by Glen Allsop

Does living and working amongst your own design on a daily basis further inform your design process and creativity?

Absolutely. I love being able to experience my piecesin situ, and allow them space to breath and wear inovertime. It also gives me opportunity to experimentwith them – my two piece coffee table has beenarranged and rearranged in all sorts of ways acrossthe living room and I think it’s important that Iexperience it hands-on as opposed to theoretically.

Which room do you gravitate to?

The southwest corner of the house. It has the bestlight and views out to the woods without aneighbour in site. We often watch for the local familyof deer to roam through.

Favourite things?

My Noguchi dining pendant light sculpture,travertine coffee table, a vintage Olivetti typewriterand etching of the Chrysler building gifted bymy husband.

How does your workspace inspire you?

It’s a work in progress. But I love having books andmaterial samples around me. I’m on the hunt for avintage wood drafting board but then I thinkI will be inspired to design a different studio space.

Which unifying elements do your home and workspace share?

They are both an ever-evolving work in progress.Nothing is too perfect and nothing is set–in–stone. If we want to turn the couch around we turn it around.The same goes for the studio. They both morph into spaces that suit us in the season that we’re in, whatever that may be.

Where do you wind down?

In winter, around the fireplace. In summer, the edgeof the living room – all the doors open and we love tosit on the threshold between the living room and thedeck as the sun rolls around.

What makes your home a home?

The lives within it make this house a home.Whether it’s meaningful pieces that my husband andI found together overseas; or books that inspire us; ora cluster of carefully selected lego pieces that my sonhas arranged on the coffee table, mid-build; life andjoy finds its way into the house through the livesthat live here. Within that joy I think a spacebecomes a home.