My Design London: Sadie Morgan reveals her interiors wishlist and favourite London escapes
Named New Londoner of the Year at this year's New London Architecture Awards for her work "championing the importance of design at the highest political level", Sadie Morgan co-founded architecture practice de Rijke Marsh Morgan — dRMM — in 1995. Its designs include Trafalgar Place, Clapham Manor Primary School, King's Cross ArtHouse and the RIBA Stirling Prize-shortlisted Hastings Pier. At the age of 43 in 2013, Morgan became the youngest ever president of the Architectural Association. She currently chairs the HS2 independent design panel.
Where I live
I grew up on a commune in Kent, set up by my grandfather, a psychiatrist and a socialist, so that's still the family home with my two daughters. But during the week I live in Waterloo in a flat in One Centaur Street, the first building dRMM designed and built.
Centaur Street leads off Hercules Road [where 18th-century poet and artist William Blake lived]. It's right next to a railway arch, still a very gritty part of London, but with lots of very small Victorian houses behind it and close to the river. I walk to work every day as I'm training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The area, Lower Marsh, is such a great eclectic mix. They're really trying to hold on to the small artisan-type and vintage shops … It's London at its best.
My decor
We furnish the flat quite minimally just because it's a really powerful sculptural interior. It's poured concrete. The client, architect and developer Roger Zogolovitch, wanted the same finish as the National Theatre. So with the decor you need quite a light touch that adds texture and softness.
We've got an iconic Butterfly leather chair and footstool [designed in 1938 by architects Bonet, Kurchan and Ferrari] with stitching, quite cowboy. It works well with the exposed concrete. The flat has an orange kitchen — we always need a reminder of our Anglo-Dutch roots — with a stainless-steel kitchen island.
Favourite homeware
Cutlery from David Mellor — when I was a student, I worked as a Saturday girl in Liberty and bought the most eye-wateringly expensive forks and knives from his shop, literally one a month. I met him when I was at the Royal College and he was the most charming, lovely man.
Our plates are all bought on holiday from Limoges. I also buy pottery. We've always tended to make our own furniture, including all the tables in the office and the table at home. We found a Hans Wegner chair in a field, so Alex (de Rijke) brought it back. Using wood from the trees blown down in the big storm, Alex reproduced that chair with a local craftsman. In my bedroom I have a really odd velvet chair, it has extraordinary sentimental value.
My art
In the flat we have big artworks by Richard Woods, including one on the ceiling which completely lifts the space. I love buying affordable prints from the Tate, Serpentine and Whitechapel and end-of-year degree shows. The Broad Gallery on St John Street is great for lithographs, etchings and prints.
Peter Harrington sells first-edition books and prints. Three years ago I bought an extraordinary hand-drawn Tracey Emin nude at a charity auction. It was quite a conservative crowd and I was so incensed no one was bidding above the asking price, I eventually put my hand up and they went: "Sold." I couldn't sleep for a week because it was so much money. It was probably the most over-the-top thing I've done in my life but it gives me great pleasure every single day.
Most coveted possession
A Thonet rocking chair. When I was born the government gave all mothers £65 to spend on nappies etc. My mother bought a chair. She gave it to me when I had my daughters as it is the best thing ever for breastfeeding.
Favourite maker
I was at the RCA with Michael Marriott and I have a long-standing love affair with the work that he does, it's just so cheeky and fun but has real integrity. And I always pick up something at Cockpit Arts and Clerkenwell Design Week.
My escape
A boat on the Thames. As you go out under Tower Bridge, past St Katharine Docks, that stretch of the river is extraordinary. Also the view from my hospital bed last year as an NHS patient at St Thomas' Hospital. This has to be one of the best views in London. When I was at the Royal College I swam my way across London — all the big lidos and open pools. Hopefully we're being commissioned soon to design an open-air pool for Battersea.
Amazing architecture
St Pancras station — I love the excitement of arrival or the anticipation of leaving. The wonderful Serpentine pavilions are my favourite and most-visited artworks. Stockwell bus garage is a post-war architectural marvel. And there's a great church that you literally stumble upon, right behind Chinatown, the Notre Dame de France.