‘As serious as design can be, there’s also a lot of fun to be had’: Elevating homes into works of art

Creating an interior like this requires three key ingredients: a visionary designer; a skilled team of artisans; and a very adventurous client. "Rarely would a home owner embrace this level of creativity," says Róisín Lafferty, the lead designer on the project. "It was his first time buying a house and he wanted something truly unique, unexpected, fun and vibrant. Normally people brave these things in commercial settings, but not in homes."

Lafferty is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2024 interior designer of the year. It's a major accolade for one of Ireland's most consistently interesting interior designers.

Cobalt Townhouse takes its name from an extraordinary central staircase. "We kept the concrete stairs and layered up a micro-cement in saturated cobalt blue, matched a paint colour exactly, and encased it in tinted glass," Lafferty explains. "It's almost like putting on tinted glasses! There's a large roof light at the top so you have a different experience of the blue on each level because of the natural light."

Lafferty has zoned the living area by creating wraparound thresholds with black and white marble. "I'm obsessed with portals," she admits. "I love the idea of stepping into another world."

In this case, the portals separate the kitchen from the lounge at one end and the dining area at the other. It's an extraordinary effect but, as she points out, one that could also be achieved with paint.

In the dining space, she designed a table with an amber glass top supported by solid onyx cylinders. "They're like monolithic sculptures," Lafferty says. "It took six strong men to lift them into place."

A project on this scale is like a symphony orchestra: the designer is the composer and conductor, but the end result depends on the musicians. In this case, a team of highly trained artisans. She acknowledged stonework by Miller Brothers; micro-cement by Stoneseal; and the fit-out by O'Gorman Joinery.

Liveable works of art are rare in Ireland. In California, there's a deeper tradition of radical interior design. Examples include a historic San Francisco mansion, redesigned by interior architect Nicole Hollis. In an interview for Architectural Digest (2022), Hollis described the project as: "Grateful Dead meets Burning Man meets Marrakech meets Victorian posh." Many creatives contributed to the project. Among them, Londubh Studio.

Londubh Studio is the creative partnership of Lisa Donohoe, an artist from Clondalkin, Co Dublin, and Brynn Gelbard, a New Yorker with a punk rock aesthetic. They're based in Los Angeles and their speciality is surface decoration. "We'll take on any surface that will stay still long enough for us to do our thing," Gelbard says. "Walls, floors, ceilings, decorative screens... We are the pattern queens!"

If you like getting your ears blown back by pattern, these are your people. Their designs are intricate and complex, but also meditative and calming. They combine shapes and colours in unexpected ways. Everything about their work is meticulous, deeply considered, and much of it has hidden depths of meaning. "Some people respond to the shapes," Gelbard says. "Other people do the deep dives."

Londubh Studio's contribution to the San Francisco project included a dressing room with a glow-in-the-dark ceiling. It was made during lockdown, painted on individual panels, and shipped to the site for installation.

"During the day it looks like normal," Donohoe says, "but when you press the black light button, it becomes instantly activated."

Because The Grateful Dead had recorded in that house, they incorporated a lyric from the song Scarlet Begonias (1974): "Once in a while, you get shown the light / In the strangest of places if you look at it right." The lyric was concealed within the pattern of the ceiling. "We didn't tell the clients and it took a year for them to find it. They're big Grateful Dead fans, so they were delighted. As serious as design can be, there's also a lot of fun to be had."

Donohoe moved to San Francisco in 1995. "I was always an artist," she says. "When I was offered a job at a decorative painting studio I didn't even know what it was but I was willing to try it out." Working with the studio, Donohoe learned to use traditional techniques in decorative paint for interiors.

In 2002, she was working in a restaurant when Gelbard walked in the door. The pair formed a relationship and, in 2009, moved to Los Angeles. Donohoe took a course in interior architecture and discovered a talent for making site-specific artwork. "Then Brynn jumped in to help and it was suddenly clear that this was going to work as a partnership," Donohoe says.

As well as site specific artwork, Londubh Studio also makes wallpaper (€180 per metre), which is by far the most accessible way of bringing the Londubh aesthetic into an Irish home. Their trips to Ireland inform their work. Neowise wallpaper, based on a stylised sheaf of wheat is a tribute to the Neolithic farmers who built Newgrange.

"When we visited Fournocks and saw the inside for the first time, I noticed a chevron pattern carved into the stone," Donohue says. "It looks like it was done yesterday!" Chevrons appear repeatedly in their work. "We've always aspired for our work to be full of power symbols," Gelbard says. "They create a sacred space within the home. Power symbols open our hearts and lift our heads. They encourage us to walk tall in our busy world. They resonate with the sacred and the profound."

Londubh's aesthetic is hard to define. They've been accused of being maximalists but their colours, while often brazen, are never brash. "We shapeshift somewhat to create what's right for the space," Donohue says. "Maximalism is a lead singer aesthetic," Gelbard adds. "We're not lead singers. We're the backing vocals!"