Property developers aren’t a beloved segment of the design/build community, for reasons too numerous to get into here. But a select few are taking an approach that’s, at the very least, a bit less corporate and a bit more thoughtful. One London-based company — Flawk, founded by Ashley Law in 2022 — is going to lengths to champion local emerging designers, using development opportunities as platforms for commissioning and presenting their work. Flawk bills itself as a “creative property developer transforming under-loved sites,” and its first completed project in the UK capital is filled with custom-crafted details, from the staircases to the toilet-paper holders.
Named Trove, the three-bedroom terraced house in Whitechapel, East London, was designed by Flawk in collaboration with local sustainability-focused architects Nikjoo. It looks ordinary from afar, but on closer inspection, prospective buyers will notice loopy cast-aluminum house numbers fabricated by Lewis Kemmenoe, and a polished green stone doorknob. As they explore the home, more works by independent designers reveal themselves, like Santi Guerrero’s shelving at the entrance, Louie Isaaman-Jones’s book holder in the stairwell, Kemmenoe’s lighting, handles by James Shaw, and Andy Healy’s joinery in the minimalist kitchen and bathrooms.
Woven bedroom closet doors feature Flawk’s own spiral handles, and custom handrail comprising lengths of connected stainless-steel circles was designed by the company and fabricated by Rory Cariss. Each of the toilet-roll holders is unique, individually designed by Shaw, Marco Campardo, or Verkstad A.S, and there’s also a chainmail shower curtain in one of the bathrooms that’s a full chef’s kiss moment. Taking a gallery-style perspective to outfitting a newly built property isn’t new, but thoughtfully curating pieces that work together to create a distinctive quirky, yet wholly livable, aesthetic within a home is no mean feat. Law describes her work as “the antithesis of development as we know it,” and with projects upcoming in Stoke Newington and Gospel Oak, many more talents should find a platform via her efforts.
