Architectural Digest visits Lucy Kurrein in her Container City™ studio

By Hadley Keller
Photography by Rick Pushinsky
January 2, 2019

On a crisp fall day in London, I take a taxi to the end of Trinity Buoy Wharf, just under an hour's drive from Central London and—after urging my hesitant driver—pass through a maze of construction projects until I arrive at a cluster of shipping containers set next to a bright red lighthouse overlooking the River Thames. This is Clipper House, one of several modular Container City projects in the rapidly evolving wharf neighborhood and, in one of its stacked units, the office of British furniture designer Lucy Kurrein.

Kurrein heard about the complex from her father-in-law, a cabinetmaker, and was drawn to its proximity to the creative scene in East London as well as the unconventional structure, which affords an unusual combination of light, airy views and solitude. "When I’m first starting on a project, I tend to lock myself away for a couple of weeks to really get into it," explains the designer, who graduated from the Leeds College of Art and Design before working for Matthew Hilton and PearsonLloyd in London. A 2013 sofa design for SCP jump-started her solo career, and now Kurrein has established a successful name as a designer in both office and residential furnishings, where she's best known for her thoughtful treatment of upholstery... READ MORE