Jack Harries and Alice Aedy had spent a year and a half sifting through London’s large supply of Victorian flats looking for that “just right” space. “We were about to give up,” remembers Alice. And rightfully so. The couple needed a place to call home, but also one for Earthrise Studio, the production company they started with Jack’s brother, Finn, to cover human-interest stories centered on climate change.

As discouraged as the couple were, in 2019 Alice and Jack walked into a two-level apartment that was originally a 1920s shoe factory, and it clicked. “The character of the lovely old space with its huge windows and wonderful light really drew us in,” she says. “We knew that with some attention and repair it would be perfect.”

It had some quirks. There wasn’t a utility room or any built-in storage, and a large defunct concrete doorway cut into the open-plan kitchen. To make it work for them, Alice and Jack engaged Studio McW, a U.K. firm, which created a more practical layout on both floors of the apartment. In particular, the firm turned the open kitchen and dining area on the upper level into a more flexible living space where the couple host dinner parties, work events, photoshoots, podcasts, and weekly team meetings.

When your home is also a film studio, it needs to be camera-ready. And when your company is concerned with matters of the environment, it had better dress the part. “We knew the space was going to appear in our media,” says Jack, “so it was important that it communicated our pro-environment message.”

By renovating a space instead of building something new, Jack and Alice were able to reduce waste. New materials with high insulation properties keep energy costs low, and the building itself runs on renewables. And, with the former factory’s steel-framed windows, exposed beams, and worn concrete, it has a simple raw beauty—perfect as the backdrop for Earthrise’s online presence, and the couple’s home.

What condition was the original apartment in? What were your central requests to Studio McW for the renovation?

Alice: The original apartment was in pretty good shape, but the layout needed to be rethought to really make the space sing. We charged Studio McW with creating a more practical plan on both floors, incorporating built-in storage and a utility room, and creating a more social kitchen space. We wanted to respect the old building while modernizing the space with natural materials.

What kinds of materials?

Alice: McW brought in timber, steel, and clay to compliment the building’s original cement, brick, and steel. We kept the finishes very much in line with the original character of the warehouse, which is what drew us to the apartment in the first place. These older spaces aren’t always the most healthy to live in, so we opted to use a toxin absorbing matte clay render from Clayworks for the walls. It has a nice finish and improves the quality of the air.

How does the flat suit your production company, Earthrise Studio?

Jack: Earthrise started out totally remote during the pandemic. Now, our staff typically comes in a few times a week depending on the schedule and current projects. Some don’t come in at all, like our amazing graphics person who lives in Portugal. Generally, we host various members of the team on a daily basis, whether it’s for meetings or filming interviews and podcasts.

Alice: The high ceilings and natural light have been great for filming. McW’s creative new plan splits the main level—the upstairs—into a kitchen, a dining/workspace, and a living room, all while maintaining maximum freedom to adapt each area to suit our needs. We have a lot of filmmaking equipment and often need open space to shoot, so the storage the studio added has been really critical. McW ran it along one wall, which allows us to to quickly stash our gear, leaving the rooms uncluttered.

How do you transition from work to home life?

Alice: In the evening all the gear disappears into the new storage cupboards, and it becomes the perfect entertaining space for friends and family.

Jack: For the most part, our work is joyful, but obviously rest is necessary. We always make sure we shut things down at a certain time and we really try not to work on the weekend. In the evenings, we relax in the kitchen, or lounge on our couch in the living room, watching documentaries. The downstairs bedroom is set aside as a place for rest and escape—no work materials allowed.

What makes the warehouse an ideal space for creating content?

Jack: Light is the most important thing for filming and photos—and it also just makes us happy every day. We’ve got huge east and west windows, so we have amazing light in the evening. And the light moves throughout the day. At certain times, blocking out the light can be tricky, so we do have blackout blinds.

How does the apartment reflect the stories you want to tell?

Alice: We hope our home reflects our environmental focus. We chose to renovate rather than buy new, and tried using natural or reclaimed materials wherever possible. Natural materials like clay and timber have great insulating properties, and we’re in the process of retrofitting all the windows in the space so that it will be better insulated to keep energy use minimal. Plus, the building itself relies on renewable energy. This type of adapting and retrofitting is going to be crucial as we all work to achieve energy goals going forward.

You have so many plants—can you tell us about those?

Alice: It was important to us to fill the house with greenery in contrast with all the concrete around us, both in the apartment and in the city. Living in the city it can be easy to forget our connection to nature and the crucial role it plays in our lives. Bringing plants into the home not only looks beautiful and oxygenates the space, they’re also a constant reminder of what we all need to be fighting to protect.

Jack: I’m a sucker for plants—that pop of green just looks brilliant. Kew Gardens was my favorite place as a kid, especially the tropical greenhouse where I always felt so inspired standing up in that canopy of filtered light and leaves. We have a lot of plants, but I’d love to have twice as many!

With all the industrial brick, steel, and cement, how did you create the cozy living area and the inviting vibe in the kitchen?

Jack: We brought in a lot of soft, natural materials. For the living room, we’re delighted with the sofa—it is really oversize and comfortable—friends spend the night there. We used lots of linen, which has texture but is also soft and forgiving. Books bring a natural warmth, and we are proud to display the photojournalism art of a good friend of ours, Lindsay Adaria, with whom Alice worked in the Middle East.

We’ve hung a favorite piece of art in the kitchen, which is from a brand we love called LRNCE, which is run by an artist couple based in Marrakesh. We also have a mirror from them. We really love the Moroccan aesthetic with its warm hues, and think the smooth grays and terra-cotta are a perfect foil for the rough concrete and industrial beams. Our photos, art, and artistic pieces transport us briefly to a different part of the world and really feel like an escape from London life.

Alice: Like the space, many of the materials have been adapted or repurposed, from the reclaimed wood floor to the vintage cameras and various pots and ornaments we’ve collected from around the world.

“The building was old with thin windows and lots of gaps. It’s a hopeful sign: If you can retrofit this, you can retrofit anything.”
—Jack Harries, resident

How did you choose the fixtures?

Jack: David and Greg from Studio McW were really terrific. They suggested a lot of the more hard-working lighting, while Alice and I chose some of the more artistic lighting. The Akari light in the living room is really beautiful and adds a nice soft glow. We also got some great lights from Tala, a company run by three young guys who work around the corner from us. They focus on energy efficient LED lights, which are great.

You both travel a lot for work. How does it feel to walk in your front door after being away?

Jack: We are very aware of the dichotomy of traveling to communicate climate change, and we do try to minimize travel, go by train as much as feasible, and use local film crews. Nonetheless, we find we’re away about 50 percent of the year, traveling within the U.K. and Europe, or beyond. Coming home to the apartment is amazing—we never get tired of walking into the light-filled space. It sounds a bit cheesy, but the home just feels like us and really reflects who we are.

It seems like a great space for entertaining, which you do often.

Jack: Well, we attempt to cook for friends and then subject them to the results. We love hosting people and we have a big community of friends in London. This is a very creative part of the city, and our friendships here often cross over into our work lives, so we’re often brainstorming ideas for campaigns over dinner. It feels very natural to combine work and pleasure—hearing stories from our friends’ work always inspires us to push ourselves and to collaborate.

What about your home might not come across in these photos?

Alice: What we found most interesting about the renovation process was how spaces that weren’t originally designed for living can be transformed into an ideal home. It feels very organic to live here in this industrial space. The images don’t fully capture how the space changes over the course of the day—it’s constantly surprising and beautiful.

What was important to you about renovating a space instead of building a new home, say?

Jack: Finn is an architect, so we all have deep respect for architecture and recognize the huge role it has to play. But the built environment is a huge contributor to climate change. It would be great to build everything fresh out of green materials, but we as a society don’t have enough time. We need to aggressively adapt and retrofit what we have. This was an old factory with thin windows and lots of gaps. If you can retrofit this, you can retrofit anything.

Alice: The most sustainable building is the one you already have and maintain.

More My House:

A Designer Couple Treat Their Eichler to a Refresh With Funky, Vintage Style

A Creative Couple’s Live/Work Loft Is Full of Sunny, Southwestern Vibes

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Greg Walton & David McGahon, cofounders, Studio McW / @studiomcw

Interior Design: Greg Walton & David McGahon, Studio McW / @studiomcw

Contractor: Hexagon Construction Ltd

Joiner: Hexagon Construction Ltd

Concrete Countertops: White and Reid

Reclaimed Timber: Ted Todd Woodworks

Metalwork: Sunbeam Group

Vintage Enamel Fixtures: Watermark Collection (Kitchen Tap)

Clay Render: Clayworks

Photographer: Lorenzo Zandri / @lorenzozandri