George & Joshua | Our House, Our Work, Our Wedding
The name Birdhouse197 comes from two things we love more than almost anything else.
Bird was our cat. Curious, particular, with a habit of sitting in the open fire as though she owned the place, because she did. We lost her in November and she is missed every single day. 197 is our house number, an old groundskeeper's lodge to a former estate, small and full of character, with an original Victorian range, green star encaustic tiles, navy blue walls and shelves filled with curiosities. Found things. Things that mean something.
Our studio is named after our home and the life we live inside it, and that home feeds directly into everything we make. Joshua spends most of his working days with Downton Abbey on in the background, not as noise but as genuine reference. The grandeur, the detail, the sense that every object in every room was chosen with intention. That love shows in the designs. The softer, more Bridgerton end of our world sits in the Lock & Key, pale blues and ornate illustration. The darker end, inspired as much by Crimson Peak and The Haunting of Hill House as by any design tradition, lives in the Candle & Key and the Bleeding Heart.
Here sits Trish, our new cat & studio assistant.
