Taran

About 15 years ago at Open House, Celine and I were checking out some architecturally interesting houses. We wandered down Walters Way, which is just down the road. We walked in and immediately said, “Oh my god, I want to live in this house.” As fate would have it, I later found a Segal House on sale with on The Modern House”. These houses were self-built in the late 70s, inspired by an architect called Walter Segal. The people who lived in and built them were just regular people that had to learn how to build a home. Can you imagine? All you need to do is buy the materials! It's a flatpack, so kind of like a prefab. But you could decide what you wanted to include or not, that’s what’s great. All the houses here are all a little bit different. The configuration of the house from when we first bought it to now is completely different. In fact, we created the new studio space very recently. We also knocked down a wall in the kid’s bedroom to create one bedroom with a hammock all the way through because the boys wanted to be together. So it's like a kind of a house that's always evolving with us. As our family grows, the house grows as well.

Taran

Yes, the studio. We used a beautiful material by Clay Works. It sort of changes in the light and you get a real sense of peace in the space.

Taran

I’ve done career pivots many times. At first, I wanted to be a lawyer, then I got to the final years and realised, that’s not for me. I wanted to learn a new language and new culture instead and went to teach English in Japan. After a year there, I fell in love with the people and food. I found myself returning to London working in events for the fashion industry before finding myself working in finance. I was always angry wearing a suit and tie everyday. It’s not my scene. I was exhausted and I didn't feel happy. And Celine was like, ‘look I’ll back you, you just do what you got to do’. I wanted to do photography. Then I started setting my own goals, which led me to start my first personal project.

Taran

I started with the home I live in and all the other houses along Walters Way and Segal Close. It’s such an architecturally interesting area but also an awesome way to meet my neighbours. One of them; Alice Graham was a journalist who lives on Walters Way and she suggested we do an article on the project. So I suggested a self-published book. We sold 200 copies. But then I decided to take it to Frankfurt World Book Fair. I showed this book to four or five different publishers and before one of the publishers agreed to 10,000 copies. This all happened within three months of being in the industry!

TARAN

Matt Gibberd, co-founder at The Modern House. I met him at a Walter Segal inspired exhibition at the AA School of Architecture, and the rest was history as I started freelancing for them and shot hundreds of beautiful homes. He gave me a vital platform in a very saturated industry.

Taran

There's a house in Palm Springs, California called Kaufmann Desert House, designed by architect Richard Neutra in 1946. The house was made infamous through Slim Aaron’s iconic photograph, ‘The Poolside Gossip’ which was shot at this stunning property in 1970.