Personal Space: Anissa Kermiche
The London-based creative talks collecting influences for a design-driven space without compromise
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Anissa Kermiche
The London-based creative talks collecting influences for a design-driven space without compromise
Shop Anissa KermicheJewellery and ceramics designer Anissa Kermiche has discovered that loud interior statements and quiet moments produce a sweet spot in which her mind can wander…
“I’m pretty sure I have subscriptions for every interior magazine in the world,” Anissa Kermiche tells us. “Proof that I quite like the place I am at now is that reading these magazines doesn’t make me hate it anymore – I used to be quite envious!” Finding contentment in her own surroundings, it’s clear that her aesthetic is one truly of her own making.
Paris-born, and now London-based, a switch of loyalties has allowed Kermiche’s style to develop in an organic way that reflects both: “Let’s say I am now married to London and Paris is my lover. Home has become London, where I have lived for eight years now – it is the city that has given me a voice and enabled me to fulfil my dreams.” And yet, her creative eye was established early. “Design has always been a part of me,” she explains. “I remember rearranging the toys in the playroom of my primary school as I wanted to see them stored in beautiful colour combinations.”
From £20 finds to collectible Ettore Sottsass lamps, I call my interior belongings my children, and I have a long adoption list waiting with all the pieces of my dreams
Starting small and giving way to mood shifts has given Kermiche time to solidify her sense of self, and her Central London home is clearly demonstrative of this. “Furnishing a house that really reflects who you are takes time and self-confidence,” she says. “It is now a collection of belongings that make my eyes happy on a daily basis, and that have been picked with love – it is a very me aesthetic.” The beauty of her bold and artfully curated home comes from the value she places on each and every object in it: “From £20 finds from Kempton market, like my Chinese tea set, to big, collectible Ettore Sottsass lamps in my bedroom, I call my interior belongings my children, and I have a long adoption list waiting with all the pieces of my dreams.”
Unapologetically indulging her own interests is a key part of what makes Kermiche’s home uniquely hers. “Luckily, I am single, so I won’t have to compromise soon,” she says. “I can have my rose-scented pink bedsheets, an experimental chair from Korea that looks like a bin bag (as my mum calls it), do sleepovers at home with my friends, without anyone commenting!”
I don’t really go for simplicity. To me a piece needs to trigger a conversation and be noticeable, there needs to be something to talk about, laugh about, analyse, and admire.
Kermiche’s interior is a self-proclaimed explosion of influences, and she confesses: “I don’t really go for simplicity. To me a piece needs to trigger a conversation and be noticeable, there needs to be something to talk about, laugh about, analyse, and admire.” It’s maximalism to the core, and is a style that she owes, in part, to her mother and her heritage. “All my memories are at my Mum’s house – she was quite a magpie,” Kermiche shares. “She is from Algeria and married in the North African tradition, covered in inherited jewellery – usually really heavy, really yellow, and not quite discreet. Her jewellery box was kept away from me when I was little, as I just could not stop playing with every piece and wearing the entire set all together.”
And yet, somehow, among the nostalgia, the boldest design pieces and clash of inspirations, the creative stimuli that feeds Kermiche’s design work involves absorbing everything, then shutting her eyes to it all: “Most of the ideas I am the proudest of come in the morning before I wake up. I dream of them just before I open my eyes, which encourages me to leave bed and sketch my ideas. I am the most creative when I am not distracted at all.”
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