I arrive at Harris Reed’s west London home on a dazzlingly bright morning. The low winter sun glances off the façade of the white-stuccoed townhouse, making it appear especially imposing. The vibe shifts as soon as you enter the ground-floor flat that the fashion designer shares with his husband Eitan Senerman, founder of a design and innovation lab, and their Australian Labradoodle puppy Wilbur.
It’s warm, headily scented and inviting. A barefoot Harris greets me at the door. ‘Welcome to our little slice of joy,’ he says, ushering me in. The Grade II-listed one-bedroom flat is compact, but has some of the proportions of the much larger house it is part of. Harris was smitten instantly. ‘I did everything you’re told not to do,’ he recalls. ‘I fell completely head over heels with the first apartment I saw.’ Despite its many challenges and restrictions (including an immovable beam that 6ft 4in Harris has to duck under constantly), the designer saw its potential. The fact that it also had a back garden with mature trees cemented his decision.
We settle in the theatrical sitting room, where golden wallpaper sweeps up to a gilded ceiling. Layered with lacquered and velvet-wrapped surfaces, it is the kind of space that feels familiar from photographs of Harris’s opulent and self-assured work. He’s dressed some of the most recognisable figures in contemporary culture, from Harry Styles and Emma Corrin to Beyoncé, and is now a regular presence on New York’s Met Gala red carpet, shaping moments that ripple across social media. Here, elements of that visual language have been used to create a personal realm, with the help of Georgina Wood, the founder and creative director of London-based Studio Clementine.
The sitting room’s grand scale brings a sense of ceremony that Harris longed for after more than a decade of renting in London. ‘I always dreamed of having a room where you could sit by the fire, have a drink and host people,’ he says. ‘As a queer kid, you’re often told you can’t have that life. So creating this space feels symbolic.’
The luminous gold decor was suggested by interior designer Martin Brudnizki, who serendipitously happens to be a neighbour, and Harris embraced the idea with gusto. ‘When it’s a bright day, the room glows. This is how I charge myself up; it’s my little slice of sunshine.’ The metallic ceiling also serves another purpose. ‘I look up a lot when I’m creating and when I’m dreaming,’ he adds. ‘So I always wanted a home where there’s something to look at everywhere.’ As a child, he was regularly told to stop staring at the ceiling or out of the window, a result of his ADHD. This flat’s interiors encourage the opposite – the eye is invited to wander and is rewarded for doing so.
Despite his husband’s affection for Scandinavian minimalism and hopeful request for at least one pared-back space, pale walls never featured in Harris’s plans. ‘Anyone looking at this now will laugh,’ he says. ‘There isn’t a lick of white anywhere.’ Instead, hand-painted and embroidered wallpapers, rich fabrics and dramatic lighting create a Hollywood Regency meets opium den vibe, while a sprinkling of vibrant paintings by Chilean artists reflect Eitan’s heritage. ‘It was important to me that there were elements of the house that were really him,’ Harris explains.
Jump to: How to recreate the Harris Reed look at home
The duo are global nomads: Eitan grew up in Chile and Miami and lived in Los Angeles before moving to London, while Harris was born in LA to an English father (documentary maker Nick Reed) and an American mother (Lynette Reed, a model turned artist and founder of candle company Illume). ‘The way we live our lives is very bold,’ says Harris. ‘We’re unapologetic about who we are. I don’t think anything I’ve ever done has been tame, so why would my home be?’
Although it is compact, the flat has been smartly zoned. Light drifts through the moody hallway from south-facing windows that offer a clear sight line to the garden. ‘There’s a good energy flow,’ he says. ‘I’m very into that.’ To maximise the feeling of light and space, the galley kitchen has been pared back, with upper cabinets removed and floating shelves introduced. ‘We wanted it to feel tucked away,’ explains Harris, who admits to cooking only occasionally, though he regularly hosts cocktail gatherings that spill out into the garden. The adjoining nook, separated with a Crittall partition, functions as a library, cinema, guest room and office. ‘Half our living happens in here and I wanted it to feel playful,’ he adds. Mushroom lights, winged creatures and cloud-like moiré wallpaper bring a sense of fantasy.
We step into the garden, which the designer uses year round. ‘It’s actually bigger than the apartment,’ he says. After years without outdoor space – including lockdown in a small flat in Holloway Road, N7 – green space was ‘essential’. Filling in a koi pond swallowed much of the landscaping budget, but the result, designed with the help of garden designer Lisa Collins, feels surprisingly lush, even in winter, with a zone for lounging and soaking. ‘Jumping off the Eurostar and getting straight into the hot tub is true luxury to me,’ explains Harris.
Back inside, the bedroom is enveloped by grandeur. An oversized Murano glass chandelier hangs overhead and Fromental’s ‘Wilde Dreams’ silk wallcovering lines the walls. ‘It was a big investment,’ recalls Harris. ‘But it’s as if the room is wearing a beautiful vintage jacket.’ The classical design has been personalised with motifs of swallows and bees, inspired by Eitan’s tattoos, which flit among the foliage.
The curtained wardrobe alcove is surprisingly small for someone who designs and collects fashion. Its tiny proportions were almost enough of an issue to derail the purchase of the flat. Instead, Harris has had to adopt the pragmatic approach of tightly editing his clothing. ‘Everything I own lives here,’ he says, pulling back the curtain and climbing onto a stool to grab some silk pyjamas. ‘There’s no storage unit. It’s all in this closet.’ Occasionally, its packed rails collapse in the early hours: ‘It keeps life interesting!’
Harris’s high-octane life beyond these walls is anything but dull. In 2022, at just 26 years old, he became creative director of Parisian fashion house Nina Ricci, fulfilling a dream he had nurtured since childhood: ‘I painted an Eiffel Tower on my wall when I was 13. So when it happened, it felt wild.’ Harris has recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position at Nina Ricci in pursuit of his own projects, which constantly take him between London, Paris and LA. ‘This is my sanctuary,’ he says of his flat. ‘It is where I reconnect with what’s most important.’
The flat was also the starting point for Harris’s growing engagement with interiors. His collaboration with Fromental began here and has evolved into a collection of sumptuous wallcoverings, cushions and throws. He’s toying with the idea of designing furniture and lighting. ‘I love creating things that last; I’m only scraping the surface.’
As I leave, Harris is already back in motion, straightening up sofas while talking about his next project with a colleague. The apartment feels alive, shaped by hands and ideas that seldom stop moving. ‘This is my version of the life I always imagined,’ he says. Casting one last glance at his home, it’s easy to see why.
Harris Reed: harrisreed.com | Fromental: fromental.com | Studio Clementine: studioclementine.co.uk
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