Tied to the PAST

Helen and Andrew Magowan have included pretty textile ribbons in their decor to pay tribute to their home’s history as a draper’s shop

- DOMINIC BRADBURY

The highly tailored home that Helen and Andrew Magowan have created is full of stories. This former draper’s shop, within a quiet street of Victorian terraced houses, offered the couple the chance to create a bespoke living space well suited to their needs. But, more than this, as the history of the house began to reveal itself, the Magowans and their architect Patrick Lewis decided to embrace it and – quite literally – weave the narrative of its former occupants through the interiors. The project became a collaboration with a number of textile artists, who created specially commissioned ribbons that wind their way through the different rooms, including one that is devoted to a member of the family, who spent 30 years living here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.