At home with Lee Broom, the man who put Beyoncé in a swing

Lighting and furniture designer Lee Broom is posing for portraits on the “Beyoncé chair” in the atrium of his south London home.

- By Olivia Lidbury

A feat of engineering in lightweight steel, its official name is the Hanging Hoop chair (price tag: £5,125). A few years ago the pop diva hand-picked it for her Black is King visual album, where she swings from it sultrily (daughter Blue Ivy is captured on it too).

“She loved it so much, she asked if she could buy it. So we were like, ‘We'll make you a new one, you don't have to have the sample one from the showroom. But she was like, ‘No, I want this one.’ So it’s the Beyoncé chair now,” laughs Broom.

The star piece befits Broom’s quirky home. On an unassuming residential street in Kennington, the split-level apartment is housed in what is thought to be the capital's oldest fire station. There are enormous, half-moon windows and a full wall of metro tiles with a jib door in the kitchen. “I just love that it’s so central. When I go outside, I can hear Big Ben,” he says.

Broom has lived here for more than 20 years with his husband and business partner, Charles Rudgard. They bought it when it was first redeveloped and the enormous studded beams which are so central to its charm had been boxed-in. It has since undergone several refurbishments; the lofty welcome “atrium” — once separate rooms — plays host to abstract art, Broom’s bouclé White Street sofa and a large skylight, all which lend a hotel lobby feel. “We use this space when we have friends over for drinks,” he explains.