MY WORLD
Daisy Hoppen invites us round to her Hackney apartment… and we might never leave
‘I DON’T THINK I HAVE A STYLE, AS SUCH – I know what I love and I know what I love collecting,’ says Daisy Hoppen. With her eye for spotting new talent, the London-based publicist has made a name for herself within the fashion world as the woman to approach in order to discover the next big thing. It’s a skill she honed working across the worlds of fashion and art for her clients Dover Street Market, Molly Goddard, the Michael Hoppen Gallery (owned by her father) and more.
It’s no real surprise, then, that her home overlooking Hackney Downs, which she shares with her boyfriend, fashion consultant Paul-Anthony Smith, and cat, Olive, is a treasure trove of art, clothing and collectibles by emerging names and established artists — all pieces she’s used to put her stamp on the space.
‘The apartment is actually my boyfriend’s, so over the years I have tried to de-bachelorify it, starting with photographs. The amazing thing about photography is it’s quite an inexpensive medium to start collecting in. And one of our walls is covered in strange paintings and pictures we’ve picked up over the years: things that friends of ours have done, mixed with more serious works from my father’s gallery or artists such as Sarah Moon and Alex Prager.’
Set in an old Georgian townhouse, their space reveals an obvious synergy between Daisy and Paul-Anthony’s collections – his wall of vinyl records and DJ decks and her bookshelf of fashion hardbacks – which gives the place a charming eclecticism. The light, which streams in from the park across the street, gives the house an airy, leafy feel, something that self-confessed near-hoarder Daisy says balances out the abundance of miniature vases, tiny toy cars, African figurines and mismatched cushions she has on show. She loves searching regional flea markets, car-boot sales, charity shops (though she’s quick to note she avoids university cities) and Etsy. But when it comes to bigger investments, she consults close friend and curator Antonia Marsh.
‘I didn’t grow up in a clean aesthetic environment – I was surrounded by colour, print and texture,’ she explains. Daisy spent her childhood in southwest London before eventually settling in east London as an adult (after moving between Brixton, Clapham and Tooting). ‘Now, I like things that I didn’t think were cool growing up. I find items that belonged to my parents and love them. My father is obsessed with crocodiles and octopuses and collects a lot of taxidermy, and while that is not quite to my taste, I have held the Moroccan rugs hostage at my place.’
Her time spent travelling has been just as influential on her interior style as her parents: her work regularly takes her to Copenhagen and Paris, and when she’s off-duty, she splits her time between the family home in Majorca and London. But it’s India that inspires her most. ‘If I could move to another city, it would be Mumbai. I love the colours, the people, the food, the chaos. And it just feels like one of those cities where exciting things can happen. We have some really amazing old Indian prints on the walls at home, and every time I look at them I want to be back there.’
It has influenced her on the food front as well: ‘I love hosting dinner parties. Curry is my go-to recipe — or anything in the slow cooker,’ she says. ‘And my girlfriends and I do a day called ‘Bitch Perfect’, where we go around to each other’s houses on a Saturday, eat chips and dips and watch Nineties films. It’s heaven.’
‘I didn’t grow up in a clean aesthetic environment: I was surrounded by colour’