The Sensual Home - book love

Books are a big thing for me and at this very moment I have about ten sprawled across the table, whilst I'm drawing some new quilt designs.

My favourite 'interiors' book ever, started me on the path of Haven ten years ago.

The Sensual Home is not an interiors book, it's much more than that. It's about the fundamental ways of being and living. Attending university one of my most memorable lectures was being introduced to Abraham Maslow's hierachy of needs. I remember leaving the lecture feeling truly inspired and thought 'I get it'. I was 17 at the time and probably had no idea except for that underlying gut instinct.
The Sensual Home is Maslow in a nutshell - design, psychology and marketing all together and I've been lit up ever since.

On to the author - Ilse Crawford. The founding Editor of Elle Decoration - I still have issues from 1999 they were that ground-breaking. To me, she seems extraordinary in that she is able to create and write about spaces for living that resonate inside you, not just for your eyes. Much has been written on Ilse, so you should look at her work here.

I've had my copy of Sensual Home from launch in 1999. It's gone from London to New Zealand and is now on the table open at page 53.  It still sparks ideas and 'lifts me up'.

In times like these when the world is coming out of a difficult place, then home and what home actually means is possibly one of our most important lessons. The Sensual Home is probably more relevant now than ever before. I'm so glad its on my table.