My House: A Filmmaker Couple Put a London Shoe Factory Back Into Production as Their Home and Studio

Jack Harries and Alice Aedy had spent a year and a half sifting through London’s large supply of Victorian flats looking for that "just right" space. "We were about to give up," remembers Alice. And rightfully so. The couple needed a place to call home, but also one for Earthrise Studio, the production company they started with Jack’s brother, Finn, to cover human-interest stories centered on climate change.

As discouraged as the couple were, in 2019 Alice and Jack walked into a two-level apartment that was originally a 1920s shoe factory, and it clicked. "The character of the lovely old space with its huge windows and wonderful light really drew us in," she says. "We knew that with some attention and repair it would be perfect."

It had some quirks. There wasn’t a utility room or any built-in storage, and a large defunct concrete doorway cut into the open-plan kitchen. To make it work for them, Alice and Jack engaged Studio McW, a UK firm, which created a more practical layout on both floors of the apartment. In particular, the firm turned the open kitchen and dining area on the upper level into a more flexible living space where the couple host dinner parties, work events, photoshoots, podcasts, and weekly team meetings.

When your home is also a film studio, it needs to be camera ready. And when your company is concerned with matters of the environment, it had better dress the part. "We knew the space was going to appear in our media," says Jack, "so it was important that it communicated our pro-environment message."

By renovating a space instead of building something new, Jack and Alice were able to reduce waste. New materials with high insulation properties keep energy costs low, and the building itself runs on renewables. And, with the former factory’s steel-framed windows, exposed beams, and worn concrete, it has a simple raw beauty—perfect as the backdrop for Earthrise’s online presence, and the couple’s home.

Dwell: What condition was the original apartment in? What were your central requests to Studio McW for the renovation?

Alice: The original apartment was in pretty good shape, but the layout needed to be rethought to really make the space sing. We charged Studio McW with creating a more practical plan on both floors, incorporating built-in storage and a utility room, and creating a more social kitchen space. We wanted to respect the old building while modernizing the space with natural materials.