Sense of place: Studioilse questions the changing concept of home in the sharing economy

London – LS:N Global visited Studioilse to chat to Ilse Crawford about the inspirations and thinking behind the studio’s forthcoming London Design Festival (LDF) project.

For this year’s LDF Landmark Project, A Place Called Home, London Design Festival has collaborated with Airbnb to challenge four designers to create their own interpretation of home.

At the forefront of the sharing economy, the success of services such as Airbnb is changing the way that home spaces are perceived and Studioilse is exploring this shift through an immersive space that encapsulates scent, ambient sound and multiple moving images.

Evoking images of cross-cultural daily rituals performed in domestic spaces, as well as a scent designed in collaboration with fragrance expert Azzi Glasser, the space will explore ‘the collective feeling of home’.

‘We want it to investigate what home is,’ says Crawford. ‘There is a big shift between what is private and what is public – the lines between the two are blurring. It is interesting because we now expect to be at home in public spaces and we are also prepared to share our private spaces – but this doesn’t mean that the two domains are no longer private or public, it’s a different perception of them and it opens all sorts of interesting opportunities.’

Airbnb’s most significant involvement in a design festival to date will see three other studios alongside Studioilse – Patternity, Jasper Morrison and Raw Edges – create home installations. The exhibition will be on view in Trafalgar Square from 13 to 21 September 2014. For more information on the London Design Festival, look out for our annual LDF preview.