Entering the extraordinary Spitalfields home of artists Philip and Charlotte Colbert is like entering another world, or rather a fusion of two worlds. Welcome to Maison Colbert, with its old-fashioned shopfront facade and behind it a studio, exhibition space and living area that Vogue described as a “theatrical funhouse”.
Both artists have left their mark on the building, both inside and out, with their very different surrealist styles. Think of Philips’ pop art lobsters in paintings, telephones and in the fireplace, and Charlotte’s images of eyes staring out from coffee tables and dining chairs.
It’s all so brilliantly crazy that friends regularly asked for their specially designed homeware, “and we ran out of plates,” says Charlotte.
Now the public can take some of the fun home with them, after the pair took over the flagship Conran Shop in Chelsea for the summer and offered their own range of homewares and furniture. “It’s about developing the magic of the home space,” says Charlotte.
“Charlotte and I have always been interested in pushing art into different media,” says Philip. “Living art; bringing art into practical household items. A bit like Picasso’s ceramics were so great. It’s the democratisation of art.” Yes, for over two decades Picasso sold plates, bowls, jugs and vases.
The couple were also inspired by a visit to American ceramicist Betty Woodman’s home in Italy, Charlotte says. “She had made everything around her, and it was so inspiring — from her funny shoes to her teapots. Her home felt like she had walked into a fairy tale where everything had been reinvented.”
She continues: “If you can reinvent a teapot, you can reinvent a social structure, you can reinvent a government, a whole lot of things.” Her husband picks up on the theme: “Art is a flag of freedom. A demonstration of freedom, of thinking and reinventing things.” We’re talking in the airy space of Maison Colbert’s double-height living room, elegantly designed and flooded with light. Charlotte looks chic in a dark, oversized suit, her eyes accentuated by eyeliner. Philip is all white – linen trousers and a T-shirt with his signature lobster.
“Often in society you live in the imagination of very corporate structures that impose an aesthetic,” says Charlotte. “We always find it inspiring when people break through that and imagine it in different ways. It’s like a war of imagination that we live in.”
She says that today’s visionaries are often influenced by the science fiction of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. “When you look at Elon Musk’s self-driving cars, it feels like a real ’80s dream. It feels dated and it feels like we can do a lot better. It would be interesting if creative communities could come up with an aesthetic for how we can live on Earth now. Whatever we imagine today is what we’ll be living in tomorrow.”
After a pause, Charlotte adds: “I don’t know… reinventing a silly chair might inspire someone to push and reinvent other things, and push against the imagination of Trump and Musk. Those are the people whose imaginations we’re living in right now.”
The Conran Shop approached the couple about a collaboration about 18 months ago after seeing the artists’ merchandise elsewhere.
They’ve each created a room to showcase their objects, including tableware, linens, mugs, chairs and telephones. Philip has created a pop art living room with a 60s vibe. “It’s very Austin Powers.” Charlotte has put together a dreamscape of a bedroom. “What do they hope people take away with them? “I hope it makes people smile a little bit and cheers them up a little bit,” says Charlotte. “Done.”
But it’s about more than that, according to Philip, who was once described as “Andy Warhol’s godson”. He says: “It’s the spirit of art for everyone. It immediately opens someone’s work up to a wider audience. The reality of large sculptures and paintings is that they’re quite expensive and it becomes an elitist thing. Products and merchandise can be for everyone. That’s the idea of accessibility in art, which is really beautiful.”
We talk about the lobster — the image is everywhere in the house and in Philip’s work and clothes. I ask when the crustacean first made its mark. “I didn’t choose the lobster, the lobster chose me. It wasn’t conscious, it was a slow cooking.” He raises an eyebrow in acknowledgement of the joke.
The collaboration is called Modern Surrealism and one figure that figures prominently is Salvador Dali, an artist whose work frequently featured lobsters and eyes. Dali also created the lobster telephone, which Philip has playfully referenced with one of his own phones. “I like to think mine is better than Dali’s. There’s a lot more product engineering that goes into mine.” Perhaps, he adds, it could start a “return to the landline” movement.
The artist’s alter ego, the lobster, has been embraced around the world, partly, he believes, because it’s “fun, accessible surrealism.” A giant version sailed the canals of Venice in 2022, towered over the waterfront in Singapore and perched on buildings from Taipei to Gstaad. His own image has been projected onto a skyscraper in Shanghai.
In a world where art can be seen as lacking in humour, the Cancer certainly brings that. “I’m anti-pretentious,” says Philip. “I always want to avoid looking too serious.” It’s helped him become a hugely commercial artist, and while London remains a diverse centre for the art world, “it’s not the place for radical growth”. As a result, artists are looking to Asia in particular. “In London, there’s more cynicism because it’s had so many big art booms and growths… in a lot of developing countries, Western art is booming in terms of growth and that’s really exciting.”
Charlotte, however, praises London’s ability to change. She is half French and has spent a lot of time in Paris. “There, everything was sacrificed to protect the beauty of the city. Whereas in London, it was like, ‘Fuck those buildings, we’ll rebuild them. What’s important is our values.’ I always found that inspiring, that irreverence. The fact that you can’t change anything in Paris affects the mentality. They are much more conservative in many things.” Philip adds: “We’re not trapped in history.”
Philip, 45, grew up in Scotland and his trips to the country’s National Gallery sparked his interest in art. Formative moments included studying philosophy and, surprisingly, working as a door-to-door salesman in America, selling encyclopedias.
“It’s one of the hardest jobs, dealing with rejection. It taught me a lot. It doesn’t mean your ideas aren’t good, it just means you have to be stubborn. It taught me that you have to have a dedicated work ethic, that you have to persevere and that things can happen.”
He moved to London and made “crazy wearable art dresses,” and exhibited a bit in galleries. His work really took off in 2017 when a collection of his lobster paintings was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery. “That was the birth of my lobster artist.”
And there’s no end in sight for the lobster. “People say, ‘Are you going to drop that lobster idea?’ I think the key to creativity is not to change your language too quickly. There’s a ton of stuff out there these days, and if you change too quickly, it just gets washed away. You have to have a strong foundation and consistency, and communication takes time. When you think about great art, most of it is recognizable.”
Charlotte, 37, a half-sister of Jemima Khan Goldsmith, was a writer from a young age. And after working for magazines and newspapers, she discovered film — she didn’t have a TV growing up — and fell in love with the form. Then, through photography, she was picked up by a gallery and started making artwork to exhibit. Last year, the artist, who has been dubbed “the love child of Emily Dickinson and Dali,” exhibited at Fitzrovia Chapel during the Frieze art fair, and her work has been shown around the world. As well as the eye symbols, there’s recurring work around the house of fallopian tubes and sculptures of breasts.
In 2022, Charlotte directed her first feature film, She Will, starring Malcolm McDowell and Rupert Everett, and the Standard’s review called her a “born magician”. She’s working on another film now, but can’t say much about it yet. They move in unusual artistic circles, collaborating with all sorts of artists, from poets to singers. Sometimes they don’t even know it — they meet all sorts of people at Maison Colbert, at events held in the space.
“A lot of times it’s full of people and we have no idea who they are,” says Charlotte. “We wonder, who are these really cool people? Jorja Smith was in concert the other day and it was so amazing. She and her friends were sitting on my bed taking selfies. I don’t know, maybe [Warhol’s] “The Factory felt like this.”
Philip adds: “It’s cool. Jerry Hall came in and was like, ‘Oh my God, I love all these tit sculptures.’ It really felt like something out of a Factory scene.” People apparently can’t get enough of the homeware.
Colbert x The Conran Shop pop-up runs from July 22nd to August 26th; theconranshop.com