Quentin Jones, The Woman Who Juggles It All

Quentin Jones doesn’t subscribe to the screen-free craze, in which people rid the bedroom of tellies and iPads in order to be more ‘mindful’. Quite the opposite, in fact. The only TV in her north London Victorian house sits proudly on a trunk in the middle of the bedroom. And her evenings are often committed to binge-watching Amazon and Netflix. ‘When I’m not working, you’ll tend to find me with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, watching TV in bed,’ she says with a laugh. ‘I’ve pretty much finished watching every series,’ she continues, reeling off a list of recommendations. ‘I’m looking forward to The Handmaid’s Tale coming back,’ she says as she gives me a tour of her place.

Quentin Jones

It’s perhaps comforting that a high achiever like Quentin is a box-set addict just like the rest of us. Having been scouted at 15 by Next Models, she studied philosophy at Cambridge and earned an MA in illustration from Central Saint Martins before making a name for herself as one of London’s most respected multimedia artists. Now 32, her distinctive artwork, in which she playfully layers illustrations over images and video, has been used in campaigns for high-profile luxury brands including Chanel, Victoria Beckham and Louis Vuitton.

Quentin Jones

It’s obvious, from her home, that this artist loves fashion as much as fashion loves her. The first thing you see when you walk through the front door are ‘several hundred coats’ lining the hallway. ‘My clothes definitely take up three quarters of the house,’ she laughs, only semi-apologetically. But more on the closet later.

The terraced house Quentin shares with her entrepreneur husband George Northcott and their two-year-old son Grey is conveniently located in Kentish Town, just two minutes from her studio (‘So no time for podcasts on the commute’). Quentin is a city girl at heart, having also spent a few years living and working in New York before returning to London. ‘We moved back two years ago and, although the house was a total disaster when we got it, we sorted it out in around three months,’ she says. But it took a few extra months to put pictures up and make it homely. ‘It’s great here – you can walk to Soho in just 30 minutes. But the weather’s shit,’ she laughs. ‘I definitely think of London as home, but it doesn’t mean I always like it…’

Quentin Jones with her son

Despite the grey skies of London, Quentin’s home is a bright mix of colour and characterful art. Once you squeeze through the hall, with its hanging faux-leopard furs and grey marl coats, you enter a living room that could easily be mistaken for a gallery of her own work. It’s a room with vast white walls and high ceilings, covered with her graphic prints – all eyes, lashes and lips. ‘When you make your own art for a living, it feels ridiculous to spend a fortune on new pieces,’ she says, excusing what could be mistaken for interior egotism. Any artwork that isn’t by her is still personal. ‘My friend Vanessa Garwood is an incredible artist. The really beautiful ink life drawing in the dining room was a wedding present from her.’

Despite the presence of a roaming toddler, Quentin’s home is incredibly tidy. ‘It’s all thanks to some godsend storage solutions and loads and loads of baskets,’ she promises. ‘Huge ones,’ with a number spread throughout the house, including a tall woven African basket for the living room, in which you can fit an entire trunk’s worth of stuff. ‘At the end of the day, all Grey’s toys get thrown into those. They’re great if you have guests coming.’ But, she adds, it doesn’t stop him from running through the house, digging into them again.

Quentin’s interior philosophy is a high-low mix. Antiques (including a large panelled table she shipped from a holiday in Morocco) are mixed with online finds from Mosaic del Sur (cement-tiles.com) and, of course, IKEA. ‘We hit IKEA hard. Especially for things like crockery and bits for the bathroom.’ As for that bathroom, the space makes it clear that her creativity isn’t limited to the campaigns and stop-motion videos she creates for luxury clients. The space is a bold, Moroccan Majorelle blue, like walking through a garden in Marrakech with bursts of lemon, lush foliage and a claw-toothed bathtub.

She designed the graphic monochromatic floor tiles herself. ‘I’m obsessed with the tiles. I couldn’t find the right ones anywhere else, so I made them with Cement Tiles, which has templates so you can create a custom set that fits together to make one big pattern.’ The mirror, she says, was a great antique find from The Architectural Forum on London’s Essex Road.

Now, about that wardrobe – a walk-in number with floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with a mix of contemporary and classic pieces, from bold prints to Bretons. ‘One of the walls is just shoes and boots – lots of Saint Laurent and Valentino. Proenza Schouler also does great boots, and there’s quite a lot of Gucci,’ she says. ‘It’s terrible to say, but as with anything in life, as soon as you have the space, you fill it. It’s the dream, but it makes the idea of moving house very difficult. So now I feel like I can’t not have that space.’

When it comes to cooking, give Quentin a daal and she’s happy, whether cooked by her for friends, when she gets everyone round in the garden, or a takeaway in front of Netflix. ‘I really like cooking, so will try different things all the time. But at the end of the day, I just want to be sipping wine with a takeaway, watching TV.’

Quentin’s commitment to making time for herself and entertaining is what feeds the optimism and energy in her dynamic prints. It’s certainly what makes her work relevant. And it’s why magazines like Teen Vogue commissioned her to create the art for their final cover: an image of Hillary Clinton, with the words ‘Stand up’ and ‘We resist’ against an American-flag backdrop. ‘Everything is a work in progress,’ she says of her home. But we think she’s got her style sussed.