We Take A Tour Of Interiors Guru Kit Kemp’s Kensington Home

Kit Kemp’s expansive design empire spans homeware, interiors and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic. At the heart of the close-knit, creative and collaborative enterprise is her whimsical London house: the Ideal Blueprint for her signature richly layered style

Kit kemp is leaning against a corner of the kitchen island in her cottage-like Kensington home, holding a slice of toast with one hand and leafing through a stack of printouts with the other. There are moodboards to approve for an upcoming shoot featuring a new collection for her homeware brand, Kit Kemp Design Studio, and photographs from her London Design Week showcase at Chelsea Harbour. She is interrupted by her daughter Minnie, who arrives in a flurry of excitement with her sausage dog Frida in tow; shortly afterwards, Minnie’s sister Willow appears, and talk turns quickly from work to wedding plans. The countdown is on to Willow’s imminent nuptials, which she plans to celebrate at Ham Yard, one of the 11 properties in the Firmdale portfolio – the luxury-hotel group based in London and New York that Kit and her husband Tim have run since they co-founded it in 1985.

The atmosphere is one of chaotic good cheer, with the exact dose of high spirits and strong opinions you would expect from a business that has been family-run since its inception. Kit’s daughters are regular visitors to the Hyde Park-adjacent home, which she and Tim purchased back in 2000; Willow still has a bedroom upstairs, despite living in nearby Chelsea, and the Firmdale Hotels headquarters is just a short stroll away in a converted South Kensington townhouse. Both Minnie and Willow hold roles as design directors – the former, a graphic-design graduate, focusing on residential and new hotel projects; the latter, a trained architect, overseeing the group’s art collection – and are as passionate as their parents about its future. (They also have an elder sister, Tiffany, who is not involved in the company, but who has given Kit her first granddaughter, Clemmie – at three, apparently already in possession of an excellent design eye.) “The best thing about our set-up is that we can be flexible in a way a larger operation can’t,” says Kit. “How many companies can take a greenfield site, build on it, decorate it and then run the whole thing together?”

Her own property, which she and Tim have renovated twice over the past 25 years, primarily reconfiguring the ground floor to create more open space, has been a similar labour of love. It has all the hallmarks of a Kit Kemp interior – the colourful wallpapers, the patterned upholstery, the eccentric mix of artworks and objets – and doubles as a showcase for many of the brand’s best-loved designs and collaborations, but it is first and foremost a place that brings joy. “I think colour makes you happy,” says Kit. “I see a lot of interiors that have been beautifully done, but you go through and then you can’t remember anything. Even just a dash of brightness makes somewhere more memorable.” There is a constant temptation, given how prolific her output is, to change the fabric on a chair, rearrange the furniture or introduce new pieces – but, she says, ‘“Tim hates it if I do that too much… especially if his favourite wing chair gets moved!”

Kit – “like everyone” – spends the majority of her time in the kitchen, whose curved walls are lined with cabinets painted in cheerful lemon and coral hues; above the central island hangs a statement chandelier handmade from African beadwork stitched around metal discs. The downstairs areas are fluid (there is a retractable wall, but Kit says they never close it), with the kitchen leading through to a conservatory and double-length living space. The hallway and staircase are connected by the striking use of Andrew Martin’s Mythical Land wallpaper from the Kit Kemp collection, whose design is inspired by American folk art. One-off pieces such as a vintage Swedish wedding clock and an antique gilded mirror testify to Kit’s well honed collector’s instinct (she recommends Brownrigg and Lorfords in Tetbury for unique finds), while the artworks speak to her passion for championing young female creative talent: a display of playful collages by the illustrator and textile artist Jo Waterhouse, who has designed a range for Shop Kit Kemp, make a charming feature in the entrance area. As Willow, who is responsible for selecting art for both the shop and the hotels, explains: “We’re very democratic in the way we hang and frame – an art student’s work can happily sit next to something by a Royal Academician.” Indeed, upstairs, I spot a portrait by Eileen Cooper, the former Keeper of the Royal Academy, from whom Kit tells me she has bought several pieces.

The first-floor landing is a masterclass in small-space design: Kit has transformed what could be wasted square-footage into, in her words, “a place to think and dream”, complete with a piano (“Tim’s learning – I gave up because I was so hopeless!”) and shelves lined with volumes sourced from friends who own a small independent bookstore in Alfriston. On the top floor, the master bedroom exudes serenity with its high ceilings and walls decorated with transportive art, including coastal scenes by the watercolourist Jean Alexander and fairy-tale-inspired illustrations by Kathleen Hale (best known as the creator of the Orlando the Marmalade Cat books). Quirky collectables such as miniature shell boxes by the late artist Mimi de Biarritz and Staffordshire dogs used as lamp bases add to the whimsical mood. “You can put anything you like in a room, really,” says Kit. “If it’s your taste, it will go together.”

I wonder how, as a family business, they handle differences of opinion, especially working in such a creative environment. “When you’re doing something you’re all passionately involved in, you do have very strong points of view,” acknowledges Kit. It helps that each of them has a different skill set: Minnie, according to her mother, is a “human hurricane” who is ambitious for growth (“I want to open a hotel in Shanghai… and Oman and Tokyo,” she announces), while Willow, with her architectural background, excels at three-dimensional thinking. “We’re similar in some ways but chalk and cheese in others – that’s sisters for you,” says Willow.

What brings them all together is a shared sense of purpose. “Having each other there means we can be brave and say, ‘Let’s do it’ when we want to try something new,” says Minnie. Forty years on from the founding of Firmdale Hotels, there is plenty to keep them all busy – which, says Kit, is exactly how she likes it. “I don’t think of what we do as work… It’s a lifestyle.”

Lead Image Credits: Kit Kemp in her Kensington home. All clothing throughout her own, except where stated

Photography by Simon Brown. Styling by Grace Clarke. Hair and Make-up: Terri Capon, Using Charlotte Tilbury and Colour Wow, and Lucie Pemberton, using Kosas and Oribe

From Harper’s Bazaar Interiors Autumn 2025 Issue