The clients are globe-trotting Burning Man attendees. Their brief was not a mood board. It was a feeling: the warmth of a Nevada desert at golden hour, translated into a Victorian terrace in Angel.
The entrance was the first problem. Previously, stepping through the front door revealed the entire ground floor at once. No threshold, no transition, no sense of arriving somewhere private.
We designed a curved track curtain that gently separates the entrance from the living space. A globe pendant hangs in the hallway like a rising moon over a distant horizon. The terracotta lime wash on the reception room walls deepens through the day as the light shifts.
Behind the hallway storage, we carved a canal-facing home office — invisible from the entrance, facing water and light.
Save this if you believe a home should feel like the best version of wherever you have been.
Yoko Kloeden Design
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Interior architecture, refurbishment and extension of existing houses and new builds for residential
Yoko Kloeden Design is a London-based interior design studio for residential and commercial clients - covering the complete interior design process from initial conception to final project delivery. We are committed to deliver solutions that reflect the client’s lifestyle, personality, and aspiration. Our goal is to create and deliver interior stories which feel unique to their owners. This is where we share our news, project updates and inspirations.
17/06/2026
They moved from Hong Kong to London and left Japan behind.
We brought it into their home — with Shoji screens, INAX tiles, tatami rooms, and materials sourced directly from Japan.
16/06/2026
The family started as 9 — two adults, three daughters, two dogs, two cats.
By the time we finished, they were 11. One of the dogs had puppies.
Here is how we designed for all of them.
15/06/2026
The open-plan kitchen everyone wanted in 2015 is the room nobody wants to sit in by 2026. Here is what went wrong — and what comes next.
13/06/2026
Emptiness is not absence. It is the design.
Most homes are designed by addition — more storage, more rooms, more finishes. Japanese spatial thinking starts from the opposite premise: what can we leave out so the space can breathe?
That is what my first article is about. From the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto to modern London homes, the same principle holds — coexistence with nature, not control over it.
I am now a regular contributor to Livingetc, writing weekly on Japanese design philosophy. This is just the beginning.
Read the full article — link in bio.
11/06/2026
Your home is not an object. It is a living system.
That single idea changed how I design — and it is the subject of my first article as a regular contributor to
The piece explores Japanese spatial planning: why the best homes are shaped as much by what is left out as by what is put in. Negative space is not emptiness. It is an active ingredient — a shaded threshold, a window aligned with planting, materials that age with you.
I will be writing and contributing weekly for , exploring the Japanese design principles behind every YKD project. More to come.
Read the full article 'The Impact of Japanese Spatial Planning on Urban Homes' — link in bio.
10/06/2026
The best projects move through a clear path. Most people skip or rush early stages — and that is where budgets overrun and timelines collapse.
09/06/2026
The show kitchen was for someone who does not cook.
The study bookshelf is a Zoom background.
When we ask honest questions during the brief, clients often surprise themselves — and discover a home closer to what they actually want.
Read more in our latest journal article - link in bio.
08/06/2026
Before you extend your home, subtract from it. Danshari is the Japanese philosophy of letting go — not tidying, not better storage, but examining what you actually need. We have seen extensions halve in scope once the honest questions are asked.
Read the full article - link in bio.
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