A tiny Holborn flat that reflects its designer’s love of neoclassical and 1970s style
Holborn via Budapest, Rome and Dalston isn’t a creative journey many take, but then nor is designer Gergei Erdei’s apartment on Lamb’s Conduit Street in London your typical two-bedroom flat. Artfully curated (emphasis on the “art”) with finds from Ebay, Facebook Marketplace and a range of Roman flea markets, the flat melds neoclassical rigour with more laid-back, 1970s-inflected ease – soft furnishings in shades of tan and dusty red, and chrome and glass to keep things light. It is almost like stepping into Gergei’s own creative vision.
Born in Hungary, Gergei studied at the London College of Fashion, then moved to Rome for a period after graduating, but returned in 2019. After living in a handful of different houses with friends and flatmates – “There was a year that I moved, I think, at least four times” – he realised he needed a space of his own. As his brand began to grow, he found that he could afford it, and started looking at flats to rent in the city.
“With the neighbourhood, I was quite open-minded,” he says. There was one slight false start, though. When he was looking, in 2021, the fashion biopic Halston happened to be airing on Netflix. “I was really obsessed with all these glass penthouse flats,” Gergei recalls. “I thought, ‘Okay, I'm gonna find something like this in Canary Wharf,’ even though it's not it's not my kind of area. I already knew how I would decorate it and everything.” The reality of the flats he looked at was less glamorous, though. “The details are not so 1970s, and not so Halston. I had to realize that, okay, I needed to forget about this all-glass, playboy style!”
What he settled on was, in a way, closer to home. For a period as a child, Gergei grew up in a turn-of-the-century apartment in Budapest. “The old houses that were built during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy all have these fixtures – even higher ceilings, four metres high, tall windows. We actually lived in a flat like that for a bit.” Then his family moved to a newer, plainer house, and in hindsight, Gergei realised he hadn’t properly appreciated the architecture and design of the old place. “I'm really happy that I managed to find something like this, because it's giving me the same feel – but it's in London, so you have the amazing museums and the amazing restaurants. Budapest has that, but on a smaller scale.”
The flat was completely unfurnished when Gergei moved in. “There were only the walls, the built-in bookshelf, and the fireplace. I fell in love because it looked very spacious – an amazing canvas to work with.” He quickly began trawling Ebay and Facebook Marketplace for the perfect furniture to dress the small space. The process took a year, Gergei says, pointing out that there’s no margin for error when the rooms are so relatively small, nowhere to hide an ill-fitting chair or lamp. “Looking for pieces is kind of the fun part, but it's also very time-consuming. I can't really buy things that are just for function – I had no dining chairs for two months or three months, because I couldn't find the right ones.” In the end, the dining chairs came from eBay, as did a large, ornate mirror over the fireplace. Gergei’s coffee table and faux-leather lounge chairs came from Facebook Marketplace (“You can find great pieces there. They are cheaper than IKEA.”) and he picked up two lamps without tops at a winter antiques sale in Notting Hill organised by Charlie Porter.
Other pieces are from Rome, where Gergei spent time after university. Recently, he returned, and toured all his favourite small markets and shops for gems. Getting his buys back to London, however, proved tricky. “It was a nightmare when I found things, because these places are all around the city, mostly in the residential areas.” Ubers took Gergei and his finds back to his Airbnb, and then he went out in search of bubble wrap and packaging, taking old cardboard boxes from grocery shops and packing them up carefully. “Now, I’ve luckily found a guy who is doing a van transport from Italy to London; next time I go to Rome, if I find something, he’s going to be the one who will bring it over!”
It’s not just antiques that Rome has given Erdei. He talks about how, during the time he lived there, he “charged his brain” by walking around the ancient churches and monuments. “Because of the language, I didn't make too many friends. I was by myself a lot, wandering around in the city. And I don't regret that because I think you can only take it in when you take the time to sit down in a church, have a look around, and no one is rushing you. No one is showing pictures on a phone. It was a great period to figure out what I really wanted to do.”
Greco-Roman design and motifs are Gergei’s current obsession. “Some of the patterns are so perfectly cut and so perfectly designed that if you transfer that pattern onto a cushion or onto a rug, or onto a dress, it's instantly just perfect.” He adds that Sir John Soane’s house, the neoclassical treasure trove barely half a mile from Lamb’s Conduit Street, is a long-term source of inspiration dating back to his university days, along with Phillips and Sotheby’s auction houses. Nonetheless, once a source of inspiration begins to feel tired, he’s happy to move on. “Before this whole Roman, Greek obsession, I was obsessed with Victorian-period England. All my university work was all about that: naval uniforms, everything. I always had these periods.” (Perhaps there’s a parallel universe in which Gergei’s flat is decorated in dark walnut, with neo-gothic trinkets and William Morris wallpaper providing the talking points.)
As for his newest aesthetic starting point, Gergei is keeping his cards close to his chest, but he allows that his autumn/winter 2022 collection will be “super opulent”. What that might mean to the interiors of the flat on Lamb’s Conduit Street, only time will tell.
Owen Gale1/12The cushions are all Gergei’s own designs. The two blue ones on the sides are called Soleil, and the middle one is Tivoli. They are from his current summer collection. The three side tables on the left are from Ebay, the same faux-bamboo brass tables as the other in the hall.
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Owen Gale3/12The coffee table is from Facebook Marketplace. The display urn stands in a case created from a lamp Gergei bought in Rome (the lighter burl at the top), on top of a part of the dining table Gergei removed to use separately. The lions on the fireplace are from Facebook Marketplace.
Owen Gale4/12The boxes on the right are from Ikea, repainted by Gergei. The two faux-leather chairs in the foreground are Facebook marketplace finds, and designed by Gordon Russell.
Owen Gale5/12Gergei painted the canvas on the wall in January. The drinks trolley is a 24-carat gilded Fedam trolley from Duchess Rose Antiques. The chairs are Ebay finds: Cesca chairs by Marcel Breuer. The table is Italian and was part of a full suite of office furniture. Gergei bought it in Hungary, from Artibus365.
All the pots, urns and vases on the shelves are Gergei’s own work. The Greek terracotta urns were created in a collaboration with Giuseppe Parrinello.
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Owen Gale8/12Everything is Gergei’s own including the painting, which can be switched on to become a wall light. The bedspread is inspired by the prints of David Hicks and the curtains by Andre Arbus. The lamp is by Jean Claude Mahey; Gergei found it at Ed Butcher Antiques. The table is Renato Zevi for Romeo Rega. The brass pot is 1980s, from an office.
Owen Gale9/12Gergei found the chair near Alfies Antique Market. It is one of a pair; “they are attributed to Christian Dior,” says Gergei, “but I don’t think they produced any chairs like this.” The upholstery is not original but came with the chair. The room is painted in Dulux ‘Teal Blue’.
Owen Gale10/12The mirror is by Paul Clifford. “He did all the mirrors for Annabel’s Mayfair, Scott’s and The Ivy Asia, plus many more,” says Gergei.
The side console is a 1970s brass faux-bamboo table from Ebay. The 1920s Art Deco rug is also from Ebay. The prints are from the archive of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. The lamps are from a shop called Ground One Six, and the shades are from Ed Butcher Antiques.
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