The Sensual Home
Holland Street, founded in London in 2014, has built its reputation on printed silk kaftans, kimonos, and interior linens that are more than garments or fabrics—they are emotional experiences. At the heart of the brand lies a philosophy of emotive design, expressed through six moods: cocooning, grounding, radiant, daring, soulful, and empowered. Each mood is a lens through which Holland Street creates, offering wearers and homeowners the chance to choose pieces that reflect how they want to feel. This palette of emotions finds a powerful echo in Ilse Crawford’s seminal book The Sensual Home: Liberate Your Senses and Change Your Life, published in 1997, which challenged the sterile minimalism of its era and insisted that design must nurture human connection, sensory richness, and emotional resonance. While Holland Street originates the six moods, Crawford’s philosophy provides a complementary framework that validates and deepens their meaning.
Cocooning is the instinct to create sanctuary. For Holland Street, cocooning means garments that wrap the body in comfort and intimacy—flowing silks, soft textures, and enveloping silhouettes that offer refuge from the chaos of the outside world. Crawford’s cocooning interiors mirror this instinct, with gentle lighting, tactile materials, and spaces for restorative privacy. Cocooning is not isolation but renewal, whether through a kaftan’s drape or a room’s atmosphere, and both Holland Street and Crawford understand it as a universal human need.
Grounding is about anchoring ourselves in authenticity. Holland Street grounds its practice in small‑batch, minimal‑waste manufacturing, ensuring each piece carries honesty and care. Crawford’s grounding philosophy insists that homes must be rooted in materials and rituals that carry weight and history—stone floors, wooden tables, cooking aromas. A grounded kaftan or robe is not trend‑driven but layered with meaning, just as a grounded home reflects its inhabitants’ lives and values.
Radiant design uplifts and inspires. Holland Street’s radiant collections use bold prints and vibrant hues to energise the wearer, transforming both interiors and wardrobes into spaces of joy. Crawford’s radiance is about illumination—natural light, colour palettes that evoke mood, and gestures that celebrate life. Radiance is the antidote to dullness, whether expressed through a Holland Street print or sunlight streaming into a room, reminding us that beauty is not superficial but life‑affirming.
Daring is central to Holland Street’s ethos. Prints are unapologetically bold, silhouettes unconventional, encouraging wearers to express individuality. Crawford’s daring interiors reject homogenisation, mixing old and new, rough and smooth, high and low. Both philosophies insist that design should be unapologetically personal. A daring kaftan or daring home is a declaration of individuality, refusing to conform to external expectations and celebrating authentic expression.
Soulful design carries depth, memory, and meaning. Holland Street’s handmade textiles are layered with artisanal detail and imbued with care, becoming part of rituals—worn for holidays, celebrations, or quiet evenings. Crawford’s soulfulness arises from memory and atmosphere: inherited objects, daily rituals, candlelight, the smell of bread baking. A soulful garment, like a soulful home, is not pristine but lived‑in, enriched by human presence and imperfection.
Finally, empowerment is the culmination of Holland Street’s palette. Choosing a garment that reflects how one wants to feel is an act of agency. Crawford’s empowerment frames design as liberation: by designing for the senses, we reclaim control over our environments and our lives. Empowerment means authenticity, resilience, and transformation. A Holland Street kaftan empowers its wearer to feel supported and free, just as an empowered home sustains identity and wellbeing.
When woven together, these six moods form a holistic philosophy of emotive design. Cocooning provides refuge, grounding anchors us in reality, radiance uplifts and inspires, daring expresses individuality, soulfulness deepens meaning, and empowerment liberates and transforms. Crawford’s The Sensual Home validates this palette, showing how these emotions resonate not only in clothing but in interiors, rituals, and everyday life.
At the time of its publication, The Sensual Home was radical, redirecting attention from sleek minimalism to human‑centred design. Its influence can be seen today in movements such as slow living, wellbeing design, and biophilic design—all of which emphasise ritual, authenticity, and sensory richness. Holland Street’s emotive design continues this legacy, proving that textiles and interiors are not just decorative but visionary, shaping how we feel, live, and connect.
In conclusion, Ilse Crawford’s The Sensual Home and Holland Street’s emotive design converge in a timeless ethos: design is not about perfection but about life itself—messy, beautiful, sensual, and profoundly human. Holland Street’s kaftans, kimonos, and linens embody this philosophy, offering customers not just garments or fabrics but emotional experiences that cocoon, ground, uplift, and empower. In both Crawford’s interiors and Holland Street’s textiles, design becomes a practice of care and liberation, a sanctuary for individuality, a vessel of memory, and a source of strength.