Artist Sussy Cazalet's cottage in Norfolk is a lesson in using strong colour

‘Of all artists, Rothko is the one I continually go back to. If I could live in a painting, I would live in one of his. I was imagining I was diving through one of his strong, reddy pink ones in the Tate Modern.’ The artist and designer Sussy Cazalet is talking about her former home, a cottage near the Norfolk coast; its rooms, drenched in a palette of rich and earthy colours, has become a fitting backdrop for the undulations of her own work and life.

The cottage started out as more of a blank canvas. “It was white, cold and unloved,” says Sussy of the rented property, which she moved into with her boyfriend, who works in film, and child in 2022 from a pared back London home . “I moved to the country for the first time and suddenly felt the need for very intense colour.” Sussy had just discovered child number two was on the way. “The whole womb thing… I wanted to envelop myself in warmth.”

Starting with the kitchen, Sussy teamed up with paint specialist Mylands to create a “hot paprika” red, which dramatically coats the wall, ceiling and cabinetry. The second step was to install a white plaster, Giacometti-esque chandelier by Sussy's friend Viola Lanari which stands out like a squiggle of tippex. “We designed it together before I even moved into the house,” says Sussy. “I wanted it to be fresh as I knew the room would be dark and intense. I knew I wanted it to sit above my old Alessandro Albrizzi dining table. I inherited it from my grandmother. It had been in storage for 30 years.”

Rather than dig her own artworks out of storage, the space—and in particular its colour palette—inspired the artist to create new tapestries. “My work was designed to sit on these walls.” At university, Sussy studied textiles at Leeds, interior architecture at Parsons, and, after pursuing careers in interior design, theatre design as well as classical music, settled on textiles. Her rugs are bespoke (she is currently working on a commission for a house in Carmel, California—an 11 metre rug which will take a year and a half to complete) whilst her tapestries are more modest, inspired by the forms of mid-century modernism: less Rothko, more Albers.

Almost every tapestry in the cottage was created with the space in mind. Sussy’ studio is at her parents house, an 8-minute drive away. “They have a bunch of old barns, and I converted one about five years ago.” The one exception, however, was located in the living room. ‘Kyoto Sun’ is a cubist riff on the Japanese flag, it’s orb shot through with stripes. “I designed that room around the piece,” explains Sussy. Its sunset pink colour harmonises with the recovered vintage sofa, dusty pink mohair and striped rugs. A Noguchi lamp shade hangs as if a moon in orbit of the tapestry’s sun. “I’ve always been obsessed with Noguchi,” says Sussy.

Japan, where Sussy has travelled extensively, is a key influence throughout her work and the space. Further Noguchi's can be found in both of the bedrooms, whose walls are painted in soft, plastery yellows. The “zen” spare bedroom is Sussy’s “escape room” with a walnut Japanese bed that sits in the middle of the room (“One of the first objects I designed,” she notes.) “I don’t go on the internet and I don’t moodboard,” she explains, citing India and Brazilian, Italian and LA Modernism as influences. “My house does not feel pared back in a modernist way, but a lot of the shapes are.” For its sense of being loved and lived in, Sussy’s touchpoints are closer to home. “In terms of warmth, I would just say [I’m inspired by] beautiful old English houses. It’s lovely to bring in all the comfortable clutter, the ‘who cares if you spill red wine’ kind of feeling.”