Working With My Husband To Turn An Old Gin Distillery Into A Family Home
- Apr 30, 2025
- 2 min read
It means a great deal to have our Gin Distillery project featured in The Spaces, as part of their "How We Live" series exploring unique homes shaped by creative thinking and a strong sense of place.
Located in Whitechapel, this South East London home was formerly a Victorian gin distillery. Kinder Design, working alongside Open Practice Architecture, reimagined the industrial shell into a warm, tactile and layered family home.
Designing With Industrial Character
One of the most interesting aspects of hospitality and commercial interior design is understanding how atmosphere is created through material, light and movement.
For the Gin Distillery project, the existing industrial shell became an important part of the overall design language. Exposed structural details, raw textures and harder architectural elements were balanced with warmer finishes, softer lighting and layered materials to create a space that felt welcoming rather than cold.
The aim was to preserve authenticity whilst still creating an environment people genuinely wanted to spend time in.
Creating Atmosphere Through Lighting & Materiality
The Spaces feature focused particularly on the mood and atmosphere within the project.
Lighting played a significant role throughout the design process, helping soften the industrial qualities of the architecture whilst creating different experiences between daytime production and evening hospitality use.
Natural materials, tonal layering and textured finishes helped bring warmth and depth into the interiors without losing the simplicity of the overall scheme.
At Kinder Design, we’re often drawn to spaces that feel restrained but still emotionally warm - interiors where atmosphere builds gradually through quieter design decisions rather than overt statements.
Balancing Function & Experience For Our Family Home
As with many commercial interior projects, practicality sat alongside aesthetics from the beginning.
The distillery needed to function operationally whilst also creating a strong sense of identity and experience for visitors. Layout, circulation and flexibility became central considerations throughout the design process, ensuring the space worked equally well behind the scenes as it did publicly.
The result was designed to feel immersive, relaxed and connected to the spirit of the brand itself.
Featured In The Spaces
It was lovely to see the Gin Distillery project featured in The Spaces and included within their wider conversation around contemporary hospitality interiors and adaptive industrial renovation.
You can read the full feature here:
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