When I was 21, I was encouraged to write my university dissertation on a house that I had known most of my life – Standen, built by the architect and designer Philip Webb between 1891 and 1894 in West Sussex. My uncle was the gardener there.
While studying for a degree in art history, I realised that the place where my cousins and I played as children was a vital site for understanding the politics of the Arts and Crafts movement, which grew out of frustration with factory-made goods in the late 1800s.
