We love Finsbury Park, that's why Michael Morris located here in 1997. With one of the best public transport hubs in London, an array of eateries, bars, pubs and shops, the Park Theatre, summer music festivals in the park, live comedy at The Gunners pub (check it out on Monday evenings) and for the sports minded we have Arsenal FC, the Sobell Centre and Pure Gym. And in our twenty-plus years of running our two estate agent offices in Finsbury Park we have met hundreds of great people who make up the area's diverse population. In short, we like the edgy vibe and meeting people with an interesting story to tell.
In our blog we are featuring a selection of people we have worked with and we are delighted to introduce Iris Nova who bought her beautiful Finsbury Park Road apartment through us in 1998 and has come back to us for a sale. Iris is an artist and filmmaker who also has a sideline in interior design Her consultancy Nova Design provides budget-led renovations that are transforming not only the homes she works on but also the pricing that usually comes with these types of refurbishments.
Says Iris: "Interior architecture was a sideline I got involved in before I moved to Finsbury Park fixing up my own flats and helping friends with theirs. I worked for a developer doing up rental apartments and got into finding high-end materials to make rental properties really nice to live in within their often limited budgets. I like design because it’s tangible, I love making over a drab space and turning into something beautiful. Transforming a space is quite a tranquil and focused thing to do.I source the best inexpensive materials, plan overall design, and manage refurbishment. My ethos is to work organically with the building and the client, enhancing existing features, opening up the space and maximising its potential. Kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and fixtures needn’t be expensive. I believe that good design is like fashion, it’s not what you wear but how you wear it. Working in collaboration with clients I try to make the space a backdrop for their favourite objects and furniture while making an environment that’s a joy to live in. I work with the idea that style doesn’t have to cost a lot."
On living in Finsbury Park, Iris points to the marked shift in demographics. "The difference has been the influx of middle class families, the rest hasn’t changed much in my 20 years of living in the area. Blackstock Road remains a shopping centre for people using the halal butchers and Maghrebi cafes, a couple of ‘hipster’ cafes, the library/college as a kind of hub, it’s as mixed as ever. Dotori is a good restaurant, the Blackstock is quite an eclectic pub/bar, you could be anywhere! The baguettes in the Maghreb butchers are certainly good and Sunderban is a great old fashioned curry house.
"As I work from home mostly I need a good space to live and work, and location is important because that’s where home is. I love the short walk to Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, Highbury, Haringey, and being on so many borders. Living in a transport hub like Finsbury Park is great, you can be in central london in 10 minutes. Everything in life is an influence. But certainly the cities I’ve lived in and the people I met have had a huge influence on how I see things. I’m probably a typical product of art school in the 80s and 90s, it was quite theoretical, we saw a lot of imagery and asked questions, we found out what we liked and why. Obviously I’ve built on that in seeing the world and how other people approach art, visually and in terms of ideas."
To contact Iris please email idesignova@gmail.com or call 07930 578645; here is a link to her apartment sale: https://www.michaelmorris.co.uk/property/sales/2259