Kitson House
A Victorian manor house, a construction company, and a building that needed its own voice back.
Their brand. The building's character.
Industruct approached the building as more than a workplace. The ambition was to create an environment that reflected the company’s contemporary identity while respecting the history, architecture and character of the house, bridging old and new in a way that felt natural, distinctive and entirely its own.
Those two things rarely want the same thing. Reconciling them, room by room, was the project.
A house with a history in the walls.
Kitson House was originally built for locomotive pioneer James Kitson. Its grand plasterwork, coffered ceilings and richly detailed interiors still carry the weight and character of that history.
Interior designer Emma Bennett of Embe Creative Studio introduced a contemporary design language that respected the building rather than overwhelming it. Our role was to ensure the artwork completed that dialogue, bringing a new voice to the house while remaining deeply connected to its architecture, atmosphere and past.
An aerial view, read as geometry.
The first work encountered on entering Kitson House was conceived as a defining piece for the space. Beginning with an aerial view of one of Industruct’s largest industrial sites, we translated the complex architecture into a geometric composition, then developed the palette in direct response to Emma’s interior scheme so the painting would feel entirely at home within the room.
The result is a work that places the identity of the business at the centre of the building without becoming literal or corporate. It holds the space with confidence, while revealing its connection to Industruct only on closer understanding.
Gargoyles, set into Persian rugs.
Upstairs, a pair of works draws on the visual language and tactile richness of Persian rugs. Architectural faces taken from the exterior of Kitson House were reimagined within the compositions, bringing the character of the building into the rooms themselves.
Presented as textile-based works rather than traditional canvases, they introduce a different texture to the walls while creating a subtle dialogue between the house’s exterior, its history and its contemporary interior.
The building already had a voice. The art gave it somewhere to speak.
Where the new meets the old.
Elsewhere, we introduced a more playful contemporary voice, drawing subtly from the language and energy of street art. These works were placed deliberately against the building’s cornicing, plasterwork and period detail.
Not to compete with the architecture, but to create a confident dialogue between old and new.
A Landscape Rooted In Roundhay.
Painted from a view within Roundhay Park, the work responds directly to the setting of Kitson House, bringing the landscape beyond its walls into the interior.
A final expression of the idea that shaped the collection: every work in Kitson House belongs to the story of the building itself.
Dan James
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