Róisín Tapponi’s study in Hackney is as disordered as the novel it helped shape. The space merges personal artifacts, film ephemera, and creative detritus into an intentionally raw environment. A Pier Paolo Pasolini poster shares wall space with a plaster crown of thorns from The Gospel According to St Matthew, creating an atmosphere that feels more like an impromptu altar than a curated display.
How Clutter Became Creative Fuel
The disarray directly mirrors themes in Scene City, Tapponi’s debut novel, which charts a writer moving through London’s shifting social environments. Composed on an iPhone during her early twenties, the book captures urban life’s fragmented, ever-changing nature, where identities adapt to different settings. Tapponi’s workspace embodies this philosophy: a Vitra Eames desk holds a Madonna figurine her father brought from Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s era, while a Herman Miller chair—her “Rolls-Royce of ergonomics”—sits beside a Stanley Cup and designer handbags draped across bookshelves.
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The room operates as a creative workshop. She projects films like Twin Peaks onto blank walls, surrounding herself with visual references. Above the projector hangs a mass-produced version of Picasso’s Ulysses and the Sirens, symbolizing how narrative can condense time and perspective. This painting became a key moment in her writing process.
Unlike many writers who maintain sterile workspaces, Tapponi deliberately rejects order. This approach extends beyond personal taste to reflect the novel’s rejection of conventional storytelling structures. Scene City resists neat organization, just as her study resists tidiness. The apparent chaos isn’t merely decorative; it’s a method for layering meaning without forcing artificial coherence.
A Space Shaped by Dual Lives
Tapponi’s study reflects her divided existence. By day, she pursued a PhD in art history while running Shasha Movies, a streaming platform specializing in films from Southwest Asia and North Africa. By night, she moved between dance clubs, pubs, and gallery openings. Relocating to a house in De Beauvoir Town with her partner, artist Alvaro Barrington, allowed her to fully adopt her role as a professional writer. She designed the space like an artist’s studio, prioritizing tools over visual appeal.
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The objects within tell stories of movement and influence. Afghan and Moroccan rugs cover the floor, reflecting her travels. A DVD of Performance, Donald Cammell’s 1970s London-set film, sits beside a framed photograph of Tina Fey, presented as a playful homage. The study functions as both a workspace and a visual collage of her diverse interests, a physical representation of the layered narratives in her writing.
Her creative process matches the room’s unpredictability. Scene City began as scattered Notes app entries, documenting observations in real time. The protagonist, Romy, records her experiences similarly, mirroring Tapponi’s own fragmented approach. Even the novel’s structure, fast-paced, self-referential, and aware of its own construction, emerges from the surrounding disarray.
