Rajan Bijlani opens his Primrose Hill home for ‘Electric Kiln’

In postwar London, a generation of artists reflected on the changed landscape around them, both physical and psychological. Among them, German-British painter Frank Auerbach captured its density and disquiet in paint, while British potters Lucie Rie and Emmanuel Cooper channelled its resilience through clay – transforming raw material into expressions of touch, imperfection and renewal.

'Each of them represents a very grounded, tactile form of modernism, deeply tied to this part of London,' says collector and curator Rajan Bijlani, who brings their work together for ‘Electric Kiln’ (10 October – 16 November 2025), staged at his Primrose Hill home, which also happens to be the former studio of Emmanuel Cooper.

‘There's a shared resilience in their work that speaks to the post-war city – its rebuilding and layers of lived experience. Auerbach’s connection to this area, Primrose Hill, felt like the perfect point of departure for the exhibition. One of his renowned works, “Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent”, is included in the show, and you can actually see Mornington Crescent right from the first-floor window, which brings the work’s geography full circle.'

Following last year’s ‘Syncretic Voices’, Bijlani once again opens the doors of his home, Fonthill Pottery, to the public, transforming the domestic setting into a meditation on material, memory and metamorphosis. This lived-in exhibition format – increasingly favoured by art and design collectors – is a deliberate move away from more traditional white-cube gallery spaces.

'For me, the beauty of having a space like this is in sharing it,' he says of opening his own private space to the public. 'I've always believed that homes should be lived in, not preserved. When I first bought the house, which was once Emmanuel Cooper’s studio, I felt a responsibility to continue its creativity. Hosting exhibitions here feels like a natural extension of that lineage, and of this area's artistic history.'

Spread across three floors, the show places Auerbach's impasto canvases and charcoals in conversation with Rie and Cooper's ceramics, offset by modernist furniture by Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier (the pair’s Chandigarh furniture is a particular passion for the collector). 'With Emmanuel and Lucie, there’s both a historic and local connection: Emmanuel wrote Lucie’s biography, they both worked with the electric kiln, and spent time in this area,' Bijlani reflects.

'Bringing their work back into this space felt symbolically fitting. I’m drawn to the materiality of their work, Emmanuel’s heat, colour, and pitted glazes; Lucie’s refinement, her sgraffito lines, and the thinness and elegance of her vessels. Each, in their own way, transformed craft into something profoundly modern, rooted in touch, imperfection, and in the physical and emotional landscape of London itself.'

Experiencing the work while moving through the house in the same low autumn light that Rie and Cooper once worked in creates a sense of intimacy – as if being allowed behind the scenes to encounter the pieces as they might exist in daily life, while reflecting on how the artists drew inspiration from, and in turn helped shape, the character of the city around them.

That atmosphere finds its most potent expression on the lower ground floor. 'The space embraces darkness rather than fighting it,' Bijlani says. 'With the concrete floor and warmth of the timbers, it makes for a contemplative setting where the works can take centre stage. Seeing Auerbach's paintings alongside Emmanuel's ceramics and the Chandigarh furniture in this room feels particularly powerful. They speak to each other through texture, each piece grounded in material and process. There’s a sense that the house itself is part of the exhibition, holding these works in conversation with its own layered history and with the spirit of north London that connects them all.'

‘Electric Kiln’ is open by appointment only from 15 October - 16 November 2025; to request a viewing, please contact hello@rajanbijlani.com

Also read: These are the design exhibitions to see in London during Frieze Week