Estate benefits: in support of the communal, the concrete and the creative

Stef Orazi, a graphic designer with a clutch of high-profile cultural clients, has long been fascinated by architect-designed estates. So she set up the blog Modernist Estates, focusing on property for sale and in-depth interviews.

Publisher Frances Lincoln approached her with a book proposal, and now her imagery and interviews have made a neat transition from screen to page. The flats on display (such as London’s Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate) are shaped by modernism’s relentless rise in popularity and the keen eyes of the inhabitants – typically design-industry types with well-curated living spaces.

‘The book is about a unique time in recent British history when architects, planners and the government had ambition and vision,’ says Orazi, who is pictured at her own London home, part of an estate by Benson + Forsyth. 

As originally featured in the October 2015 edition of Wallpaper* (W*199)