Christian Bense: Beyond a Signature Style
people • designers
Christian Bense creates interiors that balance contemporary and traditional influences with a strong sense of personality and place. Founded in London in 2020, his studio draws on more than 14 years of industry experience and an international perspective shaped by his early career in South Africa.
Rejecting a fixed house style, Bense responds instead to architecture, setting and the people who inhabit each space, layering colour, pattern, art, antiques and contemporary pieces with a careful eye for proportion and balance.
In conversation with Designeers, he reflects on the influence of South Africa and London, the role of art, creative risk-taking and why designing a home that truly works matters more than creating a recognisable aesthetic.
Words: designeers
AUGUST 2026
WEBSITE: christianbense.com
INSTAGRAM: @christian_bense
DESIGNEERS
You have worked in both South Africa and London. What has each place taught you about how people live?
Christian Bense
One of the things that struck me when I moved from South Africa and started working in the UK was how similar the process was. Not just of the job itself, but also how similar the conversations with clients were about how they wanted to live and how their homes function.
Obviously, South Africa comes with the bonus of more lateral space and better outdoor living, and therefore there is always a focus on ensuring that homes take advantage of this. Whilst the opposite may apply to properties in the UK in terms of lateral space and outdoor living, there is as much focus on taking advantage of every positive of a home to create maximum potential. Squeezing every drop of potential, regardless of location, is a core characteristic of a family home, and that’s what our clients find important and greatly improves how they live and want to live.
DESIGNEERS
You describe your work as a cross-pollination between contemporary and traditional design. What is it about the tension between the two that continues to interest you?
Christian Bense
Combining old and new has become a bit of a catch phrase in the industry at the moment. For us, it is not about putting an antique next to something new and calling it a day; rather, it is creating a collection of pieces which have their own unique personality informed by the way we have paired old and new.
Sometimes it may be the case that the antiques feel contemporary and the bespoke pieces are the ones that feel more traditional; it really just depends on how we group the pieces and what we feel the space needs. That tension really is a cornerstone of our design language, and we use it to try and create equilibrium in a space.
If the room itself feels more traditional, we will often select furniture pieces which feel more contemporary or edgy, antique or not. On the reverse, if we have a room which at its core feels more contemporary, offsetting this with more classic and traditional pieces creates balance.
If you were able to turn our most successful projects into a statistical chart, I think there would always end up being a 50/50 split between contemporary and traditional elements holding each other in place.
Mayfair project by Christian Bense Studio
Mayfair project by Christian Bense Studio
DESIGNEERS
You do not have a house style. Is it more difficult to build a recognisable identity when every project is intended to be different?
Christian Bense
Several core principles underpin all our projects, and if you look at them side by side, I think there are more similarities than not. Whilst each project may differ in style, how those principles are adapted may vary, but we aim to create something unique to you and your property. I think that in the world of social media, one may want their work to be easily identifiable so that somebody doom-scrolling can spot their work in the 2 seconds they come across it, but we are creating a home of life, not just social media, so I am not too concerned about how recognisable our work is, and our clients agree.
I don’t think anyone thinks negatively of a chef because each meal tastes different or an artist because they explore multiple compositions. Why does an interior designer need to be a one-trick pony for their skills to be recognised?
DESIGNEERS
What is something you learned early in your career that you still rely on today?
Christian Bense
The first to the podium gets the mic, so always be the first to communicate. Communication is key. The number one cause of abrasion or issues on site is a lack of communication or not being ahead of the game in terms of managing expectations.
Mayfair project by Christian Bense Studio
Holland Farm project by Christian Bense Studio
Mayfair project by Christian Bense Studio
“I don’t believe that you need to start with art, but I believe that art needs to do a job, and hanging anything on a wall doesn’t tick the box.”
Christian Bense
DESIGNEERS
What is one design decision that can completely change the way a home feels without necessarily being the most expensive one?
Christian Bense
How art is framed and how it sits, proportionally, in a space. We don’t believe that you need to start with art, but I believe that art needs to do a job, and hanging anything on a wall doesn’t tick the box. The scale, its purpose and impact on the room are as important as the subject matter, which is more often than not subjective.
DESIGNEERS
What is one design decision you have made that initially felt like a risk?
Christian Bense
We worked on a townhouse in Knightsbridge where we wanted to ensure that the interior architecture was as pure to the period as possible and done in a really sympathetic way, but we wanted the interior design to feel quite eclectic and layered. There was a part of me that wanted to follow through with the brief of the architecture into the interiors, creating a calm, elegant and tonal interior; however, we took the risk, and the home is one of the studio’s favourites and showcases a variety of creative designs that wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t gone down the eclectic route.
DESIGNEERS
If you could spend a day inside any interior in the world, which would it be?
Christian Bense
I might need to time travel for this one, but I have always been fascinated by the turn-of-the-century interiors of New York. The Gilded Age era, where the American style was developing out of the old British way. Talking about combining old and new, I think these buildings and homes are a fascinating melting pot and a great example of a new style forming within quite an ostentatious world.
CURZON project by Christian Bense Studio
CURZON project by Christian Bense Studio
DESIGNEeRS
What is the best advice you have ever received about design?
Christian Bense
Think long, think wrong. I quote this all the time to my clients. Interior design doesn’t need to be a struggle, and spending more time than you need on a design doesn’t mean you’re getting your money’s worth out of your designer. If you overknead the dough, the bread won’t rise, and this is the same for an interior. Push it too hard or take too long, and the chances are you’ll ruin the result.
DESIGNEeRS
If your own home had to be designed by someone else, who would you trust with it?
Christian Bense
Tough one, I would probably say Robert Stilin. Although it would need to be a lateral apartment. I quite like how he can blend organic curation with breathtaking structure.
DESIGNEeRS
What is your favourite design hotel in the world?
Christian Bense
The Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe. Staying at that hotel as a kid was the first time I felt the power of a good interior. Years later, I was fortunate enough to work with one of the interior designers on a project, so it has always had a special place in my heart.
CURZON project by Christian Bense Studio
photography credits:
Alexander James, Paul Whitbread and Studio Rochowski
