I’m walking through Nursery Row Park, a meadow just around the corner from Elephant & Castle station, on a late afternoon in mid-July when I see a flash of bright pink coming out of a window on the top floor of the block of flats I’m heading towards. Of course, it could only be the abode of Andrew Logan.
the artist Andrew Logan in his flat in South East London
The colourful, wonderfully eccentric English sculptor, jeweller, performance artist and founder of the famed Alternative Miss World pageant (now in its 52nd year), who is 78, has lived in this part of London for the past nine years.
I’m buzzed into the building and as I reach the top of the three flights of stairs I’m greeted with a warm smile and told, “I’ve only just got back from Wales 10 minutes ago.” That’s the other home he and his architect partner, Michael Davis, split their time between.
I arrive at his London base a couple of weeks after the news has been announced that he will be awarded an MBE for his services to the performing arts, sculpture and jewellery as part of the King’s Birthday Honours. As we make our way through the living room, it’s difficult not to get whiplash as my eyes dart from side to side at the shiny and spectacular objects dotted around, which sit against the backdrop of ultra-marine blue paint on the walls and ceiling. We sit at the dining table in the corner of his two-bed, two-bathroom “miniature penthouse”, as Logan describes it.
Logan’s mirror portraits and artworks cluster on the walls of his ultra-marine blue living room;
the four red pillows on the sofa were designed by Logan’s long-time friend and collaborator Zandra Rhodes.
Today, he is wearing a pink T-shirt, pink waistcoat, red trousers, a pink prayer cap with golden embroidery across it and a pink smiley-faced brooch he designed, which he wears every day. “I’m big on pink at the moment,” he says. This has nothing to do with repercussions of last year’s Barbiecore craze: Logan has been a fan of the colour for decades. “If you immerse yourself in pink, it’s an extraordinary colour. It has a kind of lushness and passion to it that other colours don’t have. I’m very passionate about colour, if you couldn’t already tell.” A key moment in his personal style evolved when, in 1974, Barbara Hulanicki of Biba designed him a Nehru suit that consisted of a tailored jacket with a collar and simple trousers. Logan describes this as “the modern-day tracksuit” because of the ease of wearing it and being able to “change in three minutes!” He has gone on to have wardrobes full of them, mainly sourced from India, and describes this as his uniform. “What I love most about wearing them is that you’re a bit like a gallery wall. You can add whatever jewels you like and there’s nothing to distract, because you’re essentially a colour base.”
As I look around the room again, it’s already hard to imagine the space without the various objects and vibrant colours that come at me from every angle. But as Logan tells me, “It was a blank canvas when we got it.” He purchased the property after it was refurbished – it had once been the headquarters of the fascist National Front party. I ask if there’s a process he follows when designing a space like this. “It’s very intuitive,” he says instantly. This same intuitiveness feeds into other areas of his design work. “With sculpture, for example, I don’t do drawings. I understand why some sculptors do them, but I don’t. I’m forming something from a void. The sculpture will eventually grow itself just as a tree does, if you work alongside it.”
from left: a bust of Sophie Parkin sits on a mirror plinth; Logan wears one of his rings
Also contributing to the design of his living space is his partner of 52 years. “You have to remember I’m with Michael, so it has to be a combination of the two of us,” he says. Referring to the ultra-marine blue paint I’d seen on the way in, he says, “We both absolutely love this colour. If I had my way, I would have painted the whole place every colour you could imagine. But I’ve had to be more restrained.” He laughs but there’s an undertone that he is quite serious about it.
Another mark of Davis is the large tartan rug on the living room floor that Logan is now pointing to. It has a pattern that Davis adores and it extends to the coffee table in the centre of the room, which has a tartan blanket draped over it. Against one side of the wall is a white cabinet with their television placed on top and in front of the other is a red two-seater sofa with four red pillows designed by Logan’s long-time friend and collaborator Dame Zandra Rhodes. A fellow pink fanatic who is never seen without a piece of Andrew Logan jewellery on, she has a wall in her own wardrobe dedicated to him. Next to the sofa sit piles of books that Logan has either read or is currently reading, mainly consisting of artist biographies – his favourite genre.
He usually starts the day with a bowl of porridge, a herbal tea of some kind and an hour of yoga. Yoga is something he started when he turned 50 because, as he says, “my body was telling me I had to do something physical”. He has since qualified as an instructor and travels to various parts of Europe to teach the discipline. I ask how he balances his time between here and his Welsh address, also the home of The Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture, which officially opened to the public in 1991. “When I’m in Wales I’m working and when I’m in London I’m here to catch up with my friends because they’re all still here,” he says.
from left: Logan’s mosaic and smiley-face brooches; a ceramic and mosaic piece
As I get my tour, it’s clear the main staple of the home is the glass mirror portraits that line the walls from the living room all the way along the corridor to the bedroom. Each one is created from hundreds of pieces of specially cut mirror glass, backed onto resin and mounted on wood. These range from depictions of athletes such as Andy Murray to pop stars like Michael Jackson. I ask Logan what drives him to make a mirror portrait of a particular person. “When the person has sparked a great moment of joy in my life,” he says, smiling, while looking at one of his creations. This is evidenced by the one of Rei Kawakubo. In January 2007, Logan, along with the nightclub impresario Michael Costiff, dandy and eccentric Sebastian Horsley and artist Duggie Fields (who Logan spoke to every day for 50 years up until he died in 2021) were part of an English artists’ collective who Kawakubo featured as her muses and had them walk for her Comme des Garçons show that season. She’s not the only designer to have tapped Logan to be involved in their shows. Last year, Stella McCartney asked him to be part of her SS24 showcase during Paris Fashion Week in October. This entailed a handful of models wearing a selection of rings and brooches designed by Logan as they came down the catwalk. Although he tells me, “I’ve never really considered myself to be part of the fashion world”, it’s undeniable that he has both influenced and inspired it in his own, unique-wearable-art way.
a bust of the stylist Chelita Salvatori presides over the living room
As we reach the end of the corridor, to our right is the guest bathroom and on the left is the room where he stores his wardrobe. To the untrained eye, the latter space might look like a sea of colour, texture and print. But as with all the different facets of Logan’s world, there is method within the madness. Each piece, from the orange velvet tiger-print suit to the multiple bright and bold silk shirts and, of course, the Nehru suits, has been curated as carefully as the decor. This also includes a waistcoat decorated with multicoloured florals that he purchased from a market stall in Goa. He picks it out of the wardrobe to show me and my jaw instantly hits the floor. Before I have time to pick it back up, Logan takes the waistcoat off its hanger and places it on me. With my jaw now retrieved, Logan tells me, “It’s yours now.” The joy that informs so much of his life and work, he generously passes on to others.
Logan’s mirror sculptures and portraits – including of Andy Murray – line the walls of his home
It would be impossible to speak to Logan and not quiz him about the New Romantic era, on which he is regarded a firm influence. But as with the fashion world, Logan has never really considered himself to be a part of it. Instead, he says, “I describe my life like the yellow brick road. I’ve followed this path and things have happened to the side as I’ve gone along, like the New Romantics or the punk movement. But I’ve just kept following my own path, so I don’t really align with these things.”
We make our way back to where our conversation started and sit at the dining table again. It’s clear by now that I’m very much sitting in Logan’s universe – there isn’t a shred of self-indulgence in this space. Instead, what underpins every object, every colour and every piece of art that he has created and is housed here is the collection of people who have had an impact on his life along the way.
Logan’s mirror sculptures and portraits – including Rei Kawakubo – line the walls of his home
For my last question, I’m curious to know the timeframes for creating the types of things I’ve seen first-hand here today. “It’s quite simple,” he says. “A lifetime. Art is my life and life is my art.” As our interview comes to an end, he jumps into action to gather his belongings – he’s off to dinner with Rhodes. He’s holding his coat, sunglasses and a bag containing a box of fruit that Davis collected for her from their garden back in Wales. As Logan says, when he’s in London, he’s here to catch up with friends.
“If you immerse yourself in pink, it’s an extraordinary colour. It has a kind of lushness and passion to it that other colours don’t have”
Photography by Valerie Sadoun. Taken from 10 Men Issue 60 – ECCENTRIC, FANTASY, ROMANCE – out now. Order your copy here.
