The Lavery’s art installation is also a private dining room

The Lavery, a neighbourhood restaurant housed within a Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse in London’s South Kensington, the former home and studio of Irish painter Sir John Lavery, reintroduces its private dining room as a space for artistic takeovers.

The first commission, led by Tbilisi-based Rooms Studio, presents a fully articulated dining environment as a study on art, design and function: ‘an exhibition by day and a private dining room by night’. The arrangement is expected to shift over time inadvertently, with pieces added and repositioned by diners and service as the room is used, allowing the exhibition to become more lived-in across its duration.

‘Dining Arrangements’ brings together furniture by Rooms Studio with a small group of objects and artworks drawn from neighbouring design and art practices. Alongside Rooms Studio’s own furniture, developed through its interior-led approach to form and placement, the installation includes selected pieces sourced by Monument London, an east London gallery known for introducing furniture and objects through carefully staged spatial contexts.

Individual works include a ceramic work by Bitossi Ceramiche, a ceiling lamp by Minjae Kim, and a tapestry by Mariana Chkhonia. Two artworks by Tolia Astakhishvili are shown courtesy of the artist, Emalin Gallery and LC Queisser.

As attention grows around sensory-first design in architecture and interiors, this installation positions the dining room as a site where bodily regulation is unavoidable. Furniture here has its own character and presence, guiding movement and decisions, proposing togetherness without hierarchy.

The takeover invites observation from diners. During meals, the furniture is perceived based on coordination and task, while at quieter moments, the room becomes more open for exploration, allowing artworks and objects to stand out more clearly in our visual field. This change in how we perceive the space occurs without any physical reorganisation. It’s the same room and arrangement, but the conceptual understanding shifts over time.

‘Dining Arrangements’ sits within Rooms Studio’s wider study of interiors sustained by behaviour over time. Dining rooms hold bodies in relation for extended periods, placing furniture under continuous pressure to manage proximity.