Homing

Why do we feel homesick when we’re away? And why can it sometimes feel so unsettling when we finally find our way back?

Professor Susan J. Matt is a historian of emotions at Weber State University and the author of several books about our emotional relationship with home, consumerism and technology – including Homesickness: An American History.

Once considered a legitimate medical diagnosis, homesickness came to be seen as a sign of weakness and a lack of adaptability. In this conversation, Susan traces how this shift happened, and what we’ve lost because of it.
Together, we explore why childhood homes exert such a powerful pull on us, how memory tends to idealise the past, and why our homes need to connect us to the world beyond their walls.
We also discuss how envy went from being a sin to a driving force behind consumerism; and what constantly looking at other people’s lives and homes is doing to our satisfaction with our own.
To hear more from Susan:
Email: smatt@weber.edu
Website: https://www.weber.edu/history/susanmatt.html
Susan is the author of Homesickness: An American History and Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid.
To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com
Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496
Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Antiques dealer Will Fisher was obsessed with English country houses from age seven – a fascination that sparked a lifelong pursuit of beauty.
Will grew up in southeast London, the son of two working-class teachers, and persuaded his parents to take him on country house visits, dreaming of recreating their beauty in his own home.
Today, Will is one of London's most respected antiques dealers. Alongside his wife, Charlotte Freemantle, he owns Jamb, which is known for its refined fireplaces, lighting and furniture. Their shared home in Camberwell is a treasure trove of objects amassed over a lifetime.
In this conversation, Will talks about his serendipitous journey into the world of antiques, his experiences of dyslexia and feeling like an outsider, and how he's created an environment that helps him feel at home in himself.
He also speaks with remarkable openness about a traumatic experience in his teens that had a lasting impact on his mental health.
This is a conversation about beauty, chance and what it means to build a home around the things you love.
We recorded this episode at Charlotte & Will’s Georgian house in Camberwell. Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com
Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496
Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For Turkish-British novelist Elif Shafak, home isn't a physical place; it lives in the stories we tell.
Elif is an award-winning novelist, celebrated for writing about the lives of people on the margins. She has spent much of her life moving between countries, cultures and languages. Yet she feels most at home in the world of books, stories and imagination – a place she calls ‘Storyland’.
In this conversation, we talk about the loneliness that first drew her to stories, and what it means to write in a language that isn’t your mother tongue.
She also tells me about being forced to write with her right hand as a child, her experience of postpartum depression, and why it’s so important that we talk openly about our mental health.
This is a conversation about stories, exile and belonging – and how home can be found beyond the physical.
Guest Info:

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-eight languages. Her new novel IN ONE BRIEF MOMENT ALL ETERNITY is published on 15 October 2026 and available in all good bookshops. Her previous novel, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, was the UK’s bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. 
To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com
Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496
Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Dan Martensen is a portrait and fashion photographer whose work appears in Vogue, i-D and WSJ Magazine. He’s also the founder of It’s Bagels, bringing the New York-style bagel he grew up with to London.
In this conversation, Dan talks about being uprooted from his childhood home at eleven, struggling to fit in at school, and learning to hide his sensitivity to get by.
We discuss how those early experiences influenced his work as a photographer, his instinctive ability to connect with people, and his marriage to stylist Clare Richardson. 
Dan also tells the brilliantly chaotic story of renovating his house while simultaneously opening the first It’s Bagels in Primrose Hill – a business born, quite literally, from his homesickness for New York. 
Having once been the person his friends thought would never leave New York, Dan reflects on the unexpected process of putting down roots in London, and how this house finally made it feel like home.
This episode was filmed inside Dan’s home in North-West London. Join our Patreon community to watch the exclusive video walkthrough: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
Dan Martensen:

Website: danmartensen.com
Instagram: @danmartensen 
It's Bagels:
 
Website: itsbagels.com
Instagram: @its__bagels 
To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com
Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496
Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Writer and creative coach Amie McNee believes that creativity isn’t a luxury; it’s a fundamental human need, and one that many of us are suppressing.

Amie has a wonderfully broad definition of creativity. It might mean writing a novel or painting a picture, but it could just as easily be gardening, baking a cake, or singing in the shower. It’s not about creating something good, useful, or profitable; it’s about making things because that’s what humans do.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens to us when we neglect the instinct to create, and why modern life makes it increasingly difficult to protect.

We also discuss the role the home plays in creativity—why Amie believes we should leave our creative materials lying around, and why she's fiercely protective of the space and solitude she needs to write.

Amie McNee:

Amie McNee is a writer, artist and creator. Her book We Need Your Art, a manifesto on the vital, human importance for creating art, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462403/we-need-your-art-by-mcnee-amie/9781529937015
To hear more from us:

Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, HomingWithMatt
YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt
Instagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmatt
Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★