NOSTALGIA® is an independent archival studio and media company dedicated to the custodianship of Britain’s period homes.
We began as a slow-media documentary series in 2024, capturing real homes and the people who shape them; unstaged, intimate, and unfiltered.
Over time, our deep curiosity about the spaces we filmed naturally drew us beyond the surface and into the archives. We realised every period home carries a century of forgotten lives, historic plots, and hidden narratives waiting to be pieced back together.
Alongside our film series, we research, write, and publish bespoke coffee-table books and archival fine-art prints for individual period properties across the UK.
Who we are
We’re Lena and Ilya, producer and filmmaker.
We live by the sea in Leith, the historic port district of Edinburgh. Once an independent borough, it remains a place shaped by time, trade, and architectural memory. Having spent 19 years living and creating together, we treat every home’s story as a living piece of history worth preserving.
Why we started NOSTALGIA
Our very first film was about a blacksmith in Edinburgh.
His flat was small but full of treasures: mango boxes stacked in the corner, Sanskrit from a children’s alphabet book painted on the wall, a sky-blue ceiling. A purple balloon dog from a charity shop. Dozens of metal fish he had forged himself, hanging from the shelves as if swimming through the room.
He told us:
“People think they need big houses. But I’d just fill it with more stuff. This one’s the right size for me.”
We loved that.
And in many ways, it set the tone for everything that followed.
Filming these homes opened a doorway for us. We realised that a house is a living record of everyone who ever inhabited it.
The architecture, the old census entries, the forgotten maps, and the personal memories all belong to the same narrative.
Today, whether through our documentary films or our archival publications, NOSTALGIA® is our way of honouring these stories; preserving the character, memory, and heritage of the spaces we call home.
What makes our work different
Most home media focus on square footage, market valuations, or renovation budgets.
We care about something else: the feeling of life.
How someone arranges their shelves. The texture of worn floorboards. The census entry from 1891 listing a family who once walked those same halls.
Whether we’re capturing a space on film or reconstructing its historical lineage for an archival publication, we take our time. We don’t chase trends. Homes aren’t backdrops; they are lived-in worlds, shaped by memory, care, and everyday rituals.
That’s what we document.
Partnerships & Film Commissions
We are entirely self-funded and selective about the commercial projects we take on. Rather than standard advertising, we partner with design-forward brands, architects, and makers who share our reverence for slow spaces, craftsmanship, and living architecture.
If you represent a space or brand that aligns with the visual language of NOSTALGIA®, we’d love to hear from you.
For brand partnerships, editorial features, or film commissions, write to us at studio [at] getnostalgia [dot] com
