Posts Tagged: Column

The post-Covid Design Sensibility

For my last column in this series, I wanted to reflect on the strange and singular period we are all living through and what it might mean for design – including changes to our design sensibilities. There’s been a lot of focus on the practicalities of redesigning office and hospitality spaces recently, but what about… Read More >

10 June 2020

Working from home?

Like most people, I’m now working from home and can’t quite believe it’s the ninth week of doing so – it’s flown by! The first week was definitely the hardest, adjusting to the new ways of life. I was pretty restless being cooped up in the flat and not commuting in to the office. Thankfully… Read More >

22 May 2020

Trends in Architectural Materials

Which materials are being used in the most interesting ways right now? As well as constantly searching for brand-new materials, we should also seek to test our creativity – as well as thinking about the environment – by considering new uses for existing materials too. As a studio, we’re particularly interested in sustainable materials that… Read More >

19 May 2020

Sustainability – Radical Rethink

Now, more than ever, it’s time to move beyond thinking about sustainability as a worthy necessity to considering it a remit for exciting thinking within new parameters. In our studio, for example, we’re examining the use of lightweight and non-permanent materials, cutting-edge recycled materials, the commission of regional artists and craftspeople to reflect project locality… Read More >

22 April 2020

Designing with light

In my book, light is one of the greatest design tools we have. In our exhibition design projects, we try to use light emotionally, rather than simply technically, to direct and determine visitor journeys, considering lighting’s role in highlighting, washing and grazing and its application via lightboxes, bespoke fittings and for wayfinding. We enjoy working… Read More >

5 March 2020

The effect of IT development on workplace design

To workplace Millennials – and even to some Gen Xers – the sheer scope and pace of change in this field must be a complete mystery. I on the other hand can clearly remember a much slower-paced world of manual typewriters, mechanical calculating machines and the solitary telex machine; behind which you dutifully queued to… Read More >

24 February 2020

Using space as a narrative backdrop

As specialists in exhibition design – for museums, institutions, art galleries and anyone with a complex story to tell – we believe exhibition design principles can also apply to the commercial sector, making your showroom / selling environment the perfect backdrop to tell your product story. Such principles include making the most of pacing, interpretation,… Read More >

10 February 2020

The effect of materials & processing technology on office development

Particleboard and the ability to produce it in large sheets – cut, shaped and edged in a wide variety of sizes and finishes – was perhaps the first significant and liberating breakthrough in materials processing to affect the development of office (and other) furniture design and production. Veneered and lacquered post-primary-manufacturing finishes have over time… Read More >

6 December 2019

Designing in Turbulent Times

Like me, you may be one of the many who were taught about the affects of climate change at school. You may even be a parent whose own children are being taught about the same human-made issues today. Perhaps you joined the many millions who left their schools and workplaces to take part in the… Read More >

7 October 2019

Spectacular Speckles

The last couple of years have born witness to a seemingly unprecedented rise in the use of the speckle within the world of interiors. Noticing this set me to wondering why this might be; it feels like quite a specific aesthetic after all. In truth, the speckle has a deep-rooted history within our built environments…. Read More >

16 September 2019

The influence of New Ideas & Techniques

When I entered it straight from college in 1970, despite the relatively long intervening period, the office furniture industry was in terms of design and output only just beginning to shake off the shackles of dull, post-war austerity. This was driven in part by ideas on how offices might be laid out in a more… Read More >

4 September 2019

Vive the entrepreneurial spirit!

What does it mean to be entrepreneurial?  Well, it begins with spotting an opportunity and having clarity about what you’re proposing, whether it’s a new value, service, product or method for being more innovative or efficient. Next, you have to commoditise your vision. You’ll need to be more than just motivated to create change – and… Read More >

2 September 2019