After eight years working in a townhouse in London’s Shoreditch district, “the charm was becoming problematic,” says Faye Toogood of the small-roomed, narrow-vestibuled studio she shared with her team of 25. She craved more lateral space, light, and room for experimentation—and she found it in Camden, where “the heartbeat of Old London still exists,” says the multidisciplinary designer. I caught up with Toogood as she settled into the new digs to learn what a post-pandemic workspace looks like for her firm, as well as how a fresh footprint can enliven company culture and creativity.
Mel Studach: What advice would you give to 2008 Faye, just starting her studio?
Faye Toogood: Follow your independent thought processes, creativity, voice, vision—whatever the word you want to use. Right now, that’s actually the toughest thing to do because we’re bombarded. But being true to who you are without being too influenced by the noise is crucial to success. Also, being able to look back and think, Yeah, that was me. I did that, and that felt right and true, is so rewarding.
I hear you, social media is its own bubble. How do you stay engaged and inspired when tuning it out?
When I started [as the interiors editor] at The World of Interiors, you’d have to wait a month for a magazine to come out to know what was going on. You weren't spending eight hours of your day scrolling, and you weren’t fully aware of what everybody else was doing, so it meant you had to get on with your own vision.
Clearly it’s a balance that we all are desperately trying to get because connecting to people is so important to growth, and without that connection, no one’s going to know about you and what you’re doing. But you have to do it in a way that doesn't swing too far, which involves some discipline. A few times per year in the studio, we host days where we open up the studio and anyone can visit and see what we’re doing. It's a small thing, but it’s a nod to the tangible being just as important as the virtual.
That leads me perfectly to your new studio in Camden. Office design has been put under a microscope since the pandemic. How does this new space reflect the way you work now?
[The pandemic] changed the way we work permanently. We encourage people to be together, not just from an attendance point of view but for our younger team members to learn. It’s not just about socially being with people; it’s about how to do business. How do you navigate an issue? How do you conduct a meeting? There's only so much that you can do on a screen, and to lose that activity and that connection is a great shame. So we ask people to come in at a minimum of three days. We try to make it so that everybody is present on the days that make sense: We have design days, then business-critical and marketing days.
Being back together, I feel that the creative level has definitely gone up a notch. All the surprises, all the unique things, all the critical thinking that goes outside of the box happens when we're together.
How did you go about designing a studio footprint that would encourage that collaboration?
People want to be in an environment that feels creative and artistic and at the same time be working towards something, whether that's an interior or furniture or a clothing collection. That cross-pollination needs a space where we can be as creative as possible.
The new studio is cut in two: 50% is dedicated to making and workshop, which is also then split into two, where one-half is clean and one-half is dirty. The clean is [where we focus on] clothes, so you’ll find Erica, my sister, pattern-cutting and sewing, and then on the dirty side of the room, that’s where we're doing all the model-making and hand-painting.
The other 50% is [traditional] workspace. We spend a lot less time in front of the computer when we come into the studio—it’s more about connecting. We got rid of a lot of desk chairs, for example, and the conventional office set-up in favor of comfortable seating areas. There are about seven different places to have a meeting—and we’re a small studio, you know? The whole point is that you’re coming into the studio not to plug in, but to elaborate and collaborate.
Do you have any other reliable methods for building company culture?
We have monthly catch ups where we have a drink and celebrate work anniversaries. I think those dates are important to be marked, beyond just the conventional review format. We toast to how many years they’ve been with us, and then I gift them a book. It’s a small gesture, but a personal one.
For years, you’ve been associated with a neutral, monochrome palette. Recent collections, like the newly expanded Assemblage 08 furniture series, have you playing more with pigment. Is that fair to say?
I grew up at The World of Interiors, where I was surrounded by color and textiles, so it is a big part of who I am. But when we started the furniture, particularly, I wanted to concentrate on form and geometry and shape and to really find my language in that, without having to worry about color and pattern. And at one point, when I had children, I decided to only wear white. It was more just an efficient way of working.
Now I have more time and—maybe—energy, so connecting my old world with the new world to create more of a new order has been really exciting. I want color, and I feel like other people want color and pattern too. It might be a surprise for many folks, but I think any followers of Toogood know that there’s never one rule. Ripping it up and starting again is part of the DNA.
What colors are you drawn to right now?
There’s a base of nature but with something artificial that goes on top of it. The seascape with the bright orange plastic buoy, for example. Or a field with a bright pink corrugated shed in the middle of it. Having that dollop of unexpected color is something I like to throw in.
This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
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