Each year, Maison et Objet (the giant design show that takes place in January and September in Paris) names a designer of the year. Last year it was Mathieu Lehanneur, who created (among many other things) the Olympic torch and flame cauldron—and who was a TABLE Magazine cover guy.
This year, the powers that be have named British designer Faye Toogood as Designer of the Year. Although she is perhaps not (yet) a household name, you will be hearing a lot more about her. Her approach is bold, experimental, and avant garde—plus she maneuvers easily between fashion, art, and interior design. One of only a handful of female designers in the UK, she is something of a pioneer, championing the representation of women for the international design community—a focus of Maison et Objet’s Women & Design initiative.
The Roly-Poly Chair
Her first big “hit” design was the Roly-Poly chair (now made by the Italian company Driade) in 2014, a sturdy and curvy seat on four chubby legs. It’s mix of brutal and tender struck a chord with the public, and it became an instant icon, and was emblematic of her approach to design.
“This chair is better known than I am. For two years, no one was interested. It was an alien. Some see in it the curves of Art Deco, others a primitive African style with elephant feet. It was so different from the marble and brass we were seeing at the time. Roly-Poly was a turning point for me. I’d just had my first child and everything became softer, rounder and bouncier. I find that when a piece of work is linked to real emotions, it hits home. It conveys an intuition and feelings that go far beyond aesthetics and form. If we design objects in this way, they take off.”
Faye Toogood’s Newest Collection
Her most recent collection, Assemblage 8, consists of furniture assembled like a children’s construction set. “Give them pieces of a puzzle and let them figure it out,” she says. “Creativity is at the heart of who we all are, where we come from and who we could be one day.”
Toogood started her career as a journalist, working at World of Interiors as an assistant, then stylist, then Decoration Editor. She coordinated shoots, and saw a lot of pieces from around the world in the process, an experience she says gave her breadth and depth. But after a few years in the business, she felt drawn to create something three-dimensional and tangible, experimenting with all manner of media, and still works in myriad ways including fashion, sculpture, and furniture.
“It’s a toolbox from which I draw to communicate my creativity. A coat or a chair are just different ways of telling my story. I find it liberating to move from one practice to another. It’s my alphabet, my A to Z, my language.”
Paying it Forward to Role Models
She has had few (women) role models as the industry was—and still is—dominated by men. (Toogood names Patricia Urquiola and Zaha Hadid as people she admires.) She did, however, find success and now runs a 25-person studio, which she says is the perfect number because she can work alongside each person, and not lose touch with what they’re working on.
“I like to get my hands dirty. That’s what makes me happy and makes me a better leader. I see the studio as a family, some people have been here for a very long time, some have left, some have come back. Elsewhere, they were dissatisfied with doing the same thing all day. With me, you have to be flexible and move from one practice to another. Without them I wouldn’t be able to create as much. It’s a real studio in the artistic sense of the word.”
Her style manages to strike difficult balances between playful and serious, simple and complex, naive and sophisticated. It doesn’t fit into any mold or ride along on any wave of trend. The best part is that it leaves you with the desire to see what she’ll do next.
“My driving force is the desire to make our lives less ordinary. Whether through clothes, furniture or objects, I try to make people’s lives more beautiful, more interesting, more sculptural. It’s always a question of geometry, sculpture and materials.”
Story by Stephen Treffinger
Photography by Andrea Ferrari, Genevieve Lutkin, Matthew Donaldson, and courtesy of Faye Toogood
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