Earlier this year, we looked at how Brighton-based studio Spared was transforming construction and manufacturing waste into bespoke interior surfaces, demonstrating that discarded materials can become both functional and visually compelling. The studio's latest body of work extends that research beyond architectural applications and into furniture, where the material itself remains the primary focus.

Founded by Callie Tedder-Hares and Emma Lally, Spared continues to work with waste streams generated by its clients rather than sourcing virgin materials. Each project begins with what already exists, whether plastic offcuts, timber by-products or industrial waste, before undergoing a process of testing, binding and refinement that produces durable composite surfaces while preserving visible traces of their origins.

The newest prototypes – Alba, Mira and Daphne – each investigate a different waste stream, demonstrating how materials often overlooked at the end of manufacturing processes can be consolidated into robust furniture with distinctive surface qualities.

Alba is developed from plastic chopping board waste generated during commercial resurfacing. Rather than masking the material's previous life, the table reveals subtle shifts in colour and layering across its polished top and more textured base, allowing the recycled plastic to retain a sense of its accumulated history while taking on a new level of refinement.

With Mira, the studio turns its attention to production losses from plastic recycling itself. The terrazzo-like tabletop combines fragments of rigid plastics that fall outside conventional recycling streams, producing naturally varied patterns that change depending on the composition of each batch. Paired with an FSC-certified timber base, the piece embraces unpredictability as part of its material identity.

Perhaps the most tactile of the collection is Daphne, which transforms fine birch plywood sawdust generated through CNC machining into a dense composite side table. Instead of being sent for energy recovery, the timber particles are consolidated into a richly textured material that retains much of the warmth and visual softness associated with wood, despite its entirely new form.

Across all three pieces, Spared resists homogenising its materials. Surface variation, particulate texture and colour shifts are preserved rather than engineered out, giving each object an honesty that reflects the character of the waste from which it originated. In doing so, the furniture sits somewhere between material research and collectible design, where the narrative of the material is as important as the object itself.

The collection also reflects a wider movement within contemporary materials practice. Increasingly, designers are looking beyond recycling as a purely technical exercise and towards processes that retain the identity and provenance of waste streams. Rather than concealing previous lives, materials are allowed to communicate them.

For Spared, the aim remains consistent with the philosophy explored in its earlier architectural surfaces: designing with what already exists. The new tables simply broaden that ambition, demonstrating how overlooked industrial by-products can become expressive, durable furniture while expanding the vocabulary of circular material design.

Conversations around natural stone's role in contemporary construction are taking place well beyond the UK. In this Insights piece, Layla Wahbeh, Operations Manager at Gilor Remodeling Group in the United States, offers an American perspective on how advances in fabrication, sustainability and long-term performance are shaping the material's place in modern architecture. Based in California, Gilor Remodeling Group specialises in residential renovation and construction, with a focus on contemporary homes where natural materials play an important role in both design and performance. Drawing on her experience overseeing projects and operations, Wahbeh reflects on why stone continues to offer architects, builders and homeowners a compelling material for modern construction.

“Trends change in construction, but stone remains one of the most solid options. Natural stone carries a number of benefits, specifically durability, sustainability, and aesthetic appeal. Builders and architects who want the most from the building do not have to compromise their use of modern materials or minimalist designs to get the advantages of natural stone. By integrating these natural materials into contemporary designs, construction professionals can create delightful structures that are functional and long-lasting.

People looking for reasons to use natural stone in modern buildings do not have to travel far to find the key reason: durability. Stone walls can last centuries with reasonable upkeep, which is far longer than other natural or synthetic materials. As a structural component, stone’s durability is unparalleled. When used for flooring, roofing, or cladding, the stone can often outlast the building.

Stone has been somewhat of a concern in recent years due to its weight, but construction innovations have literally lightened the load. Modern techniques allow designers to achieve the perfect look with natural stone without requiring the same kind of structural support of decades past.

Sustainability is somewhat of a buzzword in construction discourse, and it requires nuance to understand how natural stone comes up a winner. As a building material, stone requires less processing to go from its natural state to readiness for installation. As such, natural stone often takes less energy to prepare than other materials, especially synthetics.

It is true that stone is a nonrenewable resource, but its durability makes it appropriate for long use and regular reuse. It is also true that stone is heavier than other building materials, requiring more energy consumption to transport it to distant locations. This fact drives innovation to create new cutting techniques that reduce the total weight of the stone, mitigating much of this concern.

Engaging with building design requires some evaluation of current trends and balancing them with natural stone and other elements that offer a timeless aesthetic. There is a reason that marble floors and sleek stone brick walls feature in construction from hundreds of years ago, as well as the present day. They far outlast any trend, while lending an air of respectability and luxury to virtually any space. Integrating stone into custom home remodeling meets key design goals, fitting into minimalist, maximalist, and other aesthetics. 

Contemporary applications of natural stone offer great variety. The strength of stone creates the opportunity for builders of commercial spaces to create an indoor-outdoor design that provides necessary durability outside, while maintaining a beautiful and graceful presence inside. Similarly, stone’s natural state allows for a range of finishes, from silky smooth to roughened or sandblasted.

Modern cutting techniques allow builders to take advantage of thinner slabs of natural stone. These stones can be used in a variety of applications, such as stone cladding or architectural features. The thin style makes for a lighter result, which can permit installation on remodels or renovations of structures that could not otherwise support stone. These approaches can also improve the durability and energy-efficiency of the structure.

Natural stone features in modern construction for plenty of reasons. Stone is much more durable, while its overall sustainability is similar to many eco-friendly materials. The aesthetic appeal of stone makes it an ideal choice for modern construction due to its ability to fit into virtually any design. Stone anchors functionality to a whimsical design, while adding a layer of grace to spaces that might otherwise feel lackluster."

Burlington Stone has promoted Andrew Woon to Sales Director as part of a restructuring of its commercial leadership team, with long-serving director Ian Ramsay taking on a new regional role focused on Scotland and Ireland after more than 30 years with the business.

Ian Ramsey

Woon joined Burlington Stone earlier this year as Specification Sales Manager for the North of England, bringing experience in specification sales and technical building products. In his new position, he will oversee the company's UK sales operation, customer service and technical teams while continuing to manage the North of England territory.

Ramsay will become Regional Director for Scotland & Ireland, enabling him to concentrate on the markets and customer relationships he has developed over three decades while continuing to support the business.

Andrew Woon

Announcing the appointments, chief executive Allen Gibb said: "It is impossible to overstate Ian's contribution to Burlington over three decades of service, knowledge, relationships and commitment.

"At the same time, we are delighted to confirm that Andrew Woon becomes Sales Director. Andrew has quickly got under the skin of the business and the wider commercial landscape, and this appointment reflects the confidence he has earned across the team."

Before joining Burlington Stone, Woon held senior commercial roles with HVAC specialist Poppletons, façade installation specialist Fieger and façade cladding manufacturer Solinear, working closely with architects, contractors and distributors.

As part of an ongoing summer series, architect and researcher Giulliana Giorgi shares findings from her RIBA Scott Brownrigg Award for Sustainable Development-funded research project, Unlocking UK Stones: A Guide for Sustainable Sourcing. Drawing on fieldwork, quarry visits, and historical research, this unique collection of insights will underline why geology matters to architectural practice. The first installment explores how a better understanding of Britain's geological resources can inform more sustainable specification and reconnect architectural practice with the landscapes from which building materials originate. 

“The UK is extraordinarily varied in geological resources, yet architecture has gradually lost the knowledge systems that once connected geology to design.

Over the past year, while researching the potential of indigenous stone, I found myself looking at buildings - and landscapes - rather differently. The research began with a question about lower-carbon construction, but it gradually became an exploration of where our materials come from and how that knowledge shapes architecture.

Britain possesses one of the most geologically diverse landscapes in Europe. As Alec Clifton-Taylor observed in The Pattern of English Building, the complexity of its geology has given rise to an extraordinary variety of architecture within close proximity. The warm oolitic limestone of Bath, the sandstone of Edinburgh and the granites of Cornwall are expressions of local geology. Before the expansion of the railway network, builders quarried the nearest workable stone. Across the limestone belt from Dorset to Lincolnshire, fine-grained beds produced ashlar towns such as Cirencester and Stamford. Elsewhere, thinner or harder stone resulted in coursed rubble construction bound with lime mortar. Geological conditions influenced how stone could be extracted, worked and assembled, becoming part of the architectural language of a place.

Standing at the face of a working quarry, it becomes difficult to think about materials in the abstract. Every block belongs to a history of deep time and to a landscape from which it is extracted. Bedding planes determine its dimensions, mineral composition influences its colour, and its structural properties are the result of multiple complex processes. These geological conditions become constraints that could re-establish an architectural vocabulary of the place.

Great Britain still has almost 400 active dimension stone quarries, yet around 80% of the stone used in construction is imported. Alongside these active sites are thousands of historic quarries that once supplied nearby towns and cities. Some have closed, others lie dormant, but together they represent a resource that has largely disappeared from contemporary architectural conversations. The question is not simply one of supply. It is one of knowledge: knowing what resources exist, where they are found and how they might contribute to future construction.

Several months after completing the research, I was invited to present it as part of the Collections Lab, a collaboration between the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture and the John Watson Building Stones Collection at the Sedgwick Museum. Afterwards, I visited the John Watson Collection itself. Beginning with around 300 specimens donated in 1905 and eventually growing to some 2,500 stones, Watson systematically documented the building materials that shaped Britain, recording their provenance, commercial names, physical properties, compressive strength and applications. The collection also reflects the colonial networks through which material resources were assembled. 

Previous generations understood where different stones came from, how they weathered, how they behaved structurally, and where each was most appropriately used. Stone was not a singular material but a diverse family of geological resources. Today, it is frequently reduced to a cladding product selected from a sample board and chosen for its appearance, procured internationally rather than sourced from the landscapes that surround us. Recovering that literacy does not mean returning to historic methods. It means recognising that different stones possess different compressive strengths, densities, porosities and weathering characteristics, and that these qualities matter both environmentally and architecturally. Stone records time through weathering, responds to local light and climate, and carries the history of the landscape it came from. These qualities cannot be imported.

Research has a habit of changing the questions we ask. I began by asking whether indigenous stone could contribute to lower-carbon construction. I finished asking how architecture might change if we understood our materials before we specified them. Every material has a geography. Specifying materials should consider this. 

Britain's geological diversity is an underused design resource. Understanding indigenous stone, more than specifying local materials, is about understanding the landscapes and communities that supply our buildings and recognising that geology, provenance and material performance remain fundamental parts of architectural practice.”

Lava stone has long been associated with durability and architectural permanence, but Sartorialitica approaches it as an open material system rather than a fixed surface. The Italian brand treats volcanic stone as the starting point for experimentation, using craft processes and cross-disciplinary collaboration to explore how its geological properties can be extended, altered and reinterpreted through design.

Founded to preserve and evolve specialist making knowledge, Sartorialitica works between stone workshops, foundries and artisan studios, developing proprietary techniques that sit between traditional craft and contemporary fabrication. The emphasis is on process as much as outcome, with each material decision shaped by how lava stone behaves under cutting, casting and surface transformation.

At the core of the practice is an acceptance of the material’s natural variability. Porosity, density and fracture are not corrected but used as drivers of design. In this sense, lava stone is treated less as a uniform product and more as a record of geological processes, with each piece retaining traces of its volcanic origin.

This thinking is expressed in Sartorialitica’s first collection, where lava stone is paired with bronze through a series of experimental techniques. Bronze is infiltrated into open-pored stone, cast into textured surfaces, or precisely inset using CNC machining, while hand-splitting and vitrification introduce controlled irregularities. Across the collection, fabrication is deliberately left visible, allowing each object to read as both artefact and process study.

The result is a body of work that sits between furniture and material research, where roughness and refinement are held in tension. Lava stone is never disguised; instead, it is pushed through different manufacturing conditions to reveal how far its structural and aesthetic qualities can be extended.

Sartorialitica describes its approach as akin to a bespoke atelier: slow, iterative and grounded in testing. Each technique is developed as part of a wider material library, intended not only for individual objects but for future architectural and interior applications.

The work reflects a broader shift in surface design towards deep material research rather than substitution, and recently made its international debut at Milan Design Week’s Alcova, where the focus remained firmly on process, material behaviour and the evolving language of stone.

As we continue to report, and as pressure continues to grow to reduce waste across the built environment, an increasing number of designers are looking beyond recycling towards materials that are conceived around waste from the outset. Dutch design studio Blended Materials sits firmly within that movement, transforming discarded local resources into handcrafted architectural surfaces that challenge conventional ideas of both beauty and manufacture.

Founded by designer Tom van Soest, Blended Materials builds on more than a decade of research into waste-based construction materials. Van Soest first explored the concept while studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven, developing his graduation project around the idea that construction waste could become the raw material for new architectural products. That research led to the founding of StoneCycling, now FRONT, where the development of WasteBasedBricks demonstrated that reclaimed waste could meet the technical requirements of contemporary construction. In 2023, Van Soest returned to his original research, relaunching Blended Materials as an independent design studio focused on small-scale production and project-specific surface materials.

The studio's philosophy is straightforward: every waste stream has its own visual identity and should be celebrated rather than concealed. Instead of standardising materials into uniform products, Blended Materials works with locally available waste, allowing colour, texture and composition to reflect the origin of the material itself.

That approach results in tiles and interior surfaces made entirely from reclaimed resources, whether construction debris, industrial by-products or waste generated by individual clients. Rather than transporting materials across long supply chains, projects are often developed around waste sourced close to where the finished products will ultimately be installed, reinforcing both circularity and local identity.

Material experimentation remains central to the company's practice, with each composition developed according to the characteristics of the available waste stream, producing surfaces with distinctive mineral textures, aggregate patterns and tonal variation. No attempt is made to disguise the material's origins; instead, fragments of former products become part of a new visual language.

Every tile is produced by hand in the Netherlands, allowing the studio to adapt formulations and finishes to individual commissions while maintaining close control over quality. This small-batch approach enables architects and designers to commission bespoke surfaces tied directly to a particular building, location or material source, creating products that carry a tangible connection to place.

By replacing virgin raw materials with reclaimed waste, the studio significantly reduces demand for newly extracted resources while demonstrating how circular thinking can generate materials with genuine architectural character. Rather than viewing sustainability as a technical exercise alone, Blended Materials positions waste as a design opportunity.

While the studio is best known for handcrafted tiles, its research extends to bespoke wall surfaces, interior installations and custom architectural elements, each responding to the specific material palette of a project. This flexibility allows waste from one industry, or even from a single building, to become the finish of another.

Collaboration also plays an important role, and architects, manufacturers and clients are encouraged to contribute their own waste streams, allowing projects to develop materials with a direct narrative connection to their source. In doing so, Blended Materials shifts attention away from anonymous industrial production towards materials whose provenance remains visible throughout their lifecycle.

The result is a collection of handcrafted materials that demonstrate how discarded resources can acquire new value, and not by hiding where they came from, but by making their history an integral part of the finished surface.

As we've been reporting, the search for lower-impact materials is increasingly moving beyond simply replacing one resource with another. Instead, a growing number of designers and manufacturers are rethinking how materials are conceived in the first place, shifting attention from extraction and manufacture towards cultivation. Among those exploring this emerging territory is Dutch company Mycelium Material, whose work harnesses the natural growth of fungal networks to create circular products and architectural surfaces.

Founded on the belief that materials can be grown rather than manufactured, the company has developed a process that repurposes waste from mushroom cultivation into new sheet materials and formed components. We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of designers taking up the process in recent years, with the word mycelium itself going from dictionary-required to household term in rapid time.

And, as has been widely reported, mycelium is the underground network of fungal threads that binds together forest ecosystems by breaking down organic matter and redistributing nutrients. Rather than treating this biological process as something to imitate, Mycelium Material uses it directly. The company's products are created from spent mushroom substrate and living mycelium, allowing the organism to grow through the waste material and bind it into a solid mass. Once the desired form has been achieved, the growth process is halted, leaving behind a lightweight, fully bio-based material.

The approach transforms what would traditionally be an agricultural waste stream into a new resource. Instead of relying on virgin feedstocks, the company works exclusively with substrate blocks that have already completed their primary role in mushroom production, extending their useful life before they eventually return to the biological cycle.

Material research sits at the centre of the practice, and by varying both the substrate and the behaviour of the mycelium itself, different physical characteristics can be achieved, allowing materials to be developed that are rigid, flexible or somewhere in between. Equally, the material has inherent insulatory qualities, making it an ideal environmentally sound choice for keeping buildings warm. And, because the material grows within moulds rather than being machined from larger stock, it can be produced as flat panels or more complex three-dimensional forms.

Ultimately, the process challenges conventional ideas of manufacture; rather than shaping an inert material through cutting, pressing or casting, the material effectively assembles itself over time, using biological growth to create structure with relatively low energy input. 

Mycelium Material describes its approach as one of symbiosis, drawing parallels between the way fungi exchange nutrients within woodland ecosystems and the collaborative relationships required to build more circular manufacturing systems. 

As the surfaces sector undergoes a slow but significant shift towards reduced embodied carbon, UK materials technology company Dekiln is developing a kiln-free alternative to conventional ceramic tiles and, with it, replaces high-temperature firing with a low-energy, bio-based manufacturing process.

The starting point for Dekiln is a fundamental rethink of what a tile actually is. Rather than relying on traditional clay bodies and energy-intensive kilns, the company has developed a patented composite material that mimics many of the visual and performance characteristics of ceramics without the need for sintering or glazing. The result is a tile-like material formed at ambient temperatures, using a combination of plant-derived binders and finely processed waste mineral streams, including recycled gypsum plaster.

In environmental terms, the implications are significant, with the material achieving a reduction in embodied carbon of up to 94% compared with conventional ceramic tiles, while also incorporating more than 95% recycled content. For an industry where firing kilns remain one of the most energy-intensive stages of production, the removal of high-temperature processing represents a fundamental shift in how surface materials can be made.

Dekiln’s approach sits at the intersection of materials science and circular economy thinking. Waste streams that would typically be downcycled or discarded are instead re-engineered into a new composite matrix, where plant-based binders act as the structural glue. Once cured, the material behaves in a way that is intentionally familiar to specifiers: it can be cut, installed and finished using processes broadly aligned with standard tile workflows, allowing adoption without wholesale changes to installation practice.

While the material itself is central to the story, the company’s trajectory is equally defined by its move from research into industrial application. Founded by materials scientist Dr Aled Roberts, Dekiln has emerged from an academic and laboratory environment into a commercial phase supported by both funding and industry collaboration. Roberts was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Green Future Fellowship, securing £3 million in support for continued development and scale-up.

That transition is now being accelerated through a partnership with Johnson Tiles, one of the UK’s leading tile manufacturers. The collaboration is focused on scaling Dekiln’s technology for commercial interiors, combining the start-up’s low-carbon material innovation with Johnson Tiles’ manufacturing capability, technical expertise and established market reach.

“This marks an important milestone for Dekiln as we transition from the laboratory to industrial scale manufacturing,” says Dr Roberts. “Johnson Tiles’ technical expertise, market reach and sustainability focus makes them an ideal partner to support our ambition to scale-up and commercialise our technology.”

From Johnson Tiles’ perspective, the partnership reflects a broader shift within the ceramics industry towards alternative production methods that retain material familiarity while significantly reducing environmental impact. As Jason Bridges, Procurement Director at Johnson Tiles, notes, the Dekiln approach challenges conventional assumptions about what is required to achieve ceramic-like performance.

“Aled’s fresh thinking on solving the recycling of waste alongside removing the sintering process to create a product with all the performance and aesthetic qualities of traditional tiles without anywhere near the embodied carbon is a real game-changer,” he says. “It aligns perfectly with Johnson Tiles’ sustainable thinking.”

Alongside technical development, the two companies are also exploring the potential for a pilot or demonstration manufacturing facility in Stoke-on-Trent - a location deeply associated with Britain’s ceramic heritage. The symbolic value of situating a next-generation tile technology within the historic heartland of kiln-fired production is not lost on the partners, particularly as the industry reassesses the future of energy-intensive manufacturing.

Materiality has been central to House of EM's approach since the practice was established by former Michaelis Boyd directors Emma Bodie and Matthew Sanders. As discussed in our recent Surface Perspectives interview with the practice, their work is grounded in the careful selection of natural materials and a close reading of place. Those principles find clear expression in Skylark, the studio's first completed building – a new family home overlooking the River Teme in Shropshire.

Designed for James and Sam Charters and their young family, the 383m² house occupies a previously overgrown plateau with expansive views across the surrounding landscape. Rather than imposing itself on the site, the building has been carefully positioned to balance privacy, sunlight and long-distance vistas, while drawing on a restrained palette of brick, stone, timber, lime and concrete to establish a strong sense of permanence.

The house is organised around an F-shaped plan that creates a series of connected yet distinct living spaces. Solid elevations address the approach road, punctuated by carefully positioned openings, while the rear of the house opens towards terraces, gardens and the wider landscape. Internally, a sequence of interconnected family spaces is subtly defined through changes in level, bespoke joinery and an integrated fireplace rather than walls, allowing openness without sacrificing intimacy.

Throughout the project, material choices reinforce that architectural clarity. Externally, the house is wrapped in elongated light-grey Danish brick, selected following an extensive process of research, mock-ups and material testing. Castellated brick detailing, inspired by the masonry of Tate Modern, introduces depth, rhythm and changing shadow across the façades, giving the otherwise restrained form a distinctive surface character.

Inside, the palette becomes softer but equally tactile. Lime plaster walls sourced from neighbouring Herefordshire are paired with chestnut ceilings milled from local timber, while bespoke joinery integrates seamlessly with the architecture. Concrete floors provide visual continuity and thermal mass, allowing the materials themselves to define the character of the spaces.

Natural stone provides carefully judged moments of contrast throughout the interior. Deeply veined marble has been specified for the kitchen worktop and bathroom vanity, introducing richness and permanence against the otherwise muted palette of lime, timber and concrete. Rather than acting as decorative focal points, the stone surfaces sit comfortably within the wider material composition, reinforcing House of EM's preference for honest, enduring materials that improve with age.

The same attention to detail extends beyond finishes. Rectilinear forms are echoed throughout built-in furniture, shelving and seating, while large expanses of glazing frame views of the landscape and strengthen the relationship between interior and exterior. Even the castellated brickwork finds an echo internally within the dining banquette, creating subtle continuity between outside and in.

What’s more, environmental performance was considered alongside material expression from the outset. Air source heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and high levels of airtightness reduce operational energy demand, while exposed concrete floors act as thermal mass to moderate internal temperatures throughout the year. A green roof, extensive native planting and more than 2,000 bulbs further enhance biodiversity across the site.

For House of EM, the project demonstrates the value of designing through close collaboration with both client and context.

"Skylark allowed us to explore how architecture can be both ambitious and intimately connected to place," says Matthew Sanders. "Working closely with the clients enabled us to deliver a home that is bold, considered, and deeply rooted in context."

Emma Bodie adds: "Collaborating with James and Sam made the process seamless. The result is a home that feels modern, distinctive, and entirely in harmony with its surroundings."

Although Skylark marks the practice's first completed building under the House of EM name, it exhibits a confidence that reflects the founders' wider experience. Rather than relying on expressive form alone, the project draws much of its identity from the careful orchestration of materials. Brick establishes rhythm and permanence, timber introduces warmth, lime softens the interiors, concrete grounds the spaces, and marble provides moments of richness and refinement.

Together, they create a house that feels unmistakably contemporary while remaining firmly rooted in its Shropshire setting

Images © Richard Gaston

Following our coverage of House Porphyry, where stone, timber and carefully considered detailing combined to create a home rooted in material honesty, we spoke to London practice Mosley Thorold about the thinking that underpins its work. Founded by Nathaniel Mosley and Henry Thorold in 2017, the studio has developed a reputation for architecture that places craftsmanship, making and collaboration with specialist fabricators at the centre of the design process. Here, the practice reflects on why understanding how things are made continues to shape its approach, from bespoke furniture and lighting to architectural interventions at every scale.

Nathaniel

“For us, an understanding of the way things are made is integral to designing beautiful objects and spaces for living. Hands-on craftsmanship is not a style but a method that works. It begins with drawings as tools for thinking, models as working prototypes, and conversations with clients as central to design. We curate spaces for living by collaborating with makers, joiners, metalworkers and specialist fabricators who speak the language of their tools; be they traditional or contemporary.

Henry

Every material we use is carefully selected to express its character thoughtfully. This resonance is captured in how a material sheds water, responds to light or feels underfoot. Should a material resist the effect of time or embrace it?

The Counterbalance Pendant is an early example in a series of bespoke creations that embody this approach. What began with experiments in casting concrete in latex evolved into a complex project combining raw steel, turned brass and thin-shell concrete forms. In-house fabrication allowed for an intensive process of iteration and material refinement.

Scaling up, the Dalston Railways Cottages Bench sits in a garden of a residential project, exploring how form can soften a space. The curved concrete bench, created in collaboration with the contractor, used a diamond grinder fixed on a custom jig to create its precise shape. The jig was bolted down to the ground with the grinder hinged in the centre to create a physical compass that sculpted the surface of the cast concrete bench. This physical making process produced an object that respects its context and grows from its surroundings.

Similar values carry through to the Cruciform Shelving in the basement of St Mary’s Mews House. By finessing the detailing at a finer scale, we attempted to bring the materiality of the external Corten detailing to the interior. Every component was thoughtfully crafted, allowing the adjustable modular system to adapt to both variations in its physical context and its use over time. The Cruciform Shelving illustrates our ongoing study in low-tech sustainability; it is easy to assemble, resilient over time and entirely non-mass-produced.

The team values creating highly crafted spaces to match clients’ authentic way of living and personal brief. A bespoke dining table for conviviality, hosting, and conversation distils our design philosophy into a single domestic object. Its curved edge draws people together, creating a centrepiece inviting interaction. Pared back and almost archetypal, the table exemplifies how form and function are inseparable and best when shaped by hands.

In Clerkenwell Eyrie, we designed a CNC-cut plywood staircase that joins two levels with sculptural efficiency. Through fabrication and the logic of flat-pack furniture, it remains easy to assemble on site with minimal cutting required. It’s a great example of how we like to merge contemporary fabrication and technical nous to deliver a cost-effective design solution without losing the warmth of the hand. 

That commitment to technical precision and material resourcefulness continues in an upcoming residential project that uses boardmarked concrete externally. Timber boards have been selected and sandblasted to highlight the grain, ensuring the concrete cast against them will bring out the texture and relief in the final surface. The decision to cast the concrete in a single 4.5 metre high pour constitutes a refusal to let a technical challenge restrict design thinking. It requires bespoke formwork to support the concrete, including a steel column system that ensures the formwork can withstand the pressure of the pour without relying on the existing party wall.

We view our work as a quiet resistance to the culture of disposability; it is slow, precise and grounded. Each project is built on lasting relationships with materials, place and people. For us, architecture is less a product and more a process of making, reflecting the value of design elements built to last and enjoyed.”