Design

For Faye Toogood, there’s no such thing as too good!

Toogood was asked to design something special for the Cube Haus Commissions. It  didn’t hurt that Toogood is immensely talented in multiple disciplines that allowed her to create exactly what was requested from this project.

Image courtesy of: Cube Haus Commissions

British designer, Faye Toogood has done it all. In 2008, the former editor of “The World of Interiors”, left to open up her own studio. It was during this time that she specialized in designing installations. Toogood added furniture and interiors to her portfolio and in 2013, she started “Toogood” which produces clothing inspired by traditional tradesmen garments.

A common thread is that everything in her portfolio is made in the U.K. With a passion for materials and experimentation, Toogood is also unique in that she uses small-scale fabricators and traditional artisans.

The serene, monochromatic interior is inviting and calming!

Image courtesy of: Surface Magazine

Toogood is so versatile that she recently designed ceramics for 1882 Ltd. and wall coverings for the Brooklyn based- Calico Wallpaper. Also in her portfolio is the art she produces, sculptures, paintings and woven wall-hangings. This 2018 AD100 inductee has it all covered!

House of Toogood opened last December and this modern storefront is filled with blond wood and clean lines. Sure to be one of London’s most treasured galleries for years to come, there’s incentive to visit often because of the pop-up exhibitions that’ll soon fill the space.

As shown by Toogood’s illustration, the Spade Chair remains in multiple vignettes, although in a different application.

Image courtesy of: TL Magazine

A participant in art and design festivals, Toogood recently put together an installation during the London Design Festival. Instead of presenting her own work, Toogood assembled works from 50 designers, architects, and artists.

The chosen 50 were asked to donate a piece of their own work. In return, Toogood gifted each artist with a limited-edition version of one of her signature Spade chairs cast in aluminum for the occasion. Toogood has said about her curated furniture fair, “This is based on the centuries-old tradition of artists supporting artists, each through mutually beneficial barter.”

Ironically, the fair’s location is the same where she launched her debut furniture collection in 2010.

The creations from the collection include chairs which resemble baby elephants, an Element Table seemingly carved out of melting lard, a pregnant-looking daybed, and also a tapestry showing a still-life drawing of several toy bricks.

Image courtesy of: Port Magazine

Toogood’s ceramic six-piece collection, presented at Milan’s Salone del Mobile, was created for 1882 Ltd. and is called “Roly Poly” and “Indigo Storm”.

Speaking of the collection, Toogood said, “I’ve got fat. Gone are the angles, hard lines and dark colour schemes of previous collections in favour of voluptuousness and creaminess. Roly-Polyreflects my journey of becoming a mother and seeing the world through the eyes of a child.”

About her process, Toogood has said, “The way I start designing objects now is the way I’ve always started,” she says. “I get obsessive. I become interested in something, then I start researching it, investigating it and collecting things to do with it. In the end, I have a story I want to tell, and I find out how that can be translated.”

Image courtesy: Toogood

Is there anything that Toogood can’t do? Perhaps it’s that her process is the inverse of most designers’. According to the designer herself, “It starts with an image, then I employ the materials and shapes and forms that allow me to build that story.”

Whether it’s her academic training or her prior vocation, the one thing that’s clear is that Toogood’s instinct is spot on each and every time!