Monday Muse
Monday Muse
Interview Designer Faye Toogood
Interview
Faye Toogood
Photography
Genevieve Lutkin
Interview
Faye Toogood
Photography
Genevieve Lutkin
British designer Faye Toogood’s creative path seem destined from birth – an imaginative child who was always making, Toogood went on to formally study Fine Art and History of Art at the University of Bristol before landing her game-changing role at World of Interiors. She spent the next eight years at the Conde Nast publication as an editor and stylist, defining taste and setting the benchmark for British design. In 2008, she founded her own studio, spanning work across furniture, design, fashion and interiors. Her most celebrated designs include her highly-sought after Roly Poly Chair, a design classic. A monograph of Toogood’s work was published by Phaidon in 2022. We caught up with Toogood as she unveiled her latest project in Paris – WOMANIFESTO! – and was in town to collect her Designer of the Year award at the British Embassy in the French capital.
THE WICK: How does your Monday normally start?
Faye Toogood: I would love to be meditating, going for a morning walk, doing yoga or reading books but the reality is there is not much well-being happening on a Monday morning. It is my busiest day of the week. The alarm goes at 6:15am, I get dressed, dress my three children, make sure they have everything they need for school, then take the train to London to my studio in Camden (it takes 2 hours door to door). This journey to London is the most important time of the week for me, I try to use this time to listen to music or read. At the moment I am trying – forcing myself might be a better term – to listen more Classical music – a music genre I have struggled with to date.
TW: This week at Maison & Objet Paris, you present WOMANIFESTO!, an installation inspired by Surrealism. What is the premise and vision for this project?
FT: Last week I collected my award for Designer of the Year from the British embassy in Paris. As part of Maison & Objet I launched my exhibition WOMANIFESTO! Like all of my work the title strives to be both playful and profound. As a leading female designer, I wanted to express from my own vantage point the freedom and the change that I have personally felt over the last few years. It’s only in my most recent work I’ve really felt comfortable enough to fully express my creativity, and confidently acknowledge the emotional side of my work. Even today applying words like “emotional” or “sexual” to design feels like it’s breaking the rules. As women we have deprived ourselves of this language.
TW:
Much of your work is around the transformation of spaces or objects, to create them into something else. Which space would you most like to work with to transform for a future project?
FT: Imagination underpins all humankind: it’s our great human talent and I would like to focus more on children’s creativity. We know it’s important for children to make exploration because that’s where they will also learn to imagine together but it’s also where we learn empathy – through play. I would really like to design a sculptural playground when children can construct their own micro worlds. The playground, almost like a workshop, would also extend to teenagers.
TW: You are a multidisciplinary creative who operates between visual arts, design, and clothing. When did your creative journey start and where do you continue to find creative inspiration?
FT:
I prefer to avoid labels and being pigeonholed. My work is interdisciplinary, I see myself as an experimental artist working on the fringes of art and design. I enjoy working in-depth on the edges – the places where others don’t inhabit: I am particularly interested in the spaces between humans and machines, nature and culture.
My creative journey started as a child – the most important time in one’s life to develop the imagination and freedom of expression needed to be a creative. My formal education in Fine Art and History of Art, with my first job was at The World of Interiors magazine where [for 8 years] I learnt a great deal about design, antiques and art. I started my own practice on my kitchen table.
My inspiration comes from the world around me – landscape in particular. I find that my creative output balances out what is going on in my own personal life.
“Imagination underpins all humankind: it’s our great human talent and I would like to focus more on children’s creativity.”
TW: Artist dinner party: if you could dine with any creative and artist alive or dead who would your dream table of 6 be made up of?
FT: Louise Bourgeois, Phyllida Barlow, Tilda Swinton, Rose Wylie, Nina Simone, Charlotte Perriand.
TW: You have a regular playlist segment, Toogood Tapes: what would be your favourite go to piece of music whilst you work?
FT: Whilst I am creating work I always listen to The Aphex Twin. It makes my creativity flow.
TW: Where is your favourite Culturally Curious spot in the city (London) to spend time?
FT: I am very passionate about the Royal Festival Hall: I love that this space brings rich new, high-quality culture to everyone.
TW: You yourself are an icon in cultural curiosity. Who would you most want to interview next and why?
FT: I would like to interview Jeanette Winterson to talk to her more about her views on the subjects of creativity, imagination and the role of AI and the future of human connection.
TW: What is an artwork or object that you own, which you hold most dear?
FT: I am a big collector of found stones, my children also now contribute to the collection. The stones mean more to me than any design object in the house.
