Monday Muse

Interview: Patch Creative Director and Head of Product, Paloma Strelitz

Interview

Paloma Strelitz

21 April 2025

Interview

Paloma Strelitz

21 April 2025

Paloma Strelitz is a Turner Prize winner and Royal Academician, and she is one of the brilliant minds shaping the future of our cities and communities. Strelitz is currently the Creative Director and Head of Product at Patch – a startup building a national network of spaces for work, culture, and community – designed to revitalise town centres across the UK. Before joining Patch, Paloma co-founded the architecture and design studio Assemble, dedicated to civic and cultural development – the collective scooped the Turner Prize in 2015 and were appointed Royal Academicians in 2022. Strelitz also served as a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, a role she held until 2022. We spoke to Strelitz about her passion for creating pathways for inclusive change, the UK’s startup and venture communities, and how she envisions the future of London.

THE WICK: Tell us about your typical Monday.

Paloma Strelitz: Mondays are a fresh start. I like to begin the day with a walk to the top of Primrose Hill – it’s galvanising to look out across the London skyline as I collect my thoughts for the week ahead. Then I head into Patch to catch up with our team. We’re focused on creating a national network of spaces to support work, culture, and community connection – helping to revitalise high streets and town centres.

Patch currently has five spaces in beautiful local landmarks across the UK, and at the moment I’m leading strategic planning for our new launches, so it’s a busy time. Mondays are one of our in-person days, so I use them for collaborative sessions – making the most of being together and setting a strong rhythm for the week. Today included workshops and meetings across design, growth, and operations. It’s fast-paced, but that momentum is part of what makes building something new so exciting.

TW: You have worked in realms which cross art, architecture and creative space making. Why is the visual art world important in your work?

PS: Art invites us to engage with the world in a way that’s both deeply personal and collective. I value every aspect of the artistic process, from studios and workshops to exhibition spaces. The visual arts bring a spirit of experimentation, storytelling, and critique that deeply influences my approach to design.

When I co-led the design of the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, we transformed a historic bathhouse into a new public arts space. Today, Goldsmiths CCA serves as a focal point for ambitious contemporary art exhibitions, events, and education. For me, its architecture and art are fundamentally connected – a public space and platform that supports emerging artists, engages the community, and fosters new forms of collaboration. This ethos continues to guide my work.

TW: Your work – first as Co-founder of the Turner Prize-winning studio Assemble, and now as Creative Director and Head of Product at Patch – promotes civic and cultural development. How do you believe architecture and design nurture civic life and cultural identity?

PS: Architecture is a social art – it shapes how we connect, belong, and imagine the future. My work, from Assemble to Patch, explores how design can build civic, cultural, and economic capacity. At Assemble, on our Granby Four Streets project in Liverpool, we worked closely with residents to create a community-led vision for their neighbourhood – restoring derelict homes and establishing new community spaces and businesses.

At Patch, I’m focused on reimagining high streets as inclusive spaces for local life. In Bournemouth, we’ve opened a space in a historic former department store. Patch has become a new home for the South Coast’s entrepreneurs, creatives, and community builders – bringing fresh energy to the town centre and creating a vibrant hub for creativity, commerce, and connection.

For me, both architecture and design are tools for building community – enabling people to take greater agency and shape spaces that reflect shared needs, aspirations, and identities.

TW: As Creative Director and Head of Product at Patch, a startup that transforms spaces into hubs for local communities to connect, how does your design approach foster local entrepreneurial activity and innovation?

PS: I spend a lot of time thinking about how to design and shape environments where innovation and entrepreneurship can thrive. Our coworking studios and private offices support local entrepreneurs, freelancers, and startups. But it’s our publicly accessible areas – the meeting rooms and event spaces – that enable wider collaboration and exchange.

Spaces like Patch Academy and The B Hive are designed to empower local communities, offering platforms for creativity, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement. Every design element is purposeful: to spark connection, support new ideas, and foster shared ownership.

One recent event I loved was The Tech Bros’ Bad Ideas Build Day at Patch in York – a collaboration with the Women in Engineering Society, Codecademy, and ARIA, aimed at boosting female participation in technical startups. It’s a great example of how thoughtful design can create the conditions for inclusive innovation and entrepreneurial confidence.

“Architecture is a social art – it shapes how we connect, belong, and imagine the future.”

The Wick Culture - Patch in Bournemouth - a new home for the South Coast's Entrepreneurs. Creatives and Community Builders. Image courtesy of Ed Hill

The Wick Culture - (Assemble) Sugarhouse Studios, Stratford

The Wick Culture - A derelict library transformed into a new centre for work, culture and community. Image courtesy of Benoît Grogan-Avignon

The Wick Culture - The Cineroleum by Assemble

TW: How did being awarded the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard, a prestigious programme for practitioners shaping the built and natural environment, influence your perspective or impact your work today?

PS: The Loeb Fellowship was a transformative year that gave me the space to reflect, learn, and expand my thinking. I focused on how technology and design can drive positive social impact at scale. I took courses at Harvard Business School on strategy, technology, and scaling tech ventures, as well as exploring leadership at the Kennedy School.

Equally valuable was the opportunity to connect with a diverse, international group of brilliant peers and faculty – designers, entrepreneurs, journalists, policymakers, and politicians – all advancing civic life in unique ways. This experience reinforced my belief in values-led collaboration and deepened my understanding of leadership. It clarified the impact I want to have: combining creativity, technology, and placemaking to support thriving, inclusive communities – a perspective I carry into my work at Patch.

TW: You’ve served as a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, what role do you think design should play in London in the future?

PS: I love that question! I believe we need to think more holistically about environmental design and its role in shaping a sustainable and inclusive future for London. There’s huge potential to create spaces that benefit both people and the environment through reuse, regenerative design, and the development of green and blue infrastructure.

What excites me is the opportunity to create these projects at all scales – whether small community allotments or larger infrastructural initiatives like sustainable urban mobility networks.

I envision a future London where nature is more deeply integrated into the urban fabric, with productive gardens, parks, waterways, and urban forests playing a central role. Green and blue infrastructure enhances biodiversity, tackles climate change challenges, and supports public health and enjoyment of the city. Ultimately, design should foster high-quality, inclusive spaces where nature and communities can thrive.

TW: What is your favourite Culturally Curious spot in London and why?

PS: I always enjoy visiting Bold Tendencies in Peckham. Set in a multi-storey car park, it has incredible physical energy and extraordinary views across London. Hannah Barry has created a space that brings together art, architecture, music, and community in such a creative, generous way.

The summer after graduating, I helped build Frank’s Café on the rooftop, designed by Paloma Gormley and Lettice Drake. Made from reclaimed scaffold boards, ratchet straps, and a vivid red canopy, it was my first self-build experience. The collaborative energy of that project deeply inspired me, leading to our first Assemble project, The Cineroleum, the following year. Bold Tendencies’ annual programme always feels alive with ideas and inspiration. One highlight was hearing Sheku Kanneh-Mason play in the vast concrete undercroft as the lights of London twinkled in the distance.

TW: A London building that is a hidden gem?

PS: Visiting the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields is always a magical experience. I first went as a student, and it’s stayed with me – a place full of layers, atmosphere, and collective memories. Its restrained Regency façade conceals an architectural ‘box of tricks’: a curiously sequenced collection of experiments with space, light, and storytelling.

I found the recent exhibition Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings by Lina Iris Viktor particularly powerful. Her exploration of time, memory, and tradition echoed Soane’s own collection, creating a dialogue across continents, cultures, and time. The museum invites imagination while retaining its deeply personal character. If you can, visit during one of their candlelit evenings – the flickering glow transforms the space, transporting the entire experience into an otherworldly realm.

TW: Last year the collective you co-founded, Assemble, curated the 2024 Architecture Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. How do you see the dialogue between art and architecture?

PS: Our galleries explored the theme ‘Space for Making’. We wanted to consider workspace not just as a physical typology, but as a lens to highlight the processes, tools, and communities that support creative production.

The rooms brought together a wide range of works – from Samuel Obusi Adjei’s vibrant woven chairs made at the Nubuke Foundation in Accra, to mosaic panels crafted by volunteers at the Hackney Mosaic Project, and a stone space-frame by engineers Webb Yates.

It was important to us to present architecture as a dynamic, collaborative practice – deeply connected to material, place, and people. For me, the dialogue between art and architecture comes alive in the act of making: when abstract ideas are translated into tangible experiences we can touch, feel, and share.

TW: Is there a book which has affected the way you think about the world, which you would recommend?

PS: I recently read The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, and it’s stayed with me. It offers a thoughtful, incisive look at how we come together – whether for a dinner, a meeting, or a milestone – and how we can make those moments more intentional and meaningful. Parker challenges the default ways we gather and encourages us to design with purpose, clarity and care. As someone who works on spaces and communities, her insights around invitation, structure and shared experience deeply resonated. It’s a generous, empowering book that reminds us that how we meet matters.

TW: Which artwork or object are you coveting for your own collection?

PS: My family is South African, so I have a deep appreciation for the work of emerging South African artists and designers. I saw Zizipho Poswa’s work at Southern Guild in Cape Town, and it left a lasting impression. Her uBuhle boKhokho (Beauty of Our Ancestors) series is extraordinary – monumental ceramic sculptures that honour the ritual of hairstyling among Black women across Africa and its diaspora. There’s a profound beauty in how she transforms a domestic, often intimate act into bold sculptural forms, weaving personal expression with ancestral memory. Her work feels both grounding and expansive – celebrating identity, femininity, and resilience. I’m drawn to the way she connects material, gesture, and cultural narrative. To own one of her pieces would mean living with a powerful, meaningful presence.

TW: Who is your ultimate Monday Muse?

PS: There are so many women who inspire me, especially those who blend creativity with entrepreneurialism. This week, I’m headed to the Culture Summit in Abu Dhabi, where I’m excited to hear from architect Tosin Oshinowo, artist Daisy Ginsberg, and technologist and design activist Suhair Khan. The event is curated by Anais Aguerre, whose leadership in international creative partnerships I deeply admire. I feel lucky to be surrounded by so many passionate people who enrich my life and mind. They embody the power of dialogue, innovation, and pushing boundaries in their fields.