On Design with Justyna Green

Robert Storey is an all-round creative and the founder of Storey Studio, which specialises in spatial and set design, having worked with everyone from Nike to Prada, Gentle Monster to the V&A.  In our conversation, Robert shares with me his story of going solo at 23, how his sculpture practice informed his early set design work, what the future of retail looks like and how he feels celebrating 10...

Harriet Fitch Little is the editor of Kinfolk magazine - a publication which over the years has reached cult status. In our conversation, Harriet shares with me her journalistic journey, explains the evolution of Kinfolk over the years and together we dive into the latest issue of the magazine with a theme of Intimacy.  We also broadly discuss Kinfolk's art direction, its books and gallery and off...

We kick off the 2020 interviews with my first guest - designer Michael Anastassiades. Michael shares with me his creative journey with the 80s as a starting point of our conversation - the time when Michael studied both engineering and design and wasn't satisfied with either. Things changed in the early 90s when Michael got his house on London Waterloo's Lower Marsh and started to split his time b...

Riya Patel is The Aram Gallery's curator and the contributing editor of Icon magazine. We sat down together for an intimate chat in which Riya shared with me her thoughts on the current state of the architecture and design industries. We also discuss the history of The Aram Gallery and its programme of exhibitions which encourages and promotes understanding of the contemporary design and champions...

Karin Gustafsson is the creative director of COS - a contemporary fashion brand loved by creatives across the globe for its timeless look inspired by art and design and impeccable tailoring. In our conversation, we discuss Karin's upbringing and first encounters with fashion, her time at COS, how the brand has evolved over the years and the reasoning behind the launch of its first Archive Collecti...

John Booth is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans drawings, fashion illustration, ceramics, murals and homewares.   His style is easily recognisable with its expressive lines and confident use of colour and he counts Fendi and Hem among his collaborators with new projects for The Conran Shop and Paul Smith in the pipeline.   In our conversation, we talk about John's fashion studies at Cent...

Matt Alagiah is the editor of It's Nice That - an online magazine and a multimedia platform championing creativity. Apart from posting daily stories on topics ranging from animation and art to graphic design, illustration and photography, the It's Nice That brand also encompasses a bi-annual magazine Printed Pages, a summer symposium Here and the monthly Nicer Tuesdays talks series.   In our conve...

Architect Arthur Mamou-Mani is this week's podcast guest. Arthur specialises in digital fabrication led architecture and some of his recent projects you'll be familiar with include Galaxia - the Burning Man temple from 2018 and Conifera - this year's COS installation at the Milan Design Week. In our conversation, we discuss Arthur's practice, parametric architecture, his FabPub 3D printing and las...

Interior designers Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead are this week's podcast guests! Together they run the 2LG Studio known for its "Making Living Lovely" mission and interiors which ooze fun, comfort and are rich with colour and texture. We met at their South East London home to chat about their past-lives as West End actors, their breakthrough with the Great Interior Design Challenge TV progra...

Sophie Ashby is an interior designer and entrepreneur. She founded Studio Ashby - her interior design and creative direction practice - in her twenties. Only five years into running her studio, Sophie is already widely recognised for designing spaces which are eclectic, rich in textures and colour and deeply connected to the world of art. In our conversation, we explore Sophie's upbringing, her lo...

This week I'm in conversation with Matt Gibberd, co-founder of The Modern House and designer and artist Yinka Ilori. We've come together not only to discuss Yinka's popular Colour Palace - the Dulwich Pavilion 2019 he designed, which is now on sale on The Modern House website. We also discuss all things craftsmanship and colour, building communities, the ups and downs of running your own creative...

Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham are founders of Patternity - a 'conscious creative organisation' which works with pattern to inspire more curious, collaborative and connected ways of living. In our conversation, you'll discover Patternity's origins as an image archive and find out more about Anna's and Grace's pre-Patternity days in art direction and pattern design. What will truly inspire thou...

Sam Jacob is principal of  Sam  Jacob Studio for architecture and design, also known to many as previously the founding director of FAT Architecture. In our conversation, we discuss Sam's education and varied approaches to architecture, his work at the nexus of art and architecture, the inspiration and design process behind the newly opened London's Cartoon Museum and the remodelling of the V&A's...

Camille Walala is an artist and designer, expressing joy and happiness through vibrant colour and bold pattern. Known for her bold style, Camille works on projects ranging from large installations to urban landscapes and 3D items. In our conversation, Camille tells me about her early inspirations, her first discovery of the Memphis Movement and thoughts on arts education. She also openly shares wi...

Adam Nathaniel Furman is the last guest of the second season of the Justyna Green podcast. We meet at his apartment in the vicinity of Regent's Park and before we start our recording, Furman explains that he only recently moved in, hence the place is still looking a bit bare. It does so by his standards, but most of us would find it generously decorated, with Furman's sculptures, prototypes, poste...

"Are you a dancer" is the question that Alistair Spalding gets asked the most. Understandably so, as he runs London's most successful and internationally renowned dance theatre – Sadler's Wells.  In our conversation, we discuss communicating ideas through movement, the rock-concert-like creations from Hofesh Schechter and Akram Khan's tender stories of belonging and identity as well as Sadler's We...

Max Cooper is an electronica and techno music producer. He recently released the remixes of his 2018 album One Hundred Billion Sparks and is working on his forthcoming project for the Barbican Centre,  Yearning for the Infinite . You'll enjoy our discussion whether you're an electronic music fan or not, as for Cooper music is almost a by-product of his lifelong interests in maths, science and comp...

Ben Branson is on a mission to change the way the world drinks. He's the founder and CEO of Seedlip - a nature company producing distilled, non-alcoholic spirits. In our conversation, he shares with me his fascination with herbs and biodiversity, the increasing need for high-quality non-alcoholic spirits, coping with a rapidly growing business and building a laboratory in a 19th-century barn on hi...

Suzanne Livingston is the curator of the Barbican Centre's new exhibition "AI: More Than Human" which explores our relationship with Artificial Intelligence. In our conversation, we discuss the 90's fascination with cybernetic culture, AI's origins in the Middle Ages and its Golden Age in the 19th and 20th centuries. We also try to expand our thinking on the burning philosophical question of what...

It was the opening of DePadova's first branded space in the UK—in London's Chelsea—that brought me and Lissoni together for what I thought will be a conversation about furniture, architecture, his latest projects, and new collections. Instead, our discussion quickly started to revolve around concepts such as humanism and failure.  Lissoni quotes doubt, curiosity and passion as the key qualities of...

Annie Warburton is the CEO of Cockpit Arts. She's a zealous spokesperson for creating a thriving business environment for craftsmen and women in London. In our conversation, we discuss Cockpit Arts' 170 makers ranging from weavers and ceramicists to leatherworkers and silversmiths, crafts' history in the UK and its international appeal thanks to the artists such as Grayson Perry, Edmund de Waal, T...

"A house is so many more things than just the bricks and mortar. It's a backdrop for your life." Albert Hill is the founder of the Modern House—an estate agency with a difference.  One which is in the matchmaking business of finding sympathetic buyers for the most interesting houses in the UK. In our conversation, we discuss Albert's career and transition from a Wallpaper* journalist to the proper...

"When what you do is what you love it's just wonderful doing that." That was the start of my conversation with Beatie Wolfe – a musician, storyteller and an innovator. Beatie always had a deep love of music, art, design and storytelling – creativity in every sense. She started writing songs at the age of seven. Also at that time, she found her parents' vinyl collection. For her, these were musical...

My conversation with Orsola de Castro and Kendall Robbins started with Orsola's confession "I'm a recovering fashion designer".   Whilst the Fashion Revolution's campaign is a positive force for good, it's a tragedy that inspired its existence. On 24 April 2013, 1134 people died in a collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh, with 90% of casualties being young girls, producing garme...

I met the gifted designer Brodie Neill at FORA Central Street, a stone's throw from his London studio. Throughout our conversation, two things became quickly apparent – Brodie's passion for materials—regardless of their origin or preciousness—and a strong belief in the circular economy. He is also on a mission to raise awareness of the issue of plastic ocean waste. In our discussion, he points out...