TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND
I studied History of Art at Leeds University and Interior Design at Parsons in New York before setting up Studio Ashby in 2014. Studio Ashby provides interior design services, we mostly work with private clients all over the world on their homes with the occasional commercial project like hotels and restaurants too. I set up a homeware company last year called Sister and I’m also the co-founder of a charity called United in Design, created to remedy the lack of diversity in my industry.
WHAT LED YOU TO WORKING IN INTERIORS?
As is the case with so many interior designers, I moved a lot growing up... With a South African mother and a British father, my childhood was split between London, Stellenbosch (South Africa) and Devon with 14 or so moves. I guess I am (and always have been) fascinated by the idea of ‘home’ and what it means to people, and that definitely originated in childhood – arranging my bedroom furniture as a kid, making my bed and putting my posters up, transforming a new and unfamiliar space into a sanctuary – a home.
I decided I wanted to become an interior designer at such a young age as I had become so invested in the importance of a home for a person and how life, for me anyway, feels much better when you have that connection to the place that you live and then venture out into the world from there...
TALK US THROUGH YOUR JOURNEY SO FAR
I feel really lucky with the journey I’ve had. Studio Ashby was born the day I got my first private client & within a couple of weeks, one client became three and things have continued to grow steadily from there... I started my business from a laptop, with no savings or investment, working from cafes – we are now a team of fourteen with a studio in Notting Hill.
