Top Ten: accounts to follow this International Women’s Day, hand-picked by feminist design collective Edit
This year, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day with Edit: the feminist design collective with an interest in the enduring biases and hierarchies embedded in the built environment. It was behind the brilliant 2021 Barbican exhibition, ‘How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Co-Operative’, which shed light on the pioneering womens’ group active in the 1980s and 90s. The group’s research on domesticity and labour took the form of a short film titled ‘Laundry Day’, which is currently on display as part of ‘Buone Nove’ exhibition at MAXXI in Rome. Most recently, however, they created the set and graphics for ‘Alternative Systems’, a show celebrating the work of the sustainable fashion designer Bethany Williams at the Design Museum. We couldn’t think of anyone better, then, to select their favourite women-led design practices and accounts to follow on Instagram right now. And while you’re there, be sure to give them a follow on @edit.cllctv, too.
@ladywood___
“Elouise Farley is the builder and maker extraordinaire behind account Ladywood. She was absolutely instrumental in bringing our show, ‘How We Live Now’, to life – sawing, welding, screwing and bolting the set, all while figuring out the technical details of the long, continuous curtain rail that wove its way through the entire exhibition. Elouise is based in Margate and works on a whole range of incredibly interesting art, set design and joinery projects for clients ranging from Royal Opera House to Selfridges. She is also one-third of Studio Margate, an interior-design ensemble creating dreamy schemes bursting with colour.”
@studionyali
“Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Bushra Mohamed, behind the interdisciplinary design and research practice Studio Nyali, are the rising stars of London’s architectural scene. The multi-talented duo are the co-authors of the ArchiAfrika pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 and write for publications including RIBA Journal and Kinfolk. They also lead design studios at Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association. We’re particularly interested in their brilliant research project ‘The Course of Empire: A Compound House Typology’, an investigation into historic typology and how it results in considered responses to urban expansion in African and Western cities, for which they received the prestigious Graham Foundation grant.”
@practicearchitectureuk
“With Paloma Gormley and Lettice Drake at the helm, Practice Architecture is known for cutting embodied carbon in radical ways and carbon sequestering by using plant-derived materials. The firm combines material innovation and a drive towards sustainability with a strong design sensibility. For example, its project titled Flat House constructed from timber and hempcrete is full of light and tactile textures, while the Timber Weaver’s Studio translates a similar material palette to an urban London context, resulting in a building with a slight industrial flavour due to its corrugated cladding. Material Cultures, the practice’s sister company, focuses on research and up-scaling of the technologies, working towards a post-carbon built environment.”
@mufarchitectureart
“muf is the ultimate feminist practice in the UK. The studio is particularly renowned for its unorthodox approach to urban strategy, public-realm projects, art commissions and collaborations with artists, residents and various communities. muf’s British pavilion project at the Venice Bienale in 2010 subverted the established way of approaching this kind of work by inviting collaboration and exchange between the UK and Venice. It also engaged with the largest (but often overlooked) audience of the biennale: Italian school children. On its website, the practice’s ‘About’ page is titled ‘Family Tree’ and records the names of collaborators and employees across the years in a non-hierarchical way.”
@fem_arc
“We think of fem arc, the architectural feminist group, as our Berlin-based counterpart. Working on the edges of the discipline, the collective is engaged in educational and research projects that explore the built environment and architecture from an intersectional angle. Through podcasts, talks, walks and multimedia projects, fem arc explores and interrogates spaces and activities that are troubled by issues of gender, race, ability and others. The group’s short film about gender and space, titled ‘Lava(s)tories’ is currently being shown at MAXXI in Rome as part of the ‘Buone Nove’ exhibition.”
@studio.hotmess
“Studio Hotmess, a research and spatial-design practice, is the brainchild of Charlotte Moore and Maria Saeki. Their interest in natural landscapes and materials is manifest in their fabulously voluptuous ceramic creations, including vessels, sculptures, large-scale installations, and, most recently, tiles for a green house façade in Cornwall, developed in collaboration with the Austell Project. We enjoy their work’s arresting forms derived from the natural world, which are combined with an innovative and experimental use of traditional materials such as clay.”
@sabbakhanart
“With a background in architectural design and a passion for the lived experience and embodied art, Sabba’s career has been going from strength to strength following the publication of her debut graphic novel, ‘The Roles We Play’. The book explores the meaning of identity, memory and belonging in the context of Sabba’s life in London as a second-generation Kashmiri Muslim migrant. Aside from her beautifully narrated graphic work, Sabba’s Instagram Stories, where she shares art she enjoys, shows snippets of beautiful publications and occasionally her cat, Roshi, is, we think, the best thing you can find on the platform. Do also keep your eyes peeled for a behind-the-scenes look at the self-built house she’s working on with her partner as part of their architectural practice, Khan Bonshek.”
@anupama_kundoo
“This superstar Indian architect is best known for her deep understanding and skilful use of materials and construction techniques, combined with a strong ethical stance that champions socio-economic abundance. Kundoo’s Wall House project, for example, features traditional methods and materials, used in fresh and surprising ways to create a house that responds to the climate and local socio-economic conditions. She used everyday materials and techniques that allow participation of lower skills and education to achieve a clever and beautiful structure. Kundoo is the recipient of the 2021 Charles Jencks Award.”
@xcessiveaesthetics
“This young, cutting-edge, all-female interdisciplinary collective explores data and alternate realities through spatial installations. The group’s Augmented Salon project interrogated the traditionally female beauty salon as a space of social interaction. In ‘Data Deli: Do you accept cookies?’ Xcessive Aesthetic proposes to exchange real-life cookies for participants’ behavioural data, while hosting a discussion about privacy online. The collective’s work approaches serious contemporary problems in an engaging way and with visual flair.”
@lacolarq
“Lacol is a cooperative of architects based in the neighbourhood of Sants, Barcelona. Composed of members of different genders, we feel they deserve a mention for their disruptive mode of practice, which moves away from the ego-driven, traditionally masculinist architectural partnership, instead championing cooperatives and participation. Lacol’s built projects have received numerous architectural awards. Most notably, their residential La Borda project has been nominated for the 2021 Mies van der Rohe prize, and received the 2021 Moira Gemill prize, among others. It uses timber and other humble and sustainable materials to stunning effect. We’re particularly partial to the communal washing machines placed in the cavernous lobby space, suggestive of a revolutionary and collective approach to domestic work.”
