Words Billie Brand
Photography Stella Fitzgerald
Production Harry Cave

It’s the morning of Fred Rigby’s studio-warming party and the designer has plenty to celebrate. He has recently finished refurbishing his new workshop and showroom within a former industrial building in Hackney, east London, and it’s ready for business. Later on, he’ll be rolling up the cream rugs, guests will be spilling on to the stairs and electronic music will be playing loudly. The event sounds akin to a house party, which is apt, for Fred sought to create a space that feels more like somewhere you’d want to live than work. With an exquisitely light and airy interior, inspiring books and collectibles on the shelves and Fred’s beautifully crafted furniture dotted around, the serene showroom certainly feels like a place you’d like to spend a lazy Sunday.

Fred has been at the helm of his namesake interiors and furniture-design studio for more than a decade. Although he’s firmly rooted in the London design scene, Fred’s affiliation with the countryside, particularly of his home county, Dorset, is evident throughout his work. His organic shapes and a natural palette are imbued with the same calming spirit as that of a verdant landscape. The same can now be said of his workspace, too. Here, Fred discusses his approach to creating a showroom that could be mistaken for an apartment and why he has a penchant for pebbles.

Fred: “Ten years ago, I had a studio at the end of this road and would always walk past this building. I just knew it was special. It’s so beautiful. I found the deeds to it from 1911 and discovered that it used to belong to a cabinet maker. I really like its history and how my team and I are bringing it back to one of its original purposes as a place to design and produce furniture.

“A standalone industrial building in the middle of Hackney is as rare as hen’s teeth! This space actually belonged to my friends at Earl of East, who had the ground floor, and Kana London, who had the top floor, so I knew as soon as it was available. Because of my kind of work, which is inherently noisy, it’s perfect. We’ve got everything under one roof here, with our workshop downstairs, and then our showroom upstairs. We were in our previous studio for three years; fortunately, our business grew over that time. By the end, we were bursting at the seams.

“We approached the renovation of our studio here as we would other interior projects. We started with floorplans, working out where we wanted to place the furniture. Then we put together colour and material palettes. The difference with a client is that you are bouncing off someone. With this project, there was no one to push back. But I’m so thankful to have such a wonderful group of people around me for support, whether that’s my team, consultants or friends.

“I really wanted to create a home away from home, so that the showroom would have a beautiful apartment-like feel. I’ve pulled together elements that you would find in a living space. We have rugs from Nordic Knot, art kindly lent to us from M.A.H and then our furniture. I have also filled the space with personal objects, such as vases and books I have collected. I have so many favourite titles, but the one I keep going back to at the moment is Irvin Penn’s Still Life. I also found a great Henry Moore book in a charity shop for a fiver.

“The pebbles, meanwhile, which are placed around the showroom, I brought back from Dorset. I grew up in a tiny village there with about 50 houses. As a kid, there wasn’t much to do other than build treehouses and play by the river and in the fields. I was very hands-on and would always be making stuff in my dad’s garage. My gran really encouraged me and my two brothers to draw or collage. There was a strong sense of calmness where we lived. I was always looking at rolling hillsides and pebbles on the beach.

“The pebbles are also a design cue. I really like the idea of bringing the serenity of nature inside. I’m very inspired by organic shapes: we have our ‘Cloud’ sofa and ‘Raindrop’ tables, for example. I design lots of curvy furniture. I just love the idea of tactility and how a round table encourages you to run your hand around the smooth edges as you move.

“The showroom is littered with prototypes and new pieces. We’ve been developing lots of objects based on what we need for the space, be it a little pot to put our keys in or a table lamp. I place things as I would in my home, which will then hopefully give people an idea of how they can use them too. Clients being able to see, touch and sit on our furniture, has completely changed the way we work.

“It has changed our business in other ways, too. This is first public-facing space we’ve had, so we do have to consider how things look more than we used to. I like tidiness and order, but what we do involves a messy process. Before, we could make as much mess as we wanted and it didn’t matter as we were behind closed doors. There would be tools, screws and bits of wood everywhere.

“I always start the day with a coffee. I’ll either make it here or get one from Wilton Way Deli, which is my favourite coffee spot. I’ll then sit upstairs with my team and we’ll go through our to-do list for the day. Emails are a huge part of everyday life, but I’m trying to spend more time sketching and model making. As a creative, I want to spend my day in the studio. That’s when I like to dive into a project and listen to upbeat techno music on NTS. One of the best things about the location is there’s somewhere amazing and different to eat every night of the week after work: Cafe Cecilia, Brat, Little Duck. We’re spoilt for choice, really.

“I love the beginning and end of a project, but there is so much that goes on in between. I enjoy those moments of problem solving, when you wake up thinking about a specific detail that needs completing and then have it done by the end of the day. However, when a project is finished and you take a step back, there’s an unrivalled sense of satisfaction. The buzz is almost like a drug. The bigger the project, the more arduous it’s been, the more rewarding that moment at the end is.”

Visit Fred’s studio by booking an appointment via his website.