At the age of eight, I was taken to the Barbara Hepworth studio. Seeing pictures of her chiseling stone, the shapes, the purity—it left a profound mark on me.
I’ve never been much of a painter or drawer; form and making have always drawn me in. For years, my work was ephemeral —photo shoots, set design, events. While styling on a job with Tom Dixon, he told me, “Start making things that are permanent, and stop throwing them in the bin.”
I called my first collection ‘Assemblage’ because it felt more comfortable and still approach new work in this way. Ron Arad once said, “It’s all in the geometry, Faye,” and that stuck with me.
With the Roly-Poly Chair, I’ve returned to its shape again and again, experimenting with different materials and exploring variations. I have tried my best to create my own vocabulary in shape. It’s in the maquettes and modelmaking that I have really found and focused my process - making and remaking until a shape feels right.
The forms are autobiographical – I cannot help it. Sometimes I don’t realise how personal they are until I’m looking back.
I started with the Spade Chair: quite rural and folky. Then I cut all of my hair off and came back with a collection of steel, security mesh, and bronze – assertive, rejecting the decorative arts. Then, after having children, the Roly-Poly arrived. Round, plump, full, soft.
I’m form-led and like to question function. I imagine Roly-Poly irks some industrial designers. When you do furniture there are certain heights and angles you are supposed to conform to, but I’ve thrown all of that in the bin. You approach Roly-Poly and you have to find a new way of sitting. Children curl up like cats in it. My Mum will lower herself into it and then shift to one side, bringing her legs up. It questions not just the shape of a chair but how you sit in it and use it. I trust people to find the function. Make it personal. Figure out what works for them.
It’s so exciting when you propose something as a designer, and it is embraced. There are thousands of chairs. What’s the point of designing utensils, coats, cups… unless it connects with people and there’s a place for it in the real world. You don’t get it right every time, but when you do, it’s quite magical.
- Faye
