Ab Rogers Design (ARD) is a studio that believes in design and architecture that inspires and animates the user through colour, movement and touch; in active environments that are as entertaining and poetic as they are pragmatic and functional.

With offices in London and Melbourne, the practice works internationally across the cultural, hospitality, residential and commercial sectors.

Working with a diverse range of clients, contracts, budgets and timelines has instilled great sensitivity and rigour in our approach, while at the heart of all our work and common to all projects is a desire to innovate while meeting the requirements of the brief.

The studio’s creative abilities are the product of a broad skill base that has evolved over time to bring many ground-breaking projects to fruition – from the Comme des Garçons store in Paris to micro-living solutions for students in Melbourne. The fulltime staff includes architects, interior, industrial, furniture and graphic designers.

ARD has worked with major cultural institutions including the Royal Academy of Arts, Science Museum Group, the Barbican Centre and the Tate Modern in London; while the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Caixa Forum in Barcelona and Madrid and the Captial Museum in Beijing are among those we have collaborated with internationally. We have also worked with COMO Hotels and Resorts, Hongkong Land, Scape, Londonewcastle, U+I, and Selfridges & Co.

Ab Rogers

Creative Director

Ab Rogers is a London-based designer known for a wide-ranging practice informed by his unique imagination. He founded Ab Rogers Design (ARD), in 2004 and it has since become an established studio specializing in the design of small spaces and for experiential design projects that are dynamic and rigorous, enriched with colour and narrative, while providing a high level of functionality and subtlety in design.

A former cabinet maker and sailor, Ab Rogers obtained a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in 1996. Over the last two decades his work has focused on a diverse range of conceptual approaches to the interior from the liberation wasted and forgotten space and making use of dynamic, flexible materials to the use of sensation and movement to explore how spaces and people adapt to one another.

Kitchen Rogers Design (founded with Shona Kitchen in 1998) sought to animate objects that are normally static and to bring life to spaces that are frequently lifeless. Major commissions included the Comme des Garçons store on rue du Faubourg St Honoré in Paris (FX International Interior Design Awards 2001 Winner – Best Store Design); the Al-Ostoura luxury department store in Kuwait City and the Michel Guillon flagship store on the Kings Road in London.

From May 2012-June 2015, Ab was Head of Programme of Interior Design at the Royal College of Art, where he established a new interior design course for the institution. This followed extensive teaching at Leeds Metropolitan University, Design Product at the Royal College of Art, Parsons Institute of Design in New York, Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow and at the Eindhoven Design Academy, Netherlands.

Ernesto Bartolini

Director

Ernesto Bartolini is an experienced architect who became a Director of Ab Rogers Design in 2015 after more than a decade of running his own multidisciplinary architectural practice (DA Studio) with Arianna Pieri in Florence.

He joined the studio following years of successful collaboration with ARD and his extensive experience in masterplanning and establishing connectivity within existing urban fabric and social contexts, has enabled the studio to expand its focus to include integration of the design process within the wider context of contemporary cities and large architectural developments.

Ernesto’s specific field of interest focuses on strategy and process for design implementation as well as urban planning and regeneration of public spaces but his studio also worked on a wide range of architectural commissions from commercial and residential to hotel projects for international clients – including the regeneration of Monteverdi resort in Castiglioncello del Trinoro (Siena, Italy), and La Bandita Townhouse in Pienza (Siena, Italy).

After qualifying as an Architect at Florence University 1998, Ernesto went on to attain an MA in Urban Management strategies from the Domus Academy in Milan. Prior to establishing DA Studio he founded his own multi-disciplinary design group Zoom Ahead and gained professional experience in the practices of Richard Rogers Partnership, Massimiliano Fuksas and Andrea Branzi.

Julie Harris

Senior Associate, London

Mara Irsara

Senior Associate, London

Selected Clients

Selected Collaborators