The Studio
The Studio
Our purpose
Our purpose is to put human beings at the heart of design. We do this by using the art of care to create user-focused spaces that solve problems and positively influence human behaviour.
We are passionate about the power of design to dissolve boundaries, nurture ecology, champion diversity, and bring people together, fostering community renewal.
We create inclusive environments; welcoming, transformative and accessible spaces where anyone can feel comfortable, engaged, considered and safe.
We challenge, provoke, explore and question, always looking to test our limits, find new solutions and achieve our clients’ desired ambitions.
Our Values
Positive change
Enacting positive social and environmental progress through design and architecture.
Making more with less
Reducing waste, extending the lifespan of our designs and maximising use of renewable resources.
Delight in the Unexpected
The creation of surprising, intuitive and hard-working environments.
The ARD Design Approach
- Design from inside out – so a building’s envelope is defined by the activities it contains.
- Create Relational Spaces – environments that interact with the user, prompting positive behaviour
- Apply sustainable, flexible, future-proof solutions – to create spaces that can adapt to changing needs without waste or destruction
- Provoke sensorial engagement – through light, sound, smell, movement, texture, colour, materiality and haptics
- Promote modern manufacturing technology – designing for use of standardised modular components to improve cost and maximise efficiency of delivery
- Use Collective Intelligence – gathering and harnessing the thoughts, ideas and experience of a group diverse minds.
- Implement cross-sector learning – taking research and experience garnered from a diverse range of projects to broaden and inform our response
Directors
Directors

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.
Team
Team

Caroline Hancock
Managing Director

Julie Harris
Studio Director

Dean Walker
Design Director

Mara Irsara
Senior Associate

Yosuke Watanabe
Senior Associate

Jinlin Zheng
Senior Associate

Rina Kim
Associate

Cameron Short
Associate

Dimitris Stamatakis
Associate

Philippa Stockdale
Associate

Sabrina Summer
Associate
Lucie Hepton
Kate Ivinson
Fay Liewatanakorn
Sarah Milton
Julia Moraes
Satoru Nakanishi
Clara Sampaio
Martyn Tinto
Beccy Waite
Petra Xynidou
Feng Yang
Selected Clients & Collaborators
Selected Clients & Collaborators
Selected Clients
Al Ostoura, Kuwait
Altro
American Hardwood Association
ASSOS of Switzerland
Ashmolean Museum of Arts & Archaeology, Oxford
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne
Barbican Centre (Barbican International Enterprises)
Beijing Design Week
Benchmark
British Council
British Film Institute (BFI)
Caixa Forum, Barcelona
Caixa Forum, Madrid
Camberwell College of Art
capco
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Cheongju City, South Korea
COMO Hotels and Resorts
Coventry University London
Design Museum London
Edra
Ellaventures
Emperor Moth
Empire Design
EON Productions
Esselunga S.p.A., Italy
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool
Freebrights Limited
FULLCIRCLE
Global Grad Show, Dubai Design Week
Greenwich Village
Heston Blumenthal, The Fat Duck
Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust
John Voigtmann and Ondine Cohane
Jonathan Newhouse, Condé Nast International
JOSEPH
Kenny Schachter, ROVE Gallery
La Bandita, Tuscany
Law Family Charitable Foundation
Little Chef
London Design Festival
Londonewcastle
Maggie’s
M.A.P Crew, Seoul
Melbourne Museum
Michael Cioffi
Michel Guillon
Miller Harris
Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford (Science Museum Group)
Newnham College, University of Cambridge
Nick Knight, SHOWstudio
Onassis Culture Centre (OCC), Athens
Parkview Group
PizzaExpress
Plaza Carso, Mexico City
Primark
PwC
Poplar Harca
Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons Paris
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, House+Holme
Roo Rogers
Royal Academy of Arts
Royal College of Art
Scandicci Council, Tuscany
Scape
Science Museum, London
Selfridges & Co.
Shenzen Xian Yu Restaurant Managing Company Limited
SL6
Somerset House Trust
Songdo International Business District (IBD), South Korea
Stanley Picker Gallery
St Mary’s Hospital, London
Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Tate Modern
TASS Russian News Agency
Telegraph Museum Porthcurno
Terence Conran
The Connaught
The Fat Duck, Brey
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto
Tom Scott
TOPSHOP
UBM / May Design Series
U+I
University of Cambridge
venturethree
Victoria & Albert Museum
Wes Anderson
Wolff Olins
Wonderfruit, Thailand
Wonderland Restaurants
Zorlu Centre, Istanbul
Selected Collaborators
ARCHITECTURE
Coffey Architects
D.A. Studio
Denton Corker Marshall
Outpost
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Stephen Marshall Architects
Studio Egret West
Walters & Cohen Architects
ACOUSTIC DESIGN
Vie en.ro.se.
ARTIST
Aaron Koblin
Chris Milk
Dario Bartolini
Enzo Apicella
Lyn Harris
Nick Knight
Richard Woods Studio
Robin Blackledge
Sara Fanelli
Susan Cohn
Universal Everything
Zoë Law
BRANDING AND ART DIRECTION
Marina Willer
Pentagram
Praline
venturethree
Wolff Olins
CURATION
Alice Rawsthorn
Ana Tiquia
Aric Chen
Brendan McGetrick
Deyan Sudjic
Hannah Redler
Henrietta Thompson
Jane Burton
Jane Pavitt
Jane Withers
Jeremy Myers
Jo Quinton-Tulloch
Michael Connor
Nicholas Serota
Nina Due
Nina Gomiashvili
Olivier Cinqualbre
Patrick Gyger
Sara Vilalta
Stephanie Seungmin Kim
Vicente Todoli
DESIGN PARTNER
Shona Kitchen (formerly ‘Kitchen Rogers Design’ in Partnership with Ab Rogers)
FILM
Giuseppe Bartolini
Hijack
Marina Willer
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Brody Associates
Graphic Thought Facility
Kellenberger-White
LucienneRoberts+
Praline
That Thing
venturethree
Wolff Olins
INTERACTIVE DESIGN
Harmonic Kinetic
JOINERY & INSTALLATION
Marc Bultitude
MER Services
The White Wall Company
Van Rooij + Griffiths
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Martha Schwartz
Piet Oudolf
Sue Amos
LIGHTING DESIGN
Michael Grubb Studio
Minsang Cho
Nulty Design
Reggiani Illuminazione
Studio ZNA
MEDIA DESIGNER
Spiral Productions
59 Productions
PHOTOGRAPHY
Dan Stevens
John Short
Morley von Sternberg
Wang Wei
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Richard Greenwood Partnership
SOUNDSCAPE DESIGN
Nick Luscombe
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
milk architecture & design