Studio

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

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

Google

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