Meet the Maker

Geoff Rich is Partner & Director of Heritage & Creative Reuse at the architectural design firm, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

FCB Studios was founded to move architecture forward with a particular focus on sustainable spaces. Their pioneering work has been continually recognised by industry awards, including the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize and they have been pushing the boundaries of sustainable and socially responsible design for the past 40yrs.

Geoff leads the heritage and creative reuse work. He is passionate about the benefits of reusing existing buildings and conserving our heritage. His aim is to design buildings that weave the old with the new, creating sustainable, joyful buildings for contemporary living.

In this episode, Geoff talks about some of the fascinating projects he has worked on both nationally and internationally, including Bath Abbey, Alexandra Palace Theatre and the Tourist Burma Building. He also talks about how we ‘experience’ architecture, recognising the craftsmanship and super powers of old buildings and his passion for bringing them back to life.

https://fcbstudios.com/

Verity Woolf is the Founder of WOOLF – a multidisciplinary interior design and interior architecture practice based in Bath and London. Set up in 2009, Verity Woolf and her team design and consult on projects for historic and contemporary private houses, as well as luxury and boutique hotel brands.

WOOLF have specialist expertise in designing for listed and period interiors with a uniquely personal brand focus. Each project is site-sensitive and has a curated feel, mixing tradition with imagination.

With a keen focus on sustainability, they pride themselves on not having a ‘signature house-style’ or focusing too much on trends, but rather looks to the personalities of her clients, the design of the buildings and the landscape for inspiration.

With their meticulous attention to detail, extensive knowledge of the industry and substantial network of suppliers and craftspeople, the design process is very much a collaborative journey for WOOLF.

In this episode, Verity talks about her role as an interior curator; how art, fashion, design, architecture and theatre all influence her work; and why creating a narrative is so important to each project. We also discuss the value of a good team, the importance of collaboration and how AI will enhance our creativity.

https://woolfinterior.com/

Ruby is Co Artistic Director at Little Lost Robot and Creative and Cultural Development Officer Bath Spa University.

Working as a visual and multi-media artist for a decade, she helps create immersive spaces, large scale metalwork, unique sets and sculpture that can be inhabited by the audience. Ruby believes we are all accidental 'roboticists'. Having worked with all kinds of community groups - from school children to young offenders - she gave a TEDxBath talk in 2022 exploring how designing robots can help us to create a fairer and more equitable future. 

Touching on her traveller background, Ruby talks through her creative process, reimagining robotics, welding and working on projects for festivals. We also discuss vulnerability and confidence in creativity and the creative process within education.

lostrobot.org
@studiolostrobot

Ian is head brewer at Electric Bear Brewing Co., makers of great craft beer, brewed on the edge of Bath.

We discuss the creativity, process and challenges facing breweries and making beer. Having worked closely with the Electric Bear team on their rebrand and packaging, it was a real pleasure to discuss in detail what goes on behind the scenes.

electricbearbrewing.com

Paul worked as a leading graphic designer for over thirty years, working for numerous international design consultancies in London and abroad. He ran a successful partnership in London before embarking on a teaching career at Bath Spa University.

After leaving teaching, he has been concentrating on making prints – using an etching press to create one-off abstract prints. Each one is a true original, stamped and signed.

We talk about the importance of failure in creativity – how slowing down and experimenting can lead to something new – how slowing down and concentrating on one thing day after day can affect the way you work and what you produce – and the joy of colour and where that can lead. Learn more at www.madeinbath.co.uk

Paul Minott: Instagram|Website|ModernArtBuyer

Born and bred in Italy, Giuseppe moved to the UK in his early 20s with the plan to stay only for six months while perfecting the language… Twenty years, one PhD, one happy marriage and three UK-born sons down the line, Giuseppe has elected England as his adoptive homeland and officially crowned himself a “Britalian".

A materials engineer and researcher by trade, Giuseppe grew up in a family of passionate bakers, where food was the prime topic of conversation. He has inherited from his dad, a professional chef, the love for everything cooked or baked. Winning the Great British Bake Off in 2021 reinforced his mantra that simplicity, attention to detail and good quality ingredients are key to delicious food, and sparked off his ambition to share his family gastronomic knowledge far and wide.

Jim Morrison is a man of many talents – a founder, an investor and more recently a farmer. Not only is he the CEO of Deep Blue Sky, a digital agency based in Bath, but he has also been the Director of the Bath Digital Festival for the past 4 years.

Described as a ‘digital guru’, Jim has also founded a number of digital start-ups. His love of passion projects has led to him create a work management tool called Achieve Awesome and the social stock market game, twiDAQ. 

His new venture, OneSub, is a news app designed to take the stress out of the news.  It’s aim is to give readers a calmer more balanced perspective on the news by reducing the click-bait, repetition and hyperbole that drives the design of most front pages. You can think of it as a personal newspaper. Using AI he also created Charlie, a personal journalist that delivers balanced news to the user in a calm and measured way, that is better for your emotional well-being.

https://onesub.io/

Neil Morris is the Co-founder and CEO of Kelpi, an organisation based in Bath that deliver innovative solutions to the world’s plastic packaging problems.

Taking the plastic out of packaging, Kelpi replace single-use plastics with premium performance bioplastics that harness the novel properties and environmental benefits of seaweed, creating packaging that is marine-safe and home-compostable.

Set up in 2020, Neil and his co-founders Murray Kenneth and Chris Chuck have rapidly grown the business and are now one of the leading innovators in the world in this sector. They support some of the world’s leading brands to focus on eliminating single-use plastic. With their team of world-class scientists they are proud to be part of a new wave of innovators helping to address climate change through reducing demand for fossil fuels.

www.kelpi.net

Miles Hartwell started Splinterworks in 2009 with his business partner and fellow designer Matt Withington. Their aim was to ‘create ambitious, beautifully crafted, functioning sculpture that elevates the experience of everyday life’.

They design and make including everything from furniture to water slides, which they sell all over the world.

Their unique approach is fuelled by the cross-pollination of ideas between disciplines. Their designs are experimental and theatrical, but the function of the piece is always paramount. They love to play visual tricks, especially where balance comes into question. Opposing dichotomies of solidity versus weightlessness, motion versus stillness, and strength versus fragility, are played out through their ambitious designs.

At the core of their work is a solid belief in making the most considered and exquisite work befitting of its purpose, with the aim of creating pieces that are engaging, inspiring and a delight to use.

www.splinterworks.com

Matthew Ford is the Head of Design and Engineering at Designability – a charity that enables disabled people to live with greater independence.

Matt joined Designability in 2018 having worked at Dyson for 10years. He had focused on designing and manufacturing mass produced products for many years, but wanted to use his skills and knowledge to design more human-centred products that would have a real impact on peoples lives.

His role at Designability, which involves user research, new product design and manufacturing, allows him to really give back and help people. The products he creates are in response to unmet needs. By working with people with disabilities and those living with long term health conditions, he carefully designs and builds assistive technologies that make their lives better, easier and more inclusive.

designability.org.uk