Joanna Bibby, who founded the innovative luxury design company Ochre, along with Harriet MacDonald and Solenne de la Fouchardière, explains how she finds her inspiration in the unlikeliest of places
What drew you to design in the first place?
It was a deeply intuitive thing. From a young age I appreciated colour, shape and form. I have no idea where it came from, but it was just there, deep inside me, waiting to be realised.
How did you get your career started?
Well, I was a late starter in the design world. I was involved in the catering world and travelling rather a lot for ten years (which is also creative) before I returned to art school aged 30 and my eyes were open to a much bigger creative field. With a slightly more mature head on my shoulders, it all seemed possible and it was a very exciting time. That is also where I met Harriet MacDonald.
Can you describe to us your designing process and where you go to for inspiration?
Harriet, Solenne and I design together. It may seem strange to some that we don’t split the tasks between us, but we don’t. We share an aesthetic so when it comes to colour, proportions and ideas we just sing from the same hymn sheet. It’s terrific, but I know how lucky I am to have this relationship with my business partners.
Where do you go for inspiration?
This is such a hard question because it simply comes from anywhere and everywhere. It might be going to visit the V&A glass department, a masterpiece at the National Gallery, visiting a Mughal monument in Delhi, a wet piece of lichen on a tree or the structure of a dry stone wall. Nothing should be out of bounds for inspiration. Who knows where it might just hit you? And that’s the thrill.
What do you listen to when you are designing or do you prefer silence?
I actually quite like both, and it totally depends on my mood and what I am trying to focus on. I do love BBC Radio 4 subconsciously playing in the background, as there is something very comforting about the predictable weekly shows, but I am good at switching off too if I want some space. Silence is also terrific. I don’t generally work to music but I love listening to it at the weekends, in my PJs, making a cuppa in the morning, and that can vary totally from jazz to rock to world music.
Your furniture is beautiful. How do you come to choose the combinations of your materials?
There is no straight answer to your question. It is purely through a gut feeling that they will work. It’s crazy I know as we marry materials that probably shouldn’t work together but they just do. It’s the learning progress along the way that we enjoy.
What inspired your latest collection?
Our most recent lighting is the family of Seed Cloud Installations and Celestial Pebble pendants and the challenge and inspiration was working with LEDs to hide the source of lighting in a chandelier.
What would you say makes furniture work successfully in a room?
It has to be functional and it has to be beautifully made, but when it comes to the design it is totally in the eye of the client. We have no control of that. We design products we like, display them and photograph them how we like, and if we are lucky the clients will like them too. I love it when clients mix modern pieces with fabulous antiques.
How important is craftsmanship to you? Can you give us some examples where you have used old techniques for modern collectables?
It is 100% paramount. There is so much talent and skill out there that we want to work with and explore further. Bronze casting and water gilding are two very good examples. We love exploring new processes; it’s the essence of how we work.
Would you say you prefer clutter or order in your home and workplace?
I dream of having order in both but sadly I have neither – unlike Harriet and Solenne, who are super clutter-free. It’s weird, I know where everything is but it’s just all over the place!
What is your proudest achievement?
That Ochre is still going strong 20 years on, having started as a business around a kitchen table with a dear friend. It’s still thriving and we are still dear friends.
www.ochre.net
Jo Denbury is a freelance interiors writer. She was formerly associate editor of Telegraph Magazine, features director at Elle Decoration and was the founder of Coast magazine
The post ‘You never know when inspiration will hit you. That’s the thrill’ appeared first on Beyond Bespoke.