Architecture Today interview with Piercy&Company

Our practice is very serious about the joy that materials can bring to a space, to a product, to a piece of furniture. As a result, large sections within our studio have been carved out to accommodate this obsession with tactility, sustainability and beauty. This includes a curated hallway of materials samples by Materials Assemble, which runs its incredible operation from our studio, informing our CPDs and advising on our projects. It also includes the recently refurbished materials library that has been refreshed and reorganised by designer Becci Honey and studio manager Carolina De Jesus. It includes a fully kitted out workshop that takes centre stage, testing new forms, prototyping and model-making, led by Sam Twaite. Not to mention the more informal interest that means that desks and tables around the studio house materials samples for projects, from people's homes even, that means that books on materials and provenance and resources and ancestry pop on the shelves of our library, and that inspires us to invite an impressive roster of materials experts to tell us about their products, processes and collaborations. 

In this interview by John Ramshaw for Architecture Today, studio director and Interiors co-lead Cathrin Walczyk, director and research lead Matti Lampila and the founder of Materials Assemble, Sofia Steffenoni discuss - and debate - the different ways that we use our materials library for inspiration and for building.

Portrait photo by Agnese Sanvito.

Read the full interview in the digital edition here.