Tristan Butterfield - Philosophy

The studio’s approach to practice is to achieve a sense of ‘rightness’ by exploring ideas, materials and methods of construction. Functional design is blended with strong visual or theoretical ideas to create commercial solutions within a cultural context.

“The best design objects and spaces take risks, they interpret the world for people, giving them a unique and soulful perspective on life in every sense.” Butterfield has been observing this mantra since his earlier days of working at David Chipperfield Architects.

Butterfield is influenced by the urban landscape and how cultures exist and evolve within it. In every city, a blend of history, geography and how communities organise themselves reveal a unique sense of place and space, making London different to Berlin or Los Angeles. He captures and distills ‘this unique sense of place’ and applies it to projects of differing scale: a set of chairs; a private residence; a lifestyle hotel; a museum. Architecture, furniture and industrial design are put through the same thorough process.

Simplicity juxtaposed with high gloss glamour, fashion against longevity are two of the methods he employs to create hybrid objects, interiors and furniture. Everyday or experimental materials are used in an unfamiliar way, this allows either the object or space to transform from the usual into the unusual.

Butterfield’s studio is not a industrial design studio in the traditional sense, hybridisation of disciplines and mediums has always been of the greatest interest to him and this has allowed him to work with a broad range of clients and manufacturers.

Butterfield believes that as a design practice many different disciplines should be tackled and one should not be constrained to a particular label, much more interesting solutions can be found when a designer trained in one area approaches another. He feels that the freedom to explore new areas, materials or languages is paramount to keeping fresh. Also keeping up with new technical processes to inform his work and utilise recent developments in digital technology allows him to work in new and more efficient ways.

A continued interest in Architectural theory and practice has always fed his thoughts and design ideas. The narrative and poetry within design is a recurring direction in his work and Butterfield was fortunate enough to work and be taught by Nigel Coates and exposed at an early stage in his career to the teachings and theories of the AA.