How thoughtful design creates calmer homes, flexible workspaces and furniture that adapts to the way we really live.
The way we live has changed.
Our homes have become places where we work, gather, create, learn and relax — often all within the same space. A dining table hosts family dinners in the evening and becomes a workspace the following morning. A quiet corner of the living room transforms into a home office. A spare bedroom becomes a studio, guest room and workplace all at once.
Yet despite these changes, many products designed for our homes still assume that every activity has its own dedicated room.
After more than three decades designing and making custom furniture, I’ve learnt that the opposite is usually true.
The best homes are flexible.
The best furniture quietly adapts.
And good design doesn’t begin with a product. It begins with understanding how people live.
That philosophy has shaped the evolution of our Felt & Form collection
Designing for People, Not Just Rooms
Every project begins with an observation.
Not simply, what furniture should go here?
But, how will the people who live here actually use this space?
Over the years, that has led us to design many different custom home offices — from complete built-in workspaces to compact desks integrated into living areas and spaces designed to quietly disappear back into the home when the working day is finished.
For some people, a dedicated home office is the perfect solution. It creates a permanent place to work, think and organise the things needed throughout the day.
But not everyone has a spare room.
And not everyone wants their home to feel like an office.
As I’ve watched our homes become increasingly flexible, I’ve found myself designing less for individual rooms and more for the different moments that happen within them.
And one piece of furniture illustrates that change particularly well.
The dining table.
The Dining Table Became Something More
Beautiful dining tables have always been at the centre of home life.
They’re places where families gather, friends share meals and conversations stretch late into the evening.
But increasingly, they’re also where we work.
Emails are answered over breakfast. A laptop comes out for a few hours. Ideas are sketched. Paperwork is spread across the table. Then, at the end of the day, everything is packed away and the table returns to family life.
Rather than seeing this as a compromise, we saw an opportunity.
How could thoughtful design allow one beautiful table to comfortably become both?
That question helped shape the next chapter of Felt & Form.
Where Felt & Form Began
Felt & Form originally grew from another simple observation.
Beautiful timber dining tables need protecting, but that protection should complement the furniture rather than detract from it.
Our wool felt placemats were designed to do exactly that — protecting the timber beneath while introducing warmth, texture and a softer visual language to the dining table.
The collection has since expanded to include runners, coasters and trivets, while Facet, our precision-cut lacquered placemat collection, explores the same idea through a different material and expression.
Different pieces. Different uses.
But the same underlying philosophy: solve an everyday problem beautifully.
That thinking eventually moved naturally from dining into working.
Creating a Workspace Wherever You Work
Our original oversized wool felt desk mat was designed to create a generous working area with room for a desktop computer, keyboard, mouse, phone and the everyday tools you reach for.
It defines the workspace while helping protect the furniture beneath.
For a dedicated home office, it creates a warmer, quieter surface and visually brings the working area together.
But place that same mat on a dining table and something else happens.
A temporary workspace appears.
And when the working day is finished, it can disappear again.
No permanent office.
No visual clutter.
The table simply returns to its original purpose.
A More Compact Way to Work
Not everyone needs a large workspace.
Sometimes all that’s required is somewhere for a laptop, notebook, sketchbook or a few papers.
That led to the development of our new compact wool felt desk mat.
Designed for those who don’t require the full working area of the oversized version, it offers the same warmth, protection and tactile quality in a more flexible format.
It can sit on a desk, dining table or wherever work happens that day.
And that’s really the point.
The workspace adapts to the home rather than asking the home to adapt to the workspace.
Small Details Make Everyday Life Better
Good design rarely needs to announce itself.
Often, it’s found in the little frustrations that have quietly disappeared.
Our Felt & Form wool felt mouse pad, for example, includes a thoughtfully designed non-slip backing to help keep it securely in place during use.
It’s a small detail.
But anyone who’s spent their day continually repositioning a sliding mouse pad understands why it matters.
The same thinking runs through every piece in the collection.
Nothing is there simply for decoration.
Every detail has a purpose.
Taking Felt & Form Beyond the Desk
As Felt & Form has evolved, the collection has naturally begun moving beyond individual rooms.
Our handcrafted felt satchel takes the same material language away from the desk, creating something practical and tactile for the things we carry with us.
And the collection will continue to evolve.
New ideas are already being explored for both dining and everyday living — pieces designed not simply because another product is needed, but because we’ve noticed another opportunity to make an everyday moment work a little better.
One Table. Many Moments.
