Every project is different. This means we rely on bespoke, built-in furniture, storage and finishes and on our excellent design collaborators.

We chose who we work with carefully and over the years we’ve come to know our collaborators very closely. We understand what they do, and how we can best work together as a team.

Ben Fowler, of Fowler & Co, founded his bespoke joinery business in 1986, to offer a complete furniture design and manufacturing service. We’ve worked with Ben and his team on several residential renovations and are always impressed by the functional, interesting and innovative solutions he and his team provide.

Ben has also co-founded sister company Marque Sussex, a small-batch manufacturer of exceptional furniture.

Here he gives some insights into his work.

Q: It’s the detailing that sets your work apart and which has led you to work with some impressive names in design, from Marks and Spencer to Sir Terence Conran. What else do you think has made you so in demand? 

BF: Ah yes, as Mies van der Rohe said “ God is in the details” ….not the Devil; meaning that if you get the detail right, it sings. However, that is easier said than done as making things is sometimes riddled with problems and you never manage to solve them all.

However, to be in demand, you need to work well and gel with people, which is is why I value my working relationship with Robert Hirschfield Architects.

I’m allowed the freedom to work while the architects support the project with broad experience, an open mind, patience and calm clear-headedness.

So in the detailing, we can work well together harmoniously resolving things. This occasionally gives us a detail where God may be inclined to reside….

Q: Are you ever concerned about interior design trends? 

BF: YES! I am hugely concerned by ‘trends’. They are dangerous and generally driven by marketing rather than design. I, like many of the designers I work with, believe in the Bauhaus tradition and the idea of form following function. I also think that the simple Arts and Crafts idea that designs should be both useful and beautiful is enough of a trend for my taste.

Q: Wood is a warm and authentic material that can be used throughout any project but there’s also a huge variety. What do you need to look for when considering which wood to use and ensuring you source quality material?

BF: The business of using wood is mainly defined by the experience of making things from wood. There may be a trend to use American white oak for example, but any good cabinetmaker, joiner, or carpenter will choose timber for its appropriateness for the job, such as its grain pattern, its beauty and its sustainability. So simply using oak for everything because it has a reliable regular and uniform grain, is a poor solution.

Q: We always receive great feedback from our clients when your work is installed. What are the benefits of a close working relationship between joiners and architects? 

BF: In the old days, architects would work with a stonemason or cabinetmaker and joiner for their whole career. The work was fundamentally collaborative and the architect would refer to the stonemason or joiner quite possessively as ‘MY cabinetmaker…Chippendale”, for example.

The architect would drive the design of the building overall and then they would trust in the judgment and skill of their craftspeople to develop with them the best details.

To maintain a good working relationship, the client needs to be part of this symbiosis and trust the whole team. The client will become part of the finished project as they do the important job of living in the building, and will hopefully remain in contact with the team for advice over time.

Q: We’ve completed a few home renovations together where you’ve designed and supplied custom-made furniture and fittings. What has been your standout piece?

BF: I enjoy each project for its own particular quirks however I feel the recent job we completed in Hampstead best encapsulated the kind of cooperation I have talked about above. Robert and the client were a pleasure to work alongside.