Useful interior design

Based in London, working anywhere, Utility is a collaborative practice making interiors that work, look good, wear-well and adapt, the opposite of fashionable & disposable.

Think of it like like slow food or good clothes; the places we live, work & meet in can be made with care and enjoyed over time, and still do all the things we expect from a well-designed space: meet the brief, and the budget, look beautiful and work better than it did at the start. 

Good design, useful & lasting.

 

For everyone & any space

With cultural and commercial clients, homeowners, shopkeepers, start-ups and anyone with a building and a question. All types and scale of project, same pragmatic approach: first ideas to hand-over with more thinking and less fuss.

 

How it works

Flexibly. Happy to work directly with clients, start to finish or on individual stages, in collaboration with architects & developers and to provide technical advice to project teams. Or something else? always open to a new way of doing things. Whatever the scope it starts with a chat and looking at all options to align ambition with the practicalities.

Summary approach: rationalise space, maximise light, prefer natural finishes that will age well and design-in adaptability so that today’s space and its component parts have a long life of changing use and eventual repurpose.

If you have something in mind send a quick message & we’ll see how we can help.

 

Amanda Culpin

Interior designer with a background in commercial practice at Conran & Partners and Sheppard Robson Architects, has lived & worked in Paris, Melbourne and Santiago, now combines design, consultancy and teaching focusing on circular and sustainable practice. Interested in society, art, typography, cities & printmaking amongst other things, see notes for more on all of this.

A graduate from University of Cambridge CISL Business Sustainability Management, and a signatory to UK Interior Design Declares, Amanda Culpin & Utility are part of a community of designers, suppliers and educators committed to addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency.