At this year’s Milan Design Week, one name in particular kept cropping up everywhere: Faye Toogood. The British designer had a bumper year, presenting new collections for Tacchini and Noritake,...
At this year’s Milan Design Week, one name in particular kept cropping up everywhere: Faye Toogood. The British designer had a bumper year, presenting new collections for Tacchini and Noritake, appearing on billboards for Archiproducts’ 25th anniversary, and receiving the Designer of the Year award from EDIDA—as well as flitting between various launches and events all throughout the week. And now, hot on the heels of her Salone whirlwind, Toogood is arriving in New York City for not one, but two concurrent and connected exhibitions split across some of the city’s hottest design galleries.
“I’m a bit sick of myself,” Toogood jokes to Vogue, before acknowledging that while her very busy past 18 months have proved impressively fruitful, there’s been little time left for genuine creativity. Daydreamed ideas and late-night work sessions became her only opportunity to exercise that muscle, and the result is Lucid Dream, which opens at both The Future Perfect and TIWA Select on May 2, 2025. These two separate yet entwined collections both showcase her love of hand-painting, a skill from her fine art days that she recently rediscovered after going “years and years” without picking up a paintbrush. The incorporation of this rekindled talent into her design work signals a shift in Toogood’s output. “I’m on a precipice of change in terms of my work,” she says. “I’m trying to take myself in a different direction. And I think this is the first step in whatever direction it’s going to be.”
The designer explains that the co-presented sister shows are manifestations of her own “left brain vs. right brain” thinking, and represent the dualities of the ethereal vs. the visceral; emotional intuition vs. dream logic. At The Future Perfect’s grand, immaculate West Village townhouse, several of Toogood’s best-loved designs are covered in her boldly colorful, expressive markings. The instantly recognizable, cast-fiberglass Roly Poly Dining Table and Chair; the plump, upholstered Gummy Armchairs, Sofa and Footstools; and the rounded, intersecting Palette Tables have all received this special treatment—along with a new set of wooden folding screens, a version of the Palette Console in aluminum, and a large mobile in the same metal. “The challenge was letting myself loose in a daydream-like way, with just paint and color and hands and brushes and pens and squeegees and sponges,” she remembers, noting she was egged on by The Future Perfect founder David Alhadeff. “For a week, I just went for it.”
Meanwhile, Toogood’s collection at TIWA Select’s rustic industrial loft space in Tribeca was informed by a recent trip she took to Japan. Using the rice paper and ink she brought back, the designer fashioned a series of paper lights that are washed with sensual single-stroke lines that depict figures, appendages, and patterns that come alive when the pieces are illuminated at night. The crumpled surfaces and textured wrought iron frames of the Johnny collection align perfectly with the “nocturnal subconscious” of the gallery’s more personal and intimate setting, curated by Alex Tieghi-Walker.
The inflection point in Toogood’s approach to her work began—as it did for many creatives—during the pandemic, when the limitations brought on by lockdowns sparked a new sense of creative freedom, resourcefulness, and a return to play. She recalls her thoughts at the time: “I can’t go and buy amazing new materials. What have I got? I’ve got kitchen foil. I’ve got stuff in the fridge. I’ve got some stuff in the garden.” The reason why so many of her recent collections have an inherently domestic flair, she notes, is partly out of necessity.
“Unsettling” rapid advances in technology have also given Toogood pause lately, forcing her to reflect upon her role as a designer within a fast-changing world. “AI can design a Faye Toogood chair better than Faye Toogood, in theory. So what can I actually bring?” Her response: more humanity and genuine emotion, which has resulted in a shift from more rigid, contained, utilitarian forms of her earlier career, to a much more personal, sexual, feminine aesthetic influenced by her emotions, her life, and her immediate context—all things that purposefully “provide the antidote to the machine.”
“Unsettling” rapid advances in technology have also given Toogood pause lately, forcing her to reflect upon her role as a designer within a fast-changing world. “AI can design a Faye Toogood chair better than Faye Toogood, in theory. So what can I actually bring?” Her response: more humanity and genuine emotion, which has resulted in a shift from more rigid, contained, utilitarian forms of her earlier career, to a much more personal, sexual, feminine aesthetic influenced by her emotions, her life, and her immediate context—all things that purposefully “provide the antidote to the machine.” For example, the Bread and Butter collection she presented in Milan for Italian furniture brand Tacchini was prototyped using real butter to shape the squashy, curvaceous cushions of the modular sofa, while halved slices of baguettes informed the loaf-like components of a wooden console. Her other big debut during Salone, the Rose collection for Japanese ceramics brand Noritake, features more hand-painting—adorning a selection of white porcelain dinnerware in a riot of pink and green based on the flowers in her kitchen garden.
Pivoting to explore new tools, mediums, and ideas has always been part of Toogood’s professional journey. She initially studied art history, then worked as a stylist at The World of Interiors before founding her design studio in 2008. Part of this “experimental” practice—her word, in place of “multidisciplinary,” which she dislikes—includes a longstanding collaboration with her sister, Erica, on a clothing line that has offered oversized silhouettes in unexpected fabrics long before they recently came back into fashion. This too has taken a domestic slant of late, with their latest collection informed by the breakfast table—think red gingham, milky tea hues, and silver spoons as a base palette. “Working on clothes has really informed the furniture, beyond materials and beyond aesthetics,” Toogood explains. “It’s amazing to change somebody’s silhouette, the way somebody feels, to be part of somebody’s identity in clothing. And I started to apply that to objects and furniture, so it has deepened my thought process.” “I was never quite the designer that was about solving problems or coming up with the best ergonomic chair. That’s not my thing,” she adds. “But whether it's a coat, a chair, or a cup, I approach things in a very similar way.”
With her recent domination of Milan, and imminent command over New York City’s annual design week in May, Toogood is happily riding this second wave of success—and humbly basking in the highly deserved recognition from her industry peers. “For someone who’s always felt like I’ve worked on fringes, on the borders, on the outside… Then suddenly to feel genuinely connected to your community, and having that acknowledgement and understanding of what you’re doing right now, feels great,” she beams. “Something has clicked.”