insideKENT Magazine Issue 35 - February 2015 | Page 21

Your work ethic is founded on ‘loving what belongs to you’. When did this become important to you, and was there a specific event that brought it home? Margate and the town around our studio is always the place that inspires me, and the work we make. However, it was going away for three years that made me realise just how much I valued the details of the place, and it helped me to see it in a new light. While away at university in Loughborough, I recognised that with Dreamland, the beach, the characters that live there, and the colourful history of the town, Margate was a really fantastic place that had made me specifically ‘me’. I could see that with the right love and attention it could become really wonderful again, and I made sure to treat my furniture pieces in the same way. Which designers do you work with, and how does their style complement yours? Is there any kind of material you don’t like working with? As well as our furniture designs onto wood, we also work with organic cottons and recycled silks or papers. Anything that will take our patterns and form different products for the studio is interesting to me. I have a bit of a diehard attitude to the origins of a material and like to know where it's from and that it was made in the right way; therefore, any type of material that is particularly bad for the environment or people to produce isn’t of interest to me. At the start of any project, I ask a lot of questions about where the materials are from. www.zoemurphy.com All of the designs that we use onto furniture are my own, however we have a few brands that we love to collaborate with – the most recent one is Dulux. We were shortlisted for one of the brand's Let's Colour Awards in 2014; and when it launched its Colour of the Year for 2015, I was asked to design and make a special piece of furniture to reflect the theme, which was all about 'finding the wonderful in the everyday’. Working with a heritage brand that is also so forward thinking is great fun, and Dulux is serious about the value of colour in the same way that my studio is. Creating work with brands that care about the same things that you do always makes for a great output and a spur in the right direction. @zoemurphydesign 21 How has your work changed over time? In the early days, Margate was much more of a literal reference within my work but now it’s used more as an idea. Prints and patterns are still inspired by Formica, the seaside, the town and its heritage, but I think the references are a lot more subliminal in comparison to my earlier pieces. As Margate has been changing underneath our feet, the pieces from the studio have become more sophisticated with it. What are your plans for the future? This year, our Brilliant Print research trip will be taking us somewhere very colourful and loaded with design. As we have a new heritage theme park opening in Margate, we want to make work that is inspired by, and can contribute to that. It will definitely be an exciting trip to follow; we cannot wait! Where can we see your Margate and Brilliant Print collections? Both are available at Liberty in London, and I always have stock in the Margate Gallery in Margate. Pieces can be viewed and ordered via our website, and at some point during this year, we are looking to open a viewing space within the studio for exhibitions too. I make sure to use social media such as Twitter and Instagram to keep customers up to date on all of the things being made in our studio. How can our readers get in touch with you? We welcome all product enquiries at [email protected]. /zoemurphydesign @zoemurphydesign