Our people

Emma's experience spans social housing, commercial and retail projects. Her passion is designing residential projects that seek to unify built form with landscape environments. Emma has over 10 years of experience and before establishing Open Design Studio, she worked in London for two award-winning practices, Barr Gazettas and Holland Harvey. Emma believes passionately in architecture and design that improves the well-being of people’s lives. Whether this is public buildings that people enjoy, the commercial buildings that people work in or the homes that people live in.

James has worked in professional practice for a combined period of over 12 years with experience that spans major regenerative urban design, large-scale and high-end bespoke residential architecture and interior architecture and design. He has worked with a number of award winning practices in the north west of England and London, including Studio Three Architects, Paul Archer Design, Henley Halebrown and shedkm. He takes pride in a consistently high quality approach to project output and creating an enjoyable process of high quality design in our studio and alongside clients and wider project stakeholders. James has a passion for engaging and encouraging others to take more from architecture and design, along with the places, spaces and buildings that they visit and use and has promoted and presented at a number of industry exhibitions and seminars. Most recently he has been a guest speaker on the Interior Architecture and Design professional practice lecture series.

Liberty is a Part 1 graduate in Interior Architecture and Design. She has a love of art and crafts and has a passion for sustainability in design, inspired by her enjoyment of coastal life in West Sussex. As a designer she seeks to encourage others to create a positive dialogue about sustainable living. Her early experience in design spans soft furnishings and exhibition design and since joining Open Design Studio she has worked across a number of private residential projects producing design work to support our concept design and detailed planning work.

Francesca is an Associate with over 15 years experience. Before joining Open Design Studio she worked in London for Henley Halebrown where she worked on a range of healthcare, student housing and commercial use schemes including award-winning schemes Akerman Road Healthcare Centre, Chadwick Hall Student Houses and The Lazlo office refurbishment. The most recent scheme Francesca completed whilst at HHbr was an intricate refurbishment and extension project of Victorian warehouses to provide 2500sqm commercial office space for The Benyon Estate within the De Beauvoir Conservation Area in the London Borough of Hackney. Her experience includes a rich seam of civic and social design with clients such as the NHS, universities, charitable organisations as well as both private and commercial developers and individuals with whom she has taken complex schemes from concept design through planning and technical stages to completion on site. Her considered and research-led approach to design underpins her work on sensitive planning applications and work with listed buildings on sites in both urban and rural locations including Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Josh has lived in the UK for the last 9 years. Since making the move he has worked for several award-winning architecture practices in London with his time being split between high-end residential projects and delivery of retail and hospitality projects.Josh has led teams to deliver one-off private homes, multi-home developments and private members clubs, as well as working with exacting commercial clients such as Selfridges, Heathrow, and Kings Cross St Pancras. This broad range of experience has given him an understanding and interest in all parts of a project, from initial conception, through to architectural detailing, and final interior resolution.As a designer his focus stems from an interest in narrative, history, and the pragmatics of everyday life. This view is coupled with a personal passion for sustainability, material selection, and technical detailing.

Before moving to Open Design Studio Faye gained over 10 years experience working in London for a number of award-winning architecture and interior design practices. During that time her work included a variety of luxury retail, commercial and hospitality projects, as well as high-profile residential refurbishments. Faye has a deep passion for interior architecture and design. She is a strong believer in providing a holistic approach to interior design, often applying her interest in fashion and furniture design to her projects. She believes that successful design should respond and be tailored to the specific needs of the client and context, making all projects unique and special for the end user.

Zoe’s personable nature and inquisitive mindset ensures no detail goes unnoticed,  managing the day to day accounts whilst supporting the strategic growth of our multifaceted practice.

Max is a Part 1 graduate in Architecture. He has a passion for integrating traditional craftsmanship with novel technologies, such as 3D printing and CNC technology, this passion stems from a background in product design, furniture making and blacksmithing.

Since joining Open Design Studio he has worked across a number of private residential projects producing 3D digital concept models, elevation renderings and hand sketches to support our concept design and planning work.

We’re keen to hear from creative and ambitious individuals with strong design skills, who are inquisitive, engaging, energetic and meticulous in their approach.

To submit your application, including cover letter, CV and short portfolio showing samples of your work, please email to:

emmaandjames@open-designstudio.co.uk

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