Studio Ashby's warm, richly layered, and personal spaces are instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the British design scene. Founder Sophie Ashby has a way with texture and color that moves beyond trends to create homes that feel, well, like somewhere you'd really love to live.
Key to this knack is Sophie's instinct when it comes to contrast — where schemes need a tension or an "element of surprise" that keeps things feeling punchy, rather than matchy-matchy. That means curating spaces that mix new pieces with antiques, that build up vibrant yet soft color palettes, and that take inspiration from complex sources such as artwork for the building blocks of a scheme.
I spoke to the British interior designer to find out more about how the she pulls Studio Ashby's carefully layered rooms together and where she turns to for inspiration.
Article continues belowI wanted to ask about your use of pastel tones — even the most vibrant colors that find their way into your schemes tend to be soft and knocked back. How do you put palettes together?
Sophie tends to start with a piece of art and then build schemes from there, with a fairly knocked-back color on the wall.
"I get inspired when I go to art galleries, and actually, this is a way anybody could use to find shades that work together. I peer in, go close up so I’m really just looking at the brushstrokes, and I might see something like the terracotta of a woman’s neck and the way it meets the blue of her dress, and focus in on that. Seeing how it works in art is always a good starting point."
Recreate Sophie's look with this stylish Lotus Rattan Floor Lamp from M&S.
Is art always a starting point for you when you’re thinking about whole room schemes?
"Absolutely. It’s always very important that a room has a strong piece of artwork, and that will usually be the first thing we choose, with every other thing in the room flowing from there.
It does need to be literal — at least, so the base of the room is working in harmony with the art. What I don’t ever want is for the room to be "matchy-matchy", because it then loses its punch, your eye gets bored when everything is the same. I like an element of surprise — a really man-made finish in a room full of natural textures, or something hyper modern next to antiques."
We’re seeing even the most contemporary-leaning designers fold antiques into their work — you can relax around them easier, which suits how people want to live. Why do you like them?
A mix of older and newer pieces keeps things interesting in Sophie's schemes.
"Other than the sustainability element, it’s the bang you get for your buck when decorating with antiques. You can buy an incredible Danish sideboard with ironmongery or marquetry and a mix of timbers, and all these wonderful little details, and to have that made would be 10 times the cost. Plus, everything now is oak or ash or walnut, but with an antique, you can look at rosewood or a birched maple or a really interesting veneer that you don’t see everywhere else."
The antique brass finish of this nkuku candlestick gives an aged quality and the cast aluminium is also hand-hammered adding texture and rustic style.
Are you a 1stDibs ninja?
"Yes, I suppose I am! The trick is not to look for anything specific but to find a piece you like and then look at the seller’s other items, and before you know it, you have folders full of ideas for new shapes or new colors or new pieces you might otherwise have never thought about."
You have a lot of antiques in your own house, don’t you?
Sophie says she’s getting into different colors, like this terracotta limewash for a recent project.
"We’ve actually sold that house and are doing up a new one that will be finished at some point next year. It’s got way fewer architectural features, so it’s been interesting finding ways to layer in the detail. I’m joking that it’s where all of the ideas my clients thought were too crazy are going to die — lots of browns and blacks and plenty of bonkers rugs."
Very similar to the table lamp in Sophie's home office, this option would also be a great bedside lamp for adding a cozy glow.
Are you layering the rugs or taking them all the way to the edge?
"Big rugs — large in size and less of them in number. Because I’m quite tall and my husband is quite tall, we don’t like to have too many things — we’re always knocking into things if they’re too small and there are too many of them. I don’t want clutter; I want to be able to sit on the rug and play a board game with the kids and to have room to do so.
You know, to go back to your earlier question, I’m not actually that bold with colors. I like a fresh envelope and for the detail to come from what’s inside it. So for my own home, expect light, bright walls, artwork, and plenty of patterned fabric and upholstery."
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