Everything Now Design's Debut London Residential Project

After passing beyond the custom undulating walnut-wood entryway of the Islington apartment recently completed by London-based architectural interiors and fabrication studio Everything Now Design, one will spot elements of iconography—a Ligne Roset Togo Sofa, a PH 5 lamp by Louis Poulsen—while marveling at the abundance of bespoke additions. Founded by Thomas Phillips and Henry Chesney in 2022, a month before their graduation from the Royal College of Art Master’s program, the practice provides clients with a nuanced, holistic vision and centers handbuilt contributions.

The Islington apartment, their largest project to date—following commissions for custom furniture pieces, residential remodeling, and stage design—demonstrates the depth of their capabilities. The scope stretched from layout reconfiguration to interior design, with custom components developed for every room. “We were carefully moving the walls around as we made the plans, and I just started drawing pieces that would fit rather than choosing them,” Phillips tells Surface. This underscores the mission of the studio—they can design a house and make everything within it.

Phillips and Chesney were granted creative freedom by the clients, who appreciated the existing brick walls and Crittall windows of the Islington apartment but disliked that the interiors were drenched in beige. They wanted both a sense of sanctuary and an infusion of personality. Everything Now Design delivered this through the application of color, coupled with the organic warmth of timber and ceramics. “The studio uses a very natural material-driven design language. The forms achieved have a streamlined and clean aesthetic,” Phillips says.

Chesney notes that their process begins by defining the scope of the project—and understanding how a space wants to be lived in. “Those early understandings shape everything—materials, finishes, and ultimately how the ideas manifest,” he says. While Phillips leads the architectural drawings and Chesney helms fabrication, both collaborate closely throughout. Furniture design is their most collaborative act.

“Tom and I developed our approach over time, naturally finding our roles within the company,” he continues. “That process created an instinctive understanding of each other’s strengths. The bedroom cabinet is a good example. Tom suggested a single low piece that would span the entire room. I took that idea to the timber yard, where I found these five-meter planks. I knew immediately that using each section as one continuous piece would elevate the concept—dramatic in scale, yet subtle in finish.”

The apartment’s entrance corridor acts as a tunnel of transformation—a shedding of the outside world, with a wow factor. “We wanted to play with the feeling of being cocooned,” Phillips says of the custom scalloped walnut panels they designed and made in their London workshop. “Tom and I had talked about using that dark passageway as a moment of compression—an almost cinematic lead-in to the bright, open living areas,” Chesney adds. “There were moments throughout the process when I could envision what the space would become. But the first time I really saw it was after we installed the paneling in the corridor and switched on the lights.”

From an architectural dining table and a pendant light inspired by aerofoil wings in the living room to a bespoke island system in the kitchen, as well as a platform bed, matching end tables, and a half-height wardrobe in the primary bedroom, Everything Now Design crafted space-defining features. These were coupled with other custom inclusions—such as a coffee table by Ash Pales, and handmade terracotta tiles. As a final punctuation mark, Chesney—whose Master’s project was in ceramics and brick-making (he interned at Europe’s last handmade, wood-fired brick factory)—developed the vases found throughout the home.