Assemblage 8: Palette

April 2024
Photography: John William, Angus Mills

Palette is Toogood’s new proposal for wooden furniture. The coffee table, side table and console are formed from intersecting, curving shapes that appear to slot into each other. The organic contour of each tabletop evokes an artist’s paint palette, with the hand of the artist present in the painterly finish.

“Palette captures the naïve energy and limitless potential of a child’s first set of building blocks.” – Faye Toogood

Faye Toogood’s first piece of furniture was Spade – a chair made from Sycamore. Never conforming to trend, Assemblage 01 was created entirely from Sycamore in a moment when other designers were rejecting wooden furniture. Toogood returns to Sycamore for Assemblage 08, with the addition of Elm: both sustainable British timbers.

Palette follows the curves of Gummy, giving the wooden tables a soft, almost squashy gesture. The blonde sycamore is hand stained with sapphire green or soft lilac pigment. Heritage colours painted in pond-like pools across the wooden surfaces. Palette is also available in unadorned elm.

Assemblage 08 is a celebration of nature and nurture. Pieces inspired by the body and the brain. I sit at the kitchen table watching my children build worlds from wooden blocks or felt tip with fervour. It’s a profound process, to create life, give birth, and then watch these small human beings grow and become their own people. You give them the puzzle pieces, then let them figure it out. Creativity is at the core of who we all are, from where we came and who we one day could be.” – Faye Toogood.

“I set out to find the absolute best of British. And I found them. Assemblage 08 celebrates the knowledge and heritage of artisan makers. Skills passed down from one pair of hands to another, through generations. It has been a privilege for the Toogood Studio to collaborate with these bastions of craft.” – Faye Toogood.