Designer Tracey Boyd on how fashion follows furnishing at Sonder launch

Luxury furnishing designer Tracey Boyd joined contemporaries including Kelly Hoppen MBE last week at the launch of Sonder Living’s newly opening space in London’s Harrods, where her eponymous brand Boyd was on display in the curated 2600 square foot design space. Lush cream sofas and ‘floating’ wooden side tables were picked from Boyd’s colourful range, set among lighting by Nellcote Studio, art by Coup&Co, and sustainable furniture by LA-based deigner Thomas Bina.

Boyd told Tempus that her 10-year career as a fashion designer from 1996-2007 encouraged her to incorporate varied influences and bold features to her collections, but ultimately it’s the design process that differentiates the two industries. “I had a fantastic time with my fashion label, and recently realised my last catwalk show was this date 10-years ago,” she said.

“It’s interesting to look back on London Fashion Week, while launching Sonder during London Design week. It’s an amazing transfer,” she said. “Fashion was a very serious part of my life, but it’s so transient – you never stop designing, and although I never stop designing for Boyd and my other collections, there’s more thought going into development and more time to follow through on really considered ideas.”

Boyd said that her influences have not changed over that time: “I’m a bit of a crazy magpie – it’s quite difficult to pinpoint my influences. I like Indian beading and French Château mirrors, I’m big on colour and love clashing shades (although the idea in Sonder was to keep everything quite monochrome so it was easy to see all the designers as a group). I do go off on design tangents whenever I get a crush on something new, but there is something that runs through my design handwriting that pulls my mad ideas together.

“I think it’s both a plus and a minus of my work. My pieces can be quite varied in textures, colours or mood, but I’m not afraid of that,” she said. “I think brands today can get caught up in the idea of having their one fixed identity, but it can get a bit boring if they don’t explore further than that. I’d rather see new things.”

Boyd, who also maintains a fabrics line ABOYDBAZAAR, admits that part of the thrill of design is learning new skills – such as her current lessons in lino cutting – to maintain a wide portfolio. “Crossing over from fashion to furniture really feels more like a natural progression rather than a jump. I like to design my own world and love learning and trying new things.”