Byard Works
This new east-London-based brand uses pared-back materials in sustainable designs. We talk to its founder…
Nottingham-born Rob Parker used to work in visual merchandising for fashion brands Paul Smith and Fossil Group before he decided to retrain as a furniture maker in 2019. In 2021, he founded his brand, Byard Works, which showed at London Design Festival that year and at Clerkenwell Design Week in 2022.
What was behind your decision to found Byard Works?
I decided to take the jump when my role at Fossil Group was dissolved – visual merchandising is a young person’s game! – and retrain in furniture design at Building Crafts College in east London, just before the pandemic. It was actually quite exhilarating, because I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. Lockdown provided the time to be creative, to design pieces and get them made – it felt like a great opportunity. I work from home in Walthamstow or from my shared studio around the corner, which I really like, as there’s a whole skillset there I can tap into.
Where did your interest in design come from?
My parents have always been passionate about architecture; they inherited that from their own parents. I can trace my love of design back to a 1950s yellow plant pot owned by my grandparents – it had little metal legs, was very space-age and absolutely fascinated me. I travelled a lot in my previous jobs and I was always inspired by the architecture of the towns I visited. But visual merchandising is very temporary; you’re creating images and displays that will be gone in a week or a month. Furniture, on the other hand, lasts for generations. That yellow plant pot belongs to me now, and I’ve named one of my favourite pieces, the ‘Dommett’ cabinet, after my grandmother (it was her maiden name) in return.
Can you tell us more about the aesthetic behind Byard Works? The name of the brand is tied to my childhood and my days working at Paul Smith in Nottingham: the original store was on Byard Lane. It was a real community, where I made a lot of friends, and I wanted a name that would relate to my roots. I’ve always liked brutalist architecture, and one of my major influences is the Barbican Centre. The ‘Barbs’ mirror’s name is a nod to this – its scalloped edges take inspiration from some of the building’s window details. The Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh is also always in the back of my mind when I’m making a piece – I do wonder sometimes if he’d have endorsed my work!
What’s coming up next for you?
I’m going to be exhibiting at Surface Design Show in February next year, as part of the ‘New Talent’ section. One of my favourite pieces is the ‘Jose’ chair, which is made of birch plywood with a cork backrest – it’s just really simple, elegant and comfortable. For Surface, I’ll be turning the same concept into a range of stools, tables and maybe a sofa or chaise longue. Every one of the pieces will be fully recyclable and will feature natural cork, a material I like for its sustainability. byardworks.com