Inside the studio: Sophie Ashby

Interior designer Sophie Ashby has gone from obscurity to leading one of London’s key agencies before the age of 30. Here’s what makes her so influential.

Sophie Ashby, founder of interior design agency Studio Ashby, is remarkable for a number of reasons. She founded Studio Ashby at just 25 with a single freelance project after she left a position as head of interior design at a creative agency.

Her practice grew over just a few years into its current incarnation, Studio Ashby, a 12-strong team whose high-profile projects (including a Battersea penthouse, a country house in Somerset, a South African luxury hotel and a villa in Languedoc) can be found all over the world.

Here, Sophie tells us how art plays a central role in every design, and what influences her signature style.

Studio Ashby’s approach is a reverence for, and curiosity towards, the things that really ground a home – Sophie and her team look deeper to the humanity of a space and to the things that will outlast the latest trends.