Design Connections 10x10 will return this year on Wednesday 19 September, showcasing a selection of the best emerging design talent in the UK, in collaboration with the Design Museum. We caught up with speaker James Crawford, Cofounder of Studio MUTT, to find out more about his practice. 

Tell us about your practice

MUTT is an architecture studio founded in 2017 by Graham Burn, James Crawford and Alexander Turner, operating across London and Liverpool. The underlying mission of the studio is to create characterful projects which are unique, specific and joyful. We work at all scales, from a teacup to a tower, to make everyday life better.

What are you working on at the moment?

Currently, a refreshing range of projects across a number of sectors. Idiosyncrasy and a certain peculiarity are the only threads running between them, each project as bespoke and specific to place, context and vernacular as the next.

We have been working closely with contemporary menswear brand, Universal Works, developing an architectural approach to their new and existing stores. The first fruits of this creative collaboration can be seen at their new store at 26 Berwick Street, and the next store at Coal Drops Yard will be opening in late October. Meanwhile, we are finalising designs for a flowering pub-pavilion in Mexico City with the British Council, exhibiting a line-up of architectural characters in the Sir John Soane Museum, and carefully steering a beachfront art studio through planning in Poole.

What key issues are you addressing with your work? 

Fundamentally, our work aims to create a backdrop, not a background, to the theatre of everyday life. We engage with the world as it exists and reject the concept of radical newness, instead adopting referencing and sampling as solutions to contemporary issues.

Tell us about something you’ve seen that’s inspired you recently? 

The Sir John Soane Museum has long been a rich reference for us as students and practitioners. Out of Character, a project for London Design Festival, has given us the incredible opportunity to not only immerse ourselves in the richness of the architecture and the collection, but to also place our work in this unique context. Responding to Soane's strange and perplexing text, 'Crude Hints towards an History of my House', 1812, the project has also offered an alternative view of Soane and his work. 

To hear more about  Studio MUTT work, join us at 6pm on the 19 September at the Design Museum. Find out more and book your tickets here.