Industry Insight: Will Kelly, co-founder, Pattrn

What's the goal for Pattrn?

The objective for Pattrn is to grow as an independent furniture dealership. We’re based in Covent Garden and mainly deal with London [based] commercial businesses. We’ve got a few orders so far. We’ve quoted around £2 million’s worth of business since we started in January this year.

What are some of the big trends or changes that you’ve seen coming out the back of the pandemic? How are clients thinking about their workspace now?

Clients have been really unsure of what to do. How do you get your staff back to the office? There’s space to change. HSBC announced they’re moving out of Canary Wharf – they’re a huge company who are now acknowledging that business has changed, that they don't need as much real estate because people are working from home. 

If that’s the case, that office space has to change. You don’t need all of your desks in the same way you did before. There’s probably much more hot desking, which means more lockers, which means much more collaboration space and probably meeting space. People want different and a bit more homely. No one wants corporate stuff anymore. 

How do you approach fitting out a space for a new client? What’s the methodology for Pattrn?

We’ll take a brief from the client and turn this in to a agreed scope. It will involve things like seeing see how many people they will have in at any point. What's the max? Or attraction and retention issues, Away from people wanting to be T.W.A.T.s at work (in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays), they usually have a maximum day, when they want everyone in to connect and feel the culture and beat of the business. We’d look at that, find out how many desks they’d really need. Are they sharing? Some of them are just groups of people, ones that need monitors and ones that don’t. Some may be fixed, some are not. And of course around their meeting, café and collaboration spaces.

Once you get through all of that, you establish who's doing what, what type of business they are and then understand the space and know how it works. We’ll ultimately design a space that matches their brief. To me, it has to be about the space first, then identifying the right products for design and function, along with the right budget. Fabrics and finishes of course make up a very important part of this.

What’s the most important thing that you think you've learned, over the course of your career? What's the one most important fundamental lesson?

To look after and nurture your staff, they are the backbone of any business. Creating the right culture through a properly designed office is big part of this. I think with the new home/work life balance with hybrid working, this is more relevant than before. Surround yourself with good people and look after them. Also, as my father always said, “never have dirt under your finger nails – always have clean shoes!”

Find out more about Pattrn at www.pattrn-workspace.co.uk