INTERVIEW: Gary Marshall, Tonik Associates
Gary Marshall is one of the directors of Tonik Associates, a leading brand design agency specialising in hospitality, workplace, retail and residential.
We have worked with Tonik on various projects, the most notable being a £20m private residence in London. We spoke to Gary about the year that was 2020, and what’s next.
GA: 2020 is a year that has made many in the design industries think less about invention and more about ‘repurposing’. Has Tonik Associates pivoted their skills and services to adapt in 2020?
Spot on. In reality our core market has disappeared, nobody wants to talk to us about refurb at the moment and as a consequence we have had to reinvent our business. I think our clients are in 2 camps both of which are looking for ideas.
Camp 1 is about "review" and is focused on saving monies and reassessing their business proposition.
To this end we are busy with a couple of longstanding clients merging a couple of offices into one and creating strategies for these clients when lease breaks etc allow them to consider breaking or merging space in order to react to the new WFH movement.
Camp 2 is interested in repurpose.
We have created half a dozen new strategies and concepts around repurposing existing space and developing new concepts that are more aligned to the new world requirements.
GA: We heard about your U-See Homes project which really intrigued us. How does it work? And how did your practice adapt to offer a digital product?
We had been looking at how we could access the digital marketplace for some time now. As a response to the lockdown in March we teamed up with a client to provide a remote home viewing solution for house builders, developers and estate agents.
As with all of these things, it has developed far beyond the original idea and is now the only platform that combines digital home viewings with bespoke face to face advice.
What started as a Covid inspired solution now makes sense in a non-Covid world, as it saves all parties time and money.
We heavily invested time and effort into this new business, and we have learned a huge amount about developing the tech and about this new market. The business is starting to gain traction, having won an innovation award at the EA Masters conference a couple of months ago.
GA: In your opinion, are there more areas where design practices can offer products outside of their traditional remit?
One thing is for sure and that is that clients are not interested in coming to us with straightforward "traditional" projects, especially in the hospitality sector. The larger groups that are planning projects years ahead are still busy, but most smaller companies are looking for ideas as to how to help them survive and prosper.
GA: It’s pretty evident that people are spending more time in their homes than ever before, and it may continue! How do you think residential design will reflect this in the years to come?
I think it already is, the housing market is changing and the public especially in the big cities are less reliant on being close to their the workplace. Home office and garden room sales are booming and I think this will continue.
GA: Finally, we would love to know, what’s your favourite interior space in London at the moment?
Great question... the newly refurbished Shoreditch House, because it feels like a home from home. Since the first lockdown there have been less people allowed into it, which has really improved the experience!
