Time Is Part of the Design: Focus/26 Recap & Panel Talk

Running from 14 to 18 September at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, FOCUS/26 brought together more than 120 showrooms and 600 international brands for five days of exhibitions, events and conversations across the design community.

As part of the wider programme, we used the week to give the design community its first look at a new addition to the Kingsley Collection: Tumbled Aged Brass and FOCUS/26 marked the first public showing of this eagerly anticipated finish.

A highlight of the week was our panel talk with Rebecca Winter, Director of Rebecca Winter Design Studio, hosted alongside our UK Marketing Manager, Jordy Woolley. Throughout the conversation, one idea kept resurfacing: time isn't simply something a scheme needs to withstand. It can be part of the design from the beginning.

Rebecca's approach starts long before the material board. "At the drawing board, we always start with how a client lives, their daily rituals, and tailor the material selection to that," she said.

Those daily rituals help determine where and how materials will wear over time, making it important to consider not only how a finish looks when new, but also how it might look in ten years. It's also why Rebecca shows clients how a material will age, rather than focusing solely on how the finished scheme will look on handover day. That distinction, she explained, can help create a space that feels right when a client first moves in and remains so years later.

Patina, she was quick to add, is entirely subjective. One person's character is another's wear and tear. Rather than looking for a single correct way for a material to age, her approach is to balance the wider palette around it. "The key is balance; finishes that will age beautifully set against stone, ironmongery, tiling, timber. That's what stops a space feeling tired before its time," she said.

That thinking came to life in her project Sussex Farm, where a brief for faux heritage was applied to a building that's only 25 years old. Limestone, mixed timbers and deliberately mismatched metals feature throughout, with gunmetal ironmongery on cabinetry set against brass curtain rods and our Kingsley Collection used across much of the hardware.

"With a heritage property, we want to honour the period of the structure. Where the building is newer, it's about paying homage to the period it's emulating," she said.

Rather than making every finish feel as though it had been specified at the same moment, the mix of materials gives the impression that the interior has been added to gradually over time.

The panel's final point moved beyond material selection to consider why signs of age can make an interior feel more personal. Worn objects can evoke nostalgia and memories of lived experience, adding a sense of history and storytelling to a space.

As Jordy reflected, "In a world this artificial, visible age is what signals history to us. Materials designed to age don't simply wear; they add a layer of meaning that a new surface can't."

Rebecca also noted a shift in the briefs coming into her studio, moving away from pure minimalism towards interiors that evoke a simpler time. 

"There's a risk of design feeling clinical and sterile," she reflected. "Our homes evolve with us over time, and there's real beauty in embracing that."

Together, these ideas reflect a broader shift away from treating age purely as something to prevent and towards considering how materials can evolve as part of the design itself. "Time becomes another material in a space [and] one you can design for right at the beginning of the journey," Rebecca said.

Thank you to everyone who joined us across the five days at the Design Centre and to Rebecca Winter for such an insightful conversation. 

For further inspiration, read these stories:

A Guide to Our Brass Finishes: Brushed Brass, Antique Aurum & Tumbled Aged Brass

Inside the Clerkenwell Showroom: ABI Interiors' London Home, Designed with Conran and Partners

Sussex Farm by Rebecca Winter Design Studio