Fairlight riders short film and interview

Bicycles have always featured heavily in our work, networking, culture, and values, and it was a pleasure to discuss our love for all things two wheels, as well as our broader approach and values, in a short film for Fairlight Cycles recently. This film is part of the Fairlight Riders film series and features a diverse range of people and professions, all linked through their love for cycling and the Fairlight brand in particular.

Andy Matthews is an architect working within his own practice Andy Matthews Studio. Andy owns a Strael and a Secan and from time to time we’ll cross paths at events or openings and we’ll make time for a chat. He is always present, engaged and genuinely interested in what we are up to and how things are going.

In this short film, Andy reflects on his career to date, why he decided to set up his own practice and shares his thoughts on making spaces more useful, playful and pleasant to exist in.

Design is a care game; care for the user and deep care for what you create and put into the world.

Thanks for choosing a Fairlight(s!) Andy.

Filming and editing by the talented Lloyd Wright.

A transcript of the interview is below.

My name is Andy Matthews I'm an architect and uh don't ride my bike enough. So I've been an architect since 2009 when I qualified and I started my academic work in '98 so it's been a while. Bizarrely I kind of knew when I was age seven, which I'm led to believe is is quite unusual, drawing my Grandma's house, not my best design work but something that interested me from a young age. And I never thought I wanted to do my own thing but also I've always liked the idea of almost like completing an apprenticeship. I mean I felt like I'd kind of learned enough that I felt confident I could might be able to do something on my own if that makes sense. So we set up on our own about almost 3 years ago.

I don't know let's let's call it context or or Urban grain or something like that but I think some architecture leaves me a bit cold and I I'd rather find something that's a bit more rich, textured or interesting or quirky or unusual you know. I think every building has a merit and a kind of an interest or some way of understanding the process of how that was made.. but we talk about trying trying to solve the fundamentals of a space or a plan a layout so that actually it's not dependent on the quality of finishes as as awful it is to say that but you've fundamentally solved the problem or or created Joy within that plan that otherwise wasn't there me and a lot of what we do is is unpicking ad hoc interventions and re kind of planning those spaces so they they're much more pleasant to use or they’re less awkward to use and um and also playful, playfulness in architecture is a thing that you know we don't have enough of I think.

Architecture as you know hard work long hours you know there there's there's no problem with that and and I thrived and threw myself into that um at the cost of some other things but um when we started up the idea was to kind of slightly turn that on the on the head really and change that um and I think one of the goals is always to employ people who probably better better better at their jobs than you so that you can do other things. I think we want to find joy in everything we do and co-create our work. I mean um I don't think there's any any point in starting your own thing and then just doing what we did before that seems nonsensical to me really.