The Forge's photographic studio nook
Hackney, UK
The Forge is a retouching and photographic studio tucked away in a tiny nook of London’s Stoke Newington. The company, founded by Jean-Michel Massey in 2011, was initially based in Camden, before re-locating to Hackney Downs. ‘Then an opportunity came up to move into this place on a long lease,’ explains Massey. ‘At the same time it made sense to gut it and do something nice.’ Which with the help of architect Michel Schranz Design + Architecture (MSDA for short), he has. The £100,000 scheme took nearly three months to complete but the owner is obviously proud of the results. ‘It was pretty squalid,’ he smiles. ‘The bathroom was like the worst toilet you’ve ever been to.’
Massey has been collecting the pieces for a while – and has more at home too, including several units and another wardrobe in white – though he wasn’t an immediate convert. ‘I looked at it online and I thought it was too shiny,’ he explains. ‘I’m not a shiny person.’ However, his architect persuaded him to visit the company’s Clerkenwell showroom and he experienced a conversion verging on the Damascene.
‘It was just the way the doors closed,’ he remembers. ‘It just feels quality. I’m also very much one for a product not having an end life. I love the fact the product has been about since the ’60s and has essentially been the same. You could pick up a piece from nearly 50 years ago and it would screw into a USM product you bought yesterday. That is what society should be aiming for really.’
Ultimately though it’s the product’s chameleon-like quality he particularly appreciates. ‘Once you have it in an environment it absolutely blends in,’ he concludes. ‘It completely absorbs its surroundings.’