[Ad] Introducing Bisley’s enduring, timeless furniture for the home

[Ad – This post is written in collaboration with Bisley]

I’m thrilled to share that I’m going to be collaborating with British furniture brand Bisley over the next year or so – taking on something of a brand ambassador role – beginning with the styling of the new Bisley Home space in Clerkenwell, London. It’s really exciting to be working with a brand that shares the same ethos around wellbeing in the home and sustainability.

You might be familiar with Bisley’s iconic metal filing cabinet, the MultiDrawer, but this year marks a new era for the brand as they shift from utilitarian office equipment into the world of home interiors. With the launch of the versatile new Fern collection, they can now add stylish, design-led storage solutions for the home to their name.

You’ll be seeing a lot more of the Fern family in my home and in the Bisley Home space over the coming months. The colourful, British-made collection has been designed particularly with the home in mind; the idea being that these freestanding metal cabinets can slot easily into your space and maximise the small corners that make a house a home. There’s five Fern styles – Mini, Cabby, Middle, Maxi and Locker – and a palette of 16 considered colours to choose from. Whether you want to create a calm sanctuary with off-whites and neutrals or are looking to add a punch of colour with uplifting greens and blues, there really is something for everyone, no matter your style or size of home.

Bisley have taken the functional, enduring qualities of their office furniture and brought them up to date for the contemporary home of today. The idea is that the Fern collection is versatile and flexible, so you can create a space that works for you and suits your personal style. You could use a Fern Mini as a bedside table in a children’s bedroom, a Fern middle as a TV unit in the living room or a Fern locker unit as wardrobe storage in the hallway. Or you could use a Fern Mini as bathroom storage, a Fern middle as a sideboard in a living room or a Fern locker unit as storage in your home office. The functions are interchangeable and you can really make them your own.

British-made products designed to last
With a history spanning some 80 years, Bisley has long been creating practical solutions for our every day lives, from motor cars in the 1930s and waste paper bins in the 1940s, to the first MultiDrawer, which cemented them in British consciousness, in the 1950s. Inspired by traditional letter trays, the sturdy and timeless MultiDrawer has been helping people organise office equipment and stationery into compartmentalised steel drawers since 1958. Bisley have sold more than two million cabinets across the world and the design still endures as a classic piece of office furniture. It’s not hard to see why: Bisley’s MultiDrawer is resilient, hard wearing and simple yet anonymous enough to suit a variety of settings.

Timeless, sustainable design
What appealed to me about Bisley was not only their heritage, but that their products are inherently timeless and sustainable – both in terms of style and form. Their products, including the Fern collection, are all made from recyclable sustainable steel in their Welsh factory and come with a five year warranty. The Fern family is built and assembled in the factory – all you have to do is screw on the feet – so you know that it has been made with an eye for quality and finesse, rather than flat packed and shipped over from a far flung destination.

As well as choosing sustainable materials and being mindful of where our homeware comes from, there’s also something to be said about choosing timeless designs that can hold up to fleeting trends. Bisley already have a proven track record of designing something that can be as popular now as it was decades ago. With its clean lines, streamlined form and utilitarian aesthetic, the Fern collection also feels like a modern classic that’s familiar yet fresh.

Styling the Bisley Home space – the design process
To showcase the new Fern collection and portray how our interiors can support our wellbeing and uplift our mood, I’m excited to be styling a corner of the new Bisley Home Space for Clerkenwell Design Week in May.

I like to think of interior design as a bit like therapy for the home; I really believe that when designed well, our spaces have the power to make us feel better. For me, a home should be holistically designed around how we actually live every day not just how we want it to look – so that we can create spaces that evolve with us, connect to our senses and feel inherently good to be in. In my interiors, both for myself and for clients, that translates as tactile textures and warm natural materials that bring the outside in, and little familiar homely details that make a space feel lived-in and loved. I want to create spaces that connect to something deep within us and help us feel grounded, rested and restored.

For the Bisley Home space I’ve created an uplifting, nature-inspired hallway-like space that reflects a truly personal, homely environment. I want it to feel like you’re walking into someone’s home, but that they’ve just stepped out of the room and left everything as it is. The space will feel warm and inviting, with textured cork wall panels to pin inspiration and a half green wall to act as a backdrop for display of the functional Fern cabinets. Think of it as a little window into my world, where simplicity and tactility meet to create a simple, relaxed interior.

Above you can see the visualisation I created for the Bisley Home space and below are some physical mood boards I curated with Bisley’s colour samples. When creating a space I like to start by pulling references and inspiration, before editing it down and compiling a list of three words that will describe what I want to create. For this space, for example, it’s simple, tactile and natural. It helps give you a framework to guide you through the design process, so if you start to veer off track you can always come back to your three words.

I will then focus on developing a material and colour palette by gathering samples and layering options both in the physical and digital worlds. I’ll use photoshop to create a clear, illustrated mood board as well as a visual representation of the space. That said, touch is also important in the design process and it always helps to get your hands on physical samples to see how they feel and how they might pair with one another.

The colour palette for the Fern collection is broad, but for this blog post I’ve created three flatlays for a blue, green and off-white colour palette to give you an idea of how I go from mood board to styled space. For me, creating a mood board is quite an intuitive process and I just take the time to see what works together and builds to create a cohesive theme.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Bisley Home space come to life and take shape. If you’re passing by the Bisley showroom in Farringdon you’ll see my window display, or pop in during Clerkenwell Design Week to get a feel for the space and see the Fern collection up close.

I’ll also be showcasing the versatility of the Fern collection in my own home, so keep an eye out for that in due course.

Join me on the 24th May 2023 when Bisley will be hosting an intimate ‘In Conversation with Cate St Hill’. During the relaxed conversation, I will be discussing my simple, mindful approach to interiors and how you can design a home to support your wellbeing. I’ll also be sharing my practical tips for creating a feeling of calm and contentment at home, ideas for home organisation and flexible living, as well as some little insights into my own home renovation and everything I’ve learnt along the journey.

Come along for the lunchtime talk and leave inspired to create a tactile, thoughtful home that simply makes you feel good. Book your space via Eventbrite here. 

I can’t wait to see you there!