When Orms Designers + Architects was founded in 1984 by architect Oliver Richards and designer Martin Shirley, it set out with a clear aim: to offer an all-round design service that would set it apart. At a time when architects were under fire – not least from the Prince of Wales, whose “concrete carbuncle” jibe cast a long shadow – the decision to put “designers” before “architects” in the name was more than stylistic.

It reflected a belief that architecture didn’t sit in isolation, and that combining interior and architectural design within a single practice could offer clients something more responsive and complete. That belief shaped the studio’s early work.

From one of the UK’s first science park buildings in Cambridge to the headquarters for fashion brand Next, Orms moved confidently between sectors. In the 1990s, it helped pioneer loft living in London through a string of warehouse conversions with developer London Buildings, while interiors commissions for law firms, cafés and health clubs began to stretch across Europe and beyond.

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