The Scale of Things is a collective of like-minded designers. We are idealistic young things – with big plans and plenty of gusto. We strive for ‘goodness’ and that means responsible creation. Designs that we bring into the world should make it better. We are part of the solution rather than the problem. We measure ‘goodness’ against three core values – honesty, aesthetics and sustainability.

Honesty

We value honesty in production, people and use of materials. We don’t consider these three in isolation – that’s impossible. Honesty of production refers to our professional practice. We don’t cut corners. We cultivate relationships with a growing network of designers to keep all those who wish to be involved in our loop. We see honesty in the feedback process – communication is key.

Honesty with people means we deal openly with our clients, suppliers and each other. We believe in our ideas and we like to work with people who believe in theirs.

Honesty to materials refers to our love for locally sourced and worked materials. ‘Honesty’ does not mean varnish, veneer or faux, it means elbow grease, timber and genuine. Materials speak for themselves when given half a chance and that is what we mean by honesty.

Aesthetics

We like nice looking things, that’s a given. But more than that, we believe that design should enliven and excite the senses. We see ‘aesthetics’ is an intuitive dialogue between something physical and the subjective; it’s all about sensory engagement.

‘Aesthetics’ is the full sensory experience, and can never be just about appearance (the visual sense) unless all the other senses have been removed from the equation. If someone can speak about a project we have worked on and say, “I like this, it resonates with me”, then we have done what we set out to do. Aesthetics is about making people feel.

Sustainability

Sustainability is more than just a green logo and reusable shopping bags. While ‘sustainability’ has become somewhat of a hollow media buzzword in recent years, we stand by it as a core element of our practice. We consider it to be maintaining a balance and conserving resources. Our design practice addresses the four pillars of sustainability – society, environment, economy and education – within all the work we do. It’s about creating work and projects that support local initiatives and that speak globally; about materials that are less resource-intensive, and about suppliers who are local. To us, ‘sustainability’ is a design practice that enables our communities, economy and environment to thrive.

In the real world all of this translates to a group of creative people who make things with a conscience. If you think like we do, please get in touch.