Spotlight Studio Lloyd

Established in Cape Town in 2016 by designer Ashlee Lloyd, Studio Lloyd has enjoyed a tremendous rise to success thanks to Ashlee’s extraordinary creative vision.

Offering award-winning, custom-made light sculptures, seating and objects, each Studio Lloyd item is handcrafted to exact specifications and the highest standards and includes the studio’s signature material – multifilament braided rope.

We sat down with Ashlee to learn more about her approach to business and design.

Q: How have you evolved over the years to maintain the studio’s status as an avant-garde brand?

A: Through hard work, a positive attitude and dedication, we have grown our international presence through participating in global design fairs and shows. We have completed a variety of projects worldwide and take pride in nurturing our clientele. We are now refocusing on the local scene with the same level of energy, pouring the same amount of care and effort into keeping the brand ethos and what it stands for alive both locally and abroad.

Q: Please share some of your proudest milestones.

A: Studio Lloyd has won numerous awards and has even been shortlisted globally. We are very proud of this as it shows that we are gaining interest and attention on a global scale. One of our main goals was to work consistently outside of South Africa. We are now operating within the space where international requests are the norm and we are very proud of that. We have always wanted to share our designs and especially our unique large-scale lighting designs with the world. Last year, we shipped a 7-metre light sculpture to Singapore. We facilitated the job within an unusually short turnaround time and we are beyond proud to be able to send designs of that size overseas.

Q: What are some of the biggest challenges that the company has faced over the years, and how did you overcome them?

A: It’s always the same challenge, cash flow. Cashflow is one of the hardest and most necessary challenges to face continuously. We want to remain operating, have money to pay our staff and run our studio operations so adding prototyping and product development into the mix is always a challenge. At Studio Lloyd we always want to create beautiful handmade objects with unusual materials and playful techniques, however, this can be expensive and we need to plan when the right time is to develop a new product. We have so many ideas but timing is everything. Our team always has priority. To be able to pay their salaries and to maintain the financial momentum to do so is of extremely high importance to us as they are the foundation of our operations.

Q: Which is your favourite Studio Lloyd design?

A: My favourite designs at the moment are from the new OPTIC range. They are the hanging light pendant and our wall lamp version of the same design.

We are also officially launching a new collaboration with Nammu Ceramics soon and have showcased a preview of this at Decorex Cape Town and Johannesburg. For this new table lamp Nammu Ceramics designed and manufactured the base of the table lamp and we executed the top shade and structure. This new collaboration is fresh, elegant, entirely handmade and consists of reclaimed clay from Nammu’s workshop – I love it! The table lamp is called THEIA which means “Divine” and the name also refers to the Greek goddess of sight and vision, which nicely ties to our new OPTIC range as the shade is an extended version of the shape used in the VISION COLLECTION. It’s definitely going to be a favourite of mine in the future.

Q: Any interesting project you are busy with?

A: We are currently working on designing custom pendant lights for a beautiful home in Oregon, USA. It’s another international project we are very excited about.