Tala Fustok
Tala Fustok is an English-Palestinian interior designer and founder of London-based Tala Fustok Studio. Drawing on her multicultural heritage and architectural training at London’s Architectural Association, her work combines diverse influences with an intuitive approach. After working in Paris on projects including Hôtel de Crillon, she returned to London, where she designed the award-winning Mandrake Hotel before establishing her own practice. Her studio was named to the AD100 in 2025.
Through Tala Fustok Studio, she creates immersive residential, hospitality and commercial interiors shaped by art, collectible design, materiality and architecture. Her projects span residences and hospitality spaces internationally, including Laylow in Notting Hill and projects for The Mandrake. Characterised by raw and refined materials, experimental colour and unexpected details, her interiors balance atmosphere, comfort and function. In 2026, Fustok is expanding into furniture and lighting with her first collection, developed with artisans in the UK and southern Italy.
“Timelessness is created by weaving together layers from different eras.”
INTERVIEW
Tala’s Home, Ladbroke Grove, London
As a child, I loved going to flea markets with my parents, but the real turning point came when I was 13 and my art teacher praised a perspective drawing I’d done. I wasn’t particularly academic, so that recognition meant a lot.
It inspired me to pursue architecture, and I went on to study at London’s Architectural Association.
I think there have been two defining moments. The first was leaving Paris after seven years to return to London and start my own studio.
The second came a decade later, when renovating my own flat led to being featured in Architectural Digest.
It’s the combination of technical precision and creative instinct. My partner, Armelle Goury, and I complement each other well, we challenge and inspire one another.
We trust our instincts creatively while staying disciplined enough to deliver projects on time. Successful design needs both.
It’s usually an overall vision of a space that stems from a translation of the client’s vision, then broken down into materiality and layered with objects.
An absolute contrast of two styles: contemporary architecture, almost brutalist, with off-whites, then layered with plush velvets, craftsmanship, big old paintings, and handmade objects. Raw and refined.
It’s hard to say, each and every project has its own character, but it’s always a blessing to work on the ones where the clients trust you to truly design unique pieces and spaces for them.
To learn to turn projects down if you don’t think the client will be a good match for you.
Turn your dream into a tangible reality and push yourself creatively to the max.
CooC Lounge, Fitzrovia, London
Tala’s Home, Ladbroke Grove, London
Do the opposite of what you’d normally do. Stepping outside your comfort zone is often where you discover a different side of yourself—and that’s where the most interesting ideas come from.
Just read as much as you can on a weekly basis, like a ritual. Currently, on my desk, I have a book on Dupré-Lafon.
Using traditional features in an unexpected way. Velvet to the dado.
Look out for our Pieces launching in October.
Thank you so much Tala, for this lovely interview!
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