The peripatetic designer Alexander Purcell hails originally from England, but also calls Los Angeles home. At heart, he is a multi-disciplinarian practitioner of industrial design and architectural interiors. A duality evident at work every day as he heads up two successful businesses: his namesake design firm as well as a curated collection of furniture and lighting under the Atelier Purcell moniker.
Purcell studied architecture at Cambridge University and worked for the iconic Richard Rogers Partnership before going solo in 2009 when he opened the doors on Studio Purcell. He quickly became known for elegantly stylish residences and hotels around the world before adding furniture design to his portfolio by collaborating on designs with Holly Hunt, Promemoria, Link Outdoor, and De Castelli, among other luxury brands. He introduced the to-the-trade Atelier Purcell collection in 2019.
Purcell says of his dual career as an interior architect and product designer, “An idea can come from any source of inspiration. In an architectural project it’s often driven by the desire for an extended dialogue that navigates and enforces a narrative as you move through a space and the elements that sit within. Or can be sparked simply by the silhouette cast by a shadow across the floor. In either case there is a symbiotic relationship between the interior and the product, I enjoy the reciprocity that can be achieved between the spaces we create and the objects we craft.”
ATELIER PURCELL
Alexander Purcell has always been fascinated with creating a juxtaposition of the dual and somewhat opposing disciplines of innovative technology and hand craftsmanship. So, a decade after founding his interior architecture and industrial design practice, he created the Atelier Purcell collection of furniture, lighting and textiles in 2019. With the ideology of ‘Tradition Redefined’ rooted at the core of the brand, Atelier Purcell aims to create heirlooms for the future.
The Atelier Purcell collection is synonymous with luxury, featuring beautiful material pairings—solid brass and eucalyptus, stainless steel and oak, bronze and marble — processes both digital and analog. “The ability to refine and rapidly iterate design ideas brings a playfulness to creating furniture--the constraints of architectural construction don’t apply” notes Purcell.
Purcell studied architecture at Cambridge University and worked for the iconic Richard Rogers Partnership before going solo in 2009. He quickly became known for elegantly stylish residences and hotels around the world before adding furniture design to his portfolio by collaborating on designs with Holly Hunt, Promemoria, Link Outdoor, and De Castelli, among other luxury brands.
The to-the-trade Atelier Purcell collection is available in the U.S at Dennis Miller Associates in New York, Thomas Lavin in Los Angeles & Laguna Beach, De Sousa Hughes in San Francisco, MOD in Denver, Paul+ in Atlanta, David Sutherland in Dallas, and B. Peterson in Palm Beach. In September 2022, Atelier Purcell opened at the Chelsea Harbor Design Center, London.