Why Bethan Gray is in the Design 100

Bethan Gray founded her eponymous studio in 2008, after a decade as design director at Habitat. Her design language draws on a specific, three-part inheritance: a Scottish father, a Welsh mother, and a maternal line tracing back to a nomadic Rajasthani clan that migrated across Arabia and Persia before settling in Wales. Pattern, material and proportion in her collections read as evidence of that route rather than as a stated theme.

The studio works through long-term partnership rather than one-off commissioning. Gray has spent close to two decades working directly with master craftspeople, and now supports several hundred makers across India, the Middle East and beyond. The Shamsian Collection, made with Mohammad Reza Shamsian’s workshop in Muscat, applies centuries-old marquetry technique to marble, hand-stained maple and brass, carrying the geography of Oman into cabinets and tables. The work has been recognised with four Elle Decoration British Design Awards, including Best British Designer.