“This building was a late 19th-century millinery. From 1996 to 2021, it housed an Arts and Crafts-era furniture showroom. We moved in in August of 2022. My dream for Young Space was that it could be a bit like Black Mountain College [the groundbreaking liberal arts college in North Carolina that operated between 1933 and 1957]; we wanted artists and businesses with collaborative practices as the other tenants. There are five recording studios in the basement. The first two went to Kwes Darko, 37, and the radio station Foundation.FM. Sampha, 35, then took a studio a month later. The other tenants came via word of mouth. Now we’re always busy with events and projects — soundtracks for fashion shows, scores for films. Early on, I wanted to hire a chef who’d be a center of gravity for our community. That’s become Maf [Mafruha Ahmed, 31, who previously worked at Dover Street Market’s Rose Bakery in London]. She’s been putting together a cooking zine with Clem MacLeod, 28, the founder of the literary magazine Worms, which they first discussed at lunch. You can’t force collaboration, but you can encourage conversation.” — Caius Pawson, 37, the founder of the indie-pop record label Young
Address: An innovative workplace at 85-87 Southgate Road, De Beauvoir.
Who Works There: About 50 entertainers and creative people, including the singer-songwriter Sampha and the fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner. Pictured above along with Pawson are, sitting in front, from left: Gerard Phillips, managing director at the music publishing company Young Songs; Sophie Jones, partnerships manager at Young; Phoebe Lovatt, founder of the creative consultancy Salon Studio; Enya Sullivan, studio manager and assistant editor at the literary magazine Worms; Luc Wilkinson, artist and buildings coordinator at Young Space; Alex Burnett-Scott, management coordinator at the management company Young Artists; Kwes Darko, music producer, artist and A&R at Young Songs; and Tic, senior A&R at Young. On the stairs, clockwise from top left: Mattis With, manager and A&R at Young Artists; Ricardo Burt, fashion designer and producer at the radio station Foundation.FM; Chloë Roberts, C.O.O. at Young; Frankie Wells, co-founder of Foundation.FM; Rebecca Knox, creative at Foundation.FM and Isstudio, a creative direction and design practice; Kazhi Jahfar, sous chef; Alima Lisa Koné, creative project manager at Isstudio; Dashti Jahfar, photographer; and Matthew Thornhill, managing director at Young Artists. Standing in front of stairs: George Connolly, A&R and manager at Young. Standing top right, from left: Maxine Pennington, curator and artist; Daphnée Lanternier, creative director and stage designer; Mafruha Ahmed, chef; Shivas Howard-Brown, founder of Friendly Pressure, a bespoke speaker studio; Clem MacLeod, founder and editor in chief of Worms; Milo Cordell, head of A&R at Young; Gwynnie Naylor, personal assistant to Pawson; Riccardo Castano, co-founder of Isstudio; Becky Tong, D.J.; Nate Agbetu, cultural curator, strategist and lecturer; Cam Esien, club promoter; Alice Vyvyan-Jones, station manager at Foundation.FM; Georgia Jones, creative at Isstudio; Imogen Snell, co-founder of Isstudio; Siân Rowe, director of Young Space; and Dean Richardson, creative director at Foundation.FM.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photo assistant: Noémie Reijnen
