Debbie Watts, founder of Swindon-based workplace design consultancy Ashlar ID, has recently been featured twice by Mix Interiors, a leading UK multimedia platform and publication focused on commercial interior design and architecture.
Debbie was invited to take part in the first episode of Mix Interiors’ new Designers on Designers series. The episode, “Designing for Difference”, brings together Debbie, Ellen Hurst of Universal Design Studio and Shaz Hawkins of Tarkett, with the discussion moderated by Harry McKinley, managing editor of Mix Interiors. The discussion explores how neuro-inclusive design can be applied in practice, including lighting, acoustics and wayfinding, as well as creating greater choice and flexibility within a space. It also challenges the idea of neuro-inclusion as a tick-box exercise, instead looking at how it can become an inherent part of good design.
Watch “Designing for Difference” on YouTube:
Following the recording, Harry approached Debbie to write a piece for Mix Interiors Issue 245, continuing the conversation around designing for difference. She chose the title “Who is this space asking people to become?”, exploring the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit, and asking what a space may be demanding of people: what they have to adapt, suppress or change about themselves just to get through the day.
The article suggests that inclusive thinking is strongest when it is considered from the outset, while also recognising that existing spaces can be adapted and improved. It looks at how sensory difference, cognitive load and emotional safety can all be considered as part of good design. As Debbie writes, “In the end, I am not just designing workplaces, I am designing the conditions for people to feel more OK in themselves.”
Read Debbie’s article in Mix Interiors Issue 245 – https://www.mixinteriors.com/issues/mix-interiors-magazine-245/
Ashlar ID has worked across commercial interiors and workplace strategy since 2007, with clients including KPMG, GSK, PepsiCo and Unilever, as well as local projects including GEL Studios in Swindon. More recently, Debbie has been working with fellow Chamber member Lucy Group and is now on her third project with the organisation. Her work increasingly brings together workplace strategy with sensory-aware and inclusive design, informed by 36 years in the industry as well as her own lived experience of neurodivergence. She was also an Ambassador for the recent Neuroplaces exhibition, which focused on neuro-inclusive environments and design.
Debbie works with organisations of all sizes across the Thames Valley and beyond, helping them understand how well their workplaces support the people who use them, and where small, practical changes to layout, sensory conditions and ways of working could make a real difference.
