Alex Tieghi-Walker's new London office is a beautiful chaos

Alex Tieghi-Walker of TIWA's office in London — (Image credit: Kane Hulse)

Over the past several years, Alex Tieghi-Walker has been on a wild design journey. Relocating from LA to New York after the pandemic, he set up a lived-in exhibition space, TIWA, in the city in 2022, championing emerging, self-taught designers and craftspeople led by material exploration. Offering a personal, intimate experience to his practice, Tieghi-Walker has since branched out of his live-work gallery with two London projects including The American Pavilion in 2023, and the London Design Festival's Brompton Design District in 2025, two moments that expanded on his non-institutional, heavily researched and craft-based curation.

His latest endeavour sees the British-born curator back to London, and this time he has set up an office at The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, a small space on the Kingly street gallery's ground floor. On view until 7 March 2026, 'Office Hours' is both an exhibition and Tieghi-Walker's actual office, a mix of functional workspace and cabinet of curiosities.

The compact room is carefully packed with contemporary design and art treasures, from a glass and iron desk by Grace Prince (the gallerist was challenged to find a suitable desk that would fit through the extremely narrow front door) to chairs including a glass number by Max Lamb and melted polystyrene composition by Nicolas Zanoni, as well as Tieghi-Walker's own office chair, a wooden Green Box Chair by Byron Pritchard.

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In addition to a showcase of beautiful objects reflecting on Tieghi-Walker's curatorial sensibility, the space is also a beautiful chaos. Delivery boxes stand on one corner, next to an aluminium and silicone lamp from the Re-Assembled series by Georgian design practice Rooms Studio, and the desktop is defined by a mix of artistic composition and whatever Tieghi-Walker is working on at the moment - on our visit, we spot a copy of Sanzo Wada's A Dictionary of Color Combinations, a set of keys held together by a shrimp keychain, and sculptures including Christabel MacGreevy's stoneware stack titled Toast Tower/ Sky Slices (Azure Blue), and a carved drift wood hand by James Cherry.

Hanging from the ceiling is an imposing (for the small space) lamp by Joe Armitage, anchoring a series of eclectic lighting pieces throughout the office including EJ Bbarnes' Parasol metal table lamp, a wall lamp by Cadis featuring dyed hemp silk dipped in resin, a wall-mounted candle-holder by Louie Isaaman-Kones, a copper sconce by Skye Chamberlain and a lamp featuring pressed aluminium squiggles by Nicolas Zanoni.

The mix of curation and functionality is exemplified by a coat rack by London-based designer-maker Andu Masebo, a dynamic composition of curved rods and spheres in stainless steel and aluminium (to be actually used for coats, not just for display), and a pair of industrial metal tables used for ceramics and glassware displays.

Nearby, a large bookcase acts as a room divider and display space, as well as Tieghi-Walker's own storage, a curation of glassware, ceramics, and objects blending with power tools, gallery installation essentials such as tape, pliers, screwdrivers, spare candles and lightbulbs – if any illusion of the exhibition space had remained by then, it is definitely broken by the realisation that this is, after all, a real office.

It is a great visual and experiential statement on the power of design – how to exist and work alongside precious creations while making them a living part of our everyday rituals. In TIWA's world, design is alive and well.

'Office Hours' by TIWA is on view until 7 March 2026

The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, 62 Kingly St, London W1B 5QN

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Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.

This New York gallerist has temporarily relocated his office to London – and it's a beautiful chaos

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