Coco Lom and the Wonder-ful Playhouse

Coco Lom with children at the play space she created in partnership with Disney. Photograph: courtesy Coco Lom

Hackney artist and designer Coco Lom has just finished a collaboration with entertainment behemoth Disney that saw them create an immersive pop-up play space for children in central London.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile commissions for Lom, whose reputation has burgeoned thanks to her recognisable style – bold, geometric patterns filled with contrasting colours.

Her work can be spotted on murals outside businesses and pubs across Hackney.

The ‘Wonder-ful Playhouse’ was part of Disney’s 100th anniversary campaign and inspired by its research into the dwindling playfulness in children.

I chatted to Lom to learn more about the project, as well as her rapid rise through the art world.

MW: How did people respond to the Wonder-ful Playhouse?

CL: One of the most exciting parts of the project for me was seeing the children’s faces light up as they entered the Star Wars room, looking up at my animated patterns that were projected onto the ceiling and gliding across the room.

My work is all about finding joy in places and things we might not normally notice. I wanted to show families how they could use household items and incorporate them into their playtime at home. Together they shone torches through kitchen utensils, such as colanders with holes in and spoons with patterns cut out of them, to create intergalactic shadow patterns around the room, transporting them to a galaxy far, far away!

It was such a wonderful feeling to play together with families while discussing their favourite activities at home. We shared new ideas for creative play which were inspired by the spaces they loved best in the Playhouse.

A signature Lom design. Image: courtesy Coco Lom

MW: Where did your design and art work begin?

CL: I’m lucky to come from a family with a wide interest in the arts – from theatre and pottery to writing and film.

My granddad was a film actor and my grandma had a great love for arts and culture. She was Swiss and she built up a wonderful collection of books over her life and very generously left them to me. I like to think that her Swiss roots have fed into my love of bold and sort of precise and tidy design. She also introduced me to Bauhaus when I was a kid and I’ve been obsessed with the colours and shapes ever since! I have lovely memories of going to exhibitions with her, watching unusual art films and just making things all the time.

MW: Have you faced any challenges in your career so far?

CL: When I was 10, I discovered I was dyslexic, and being neurodiverse can bring challenges. I think the biggest, for me, is recalling things in my head and processing information, especially when it’s something I’ve heard rather than read. This means I find spoken interviews quite difficult – I find it hard to process the question, work out what my answer will be, and then find the words to deliver it, all in the space of a few seconds!

People with dyslexia often see how the smaller things connect to make up the bigger system. I think it’s because of this that I notice beauty in mundane and overlooked spaces. When I look at something, I make sense of it by breaking it down, deconstructing it into smaller parts, noticing the interesting combinations of shapes and patterns.

As I’ve got older, I’ve grown to be very proud of my dyslexia. The world often sees it as a disadvantage, but it’s not. It’s just a different and brilliant way of seeing, thinking and learning.

MW: What inspires your designs?

CL: Our world is full of striking patterns, joyful colours and unusual shapes. I’ve always loved the quiet details that make up the world around us – whether it’s the dancing patterns and reflections you find in a sunny swimming pool, or bright yellow stacks of bananas at a fruit market.

Through my photography, I capture these overlooked details we might normally miss and these images often become the starting points for my research and design projects. I hope that I might open people’s eyes and help us celebrate all the amazing patterns.

I have also used ‘magnification’ as inspiration for some of my projects – for example, the patterns revealed under a microscopic study of the structure of apple seeds and pollen when developing my community basketball court at Joseph Grimaldi Park in Islington with Pink Lady apples.

The Star Wars room at the Playhouse. Photograph: courtesy Coco Lom

MW: Take us through your process for creating the Playhouse?

CL: All my patterns and designs were inspired by the colours, shapes and patterns that run through Disney’s big history of stories and characters.

I began by revisiting film scenes and illustrations of characters, picking out shapes and patterns that stood out to me. For example, in the Disney Princess room of the Playhouse, my designs were inspired by Cinderella’s castle – her checkered doors and rectangular turrets. I also remembered the rippling battle flags from Mulan, which had such a vivid impact on me as a kid!

I also designed and taught a series of workshops to a group of brilliantly creative children from two primary schools in Hackney, who shared their ideas. I combined their ideas and mine – we had huge amounts of fun with the race track – and then worked with a production company to build my designs and the immersive experience.

MW: Do you have any advice for families wanting to be more playful?

CL: The possibility for play is everywhere, you just have to use your imagination! It might be using a torch and kitchen utensils, like a colander, to create shadow patterns like we did in the Star Wars room. Or it might be turning your counter tops into a race track, with lined-up cutlery to guide the track and obstacles along the way.

Play is so powerful and positive and it brings everyone together. It has a huge impact on a kid’s future, their resilience, confidence and creativity.

I hope the project has sparked a ton of new and wonderful ideas to help families play more together at home and I hope it has rekindled the joy of play in the grown-ups as much as it did in the children. We all need play in our lives!

MW: Do you have any exciting projects lined up that you can tell us about?

CL: I’m currently discussing a new textiles collaboration, and I’m also hoping to work with an international homeware brand to bring my colourful and pattern-filled world into people’s homes.