26th December 2025 | IN DESIGN ADVICE | BY SBID Share Tweet Pinterest LinkedIn The SBID UK Interior Design Icons were selected to recognise leading design practices throughout the UK who have consistently displayed exceptional standards within our esteemed industry network. This week’s instalment of the SBID Icon Insights series features Jestico + Whiles. Jestico + Whiles is an architecture and interior design practice with a proud heritage, driven by curiosity and focused on how design can transform people’s lives. Jestico + Whiles Who leads design and creative direction at your company? Our studio of specialist interior designers, architects and FF&E specialists, drawn from all backgrounds and from across the world, is led by James Dilley, Jennifer de Vere Hopkins and Joanna Grotowska-Hall, who have been working closely together for a long time. We are inspired by each other’s differing approach to design – and life in general – and united in a passion for design that ‘goes beyond’. Every member of our team contributes to the creative direction of our work, and we encourage contributions at every level, informed by the open spirit of the studio and its staff. Jestico + Whiles Can you share a project that best represents your design style? We don’t have a recognisable design style, because our approach is always in response to the specific context of each project. While the outcomes may be disparate and diverse, our common process means there are recognisable red threads running through them all. This has helped us to attract a wide range of projects and clients, and to respond to each with freshness and authenticity. Jestico + Whiles How does your team collaborate on major projects? Collaboration is not only enjoyable, but it produces the best results and challenges us to learn in real time. We are open and encouraging to every member of the team, both internal and external, to make meaningful contributions based on their experiences and background. Internally, we have practice-wide design reviews to unlock the widest range of perspectives. Jestico + Whiles What steps do you take to stay at the forefront of the design industry? We understand that in this fast-moving environment we must never stop learning, and we enjoy that process. While the main influence on our work is our own work, we are constantly visiting buildings of all types, across the world. While our background is in hospitality, we are increasingly seeing our expertise and approach being sought for work on buildings of all types, including mixed-use projects – an exciting evolution. Jestico + Whiles What trends do you see shaping the future of interior design? We think it’s essential to balance the analogue and digital worlds. Sophisticated digitally produced imagery is now an expected part of the presentation process. However, a watercolour, a pencil sketch or a handmade model remain intimate and personal ways of communicating our ideas. We are excited by the opportunities of AI, which has a place both in sparking inspiration and expressing ideas. However, we know it will never replace human input in design which is grounded in empathy. Jestico + Whiles How do technology and innovation influence your work? As early pioneers of environmentally conscious design, sustainability is intrinsic to everything we do – creating great design while caring for each other and the world around us is a core value of ours. We operate an ISO14001 environmental management system to monitor our environmental impact, and have published a Carbon Reduction Plan since 2022, reviewed annually to reduce our carbon emissions. Our B Corp certification, achieved in 2024, underlines our continued commitment to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Our in-house sustainability team, plusZero, comprises architects and interior designers from various sectors within the practice, including three Passivhaus Designers. Our projects include those with LEED, BREEAM, NABERS, WELL and other recognised sustainability certifications. We are driven by a commitment to beautiful design that emphasises wellbeing, sense of place and emotional and physical connection. We endeavour to prioritise material selection with high recycled content, low VOCs, and FSC-certified timber, working with the highest quality furniture suppliers and manufacturers to specify locally sourced and quality crafted products. Jestico + Whiles What advice would you give to emerging designers? The world of design is too vast to comprehend, and it is rare that anyone might see their future path with any clarity. Embrace your own journey of uncertainty and accept that there is not, most likely, a firm destination – and this is only positive. Use your early years to immerse yourself in a range of opportunities. That means, above all, to get as much exposure as possible to inspiring people as possible; seek out your mentors and keep in touch with them, as frequent sense checks are invaluable. It will be the unexpected, disruptive, challenging or curio project, or person, that may be uncomfortable but will push you into a new orbit. Don’t dismiss a prospect without careful consideration. About Jestico + Whiles Jestico + Whiles is an architecture and interior design practice with a proud heritage, driven by curiosity and focused on how design can transform people’s lives. We have a global reputation for excellence, working around the world from Zanzibar to Luzern. Delivering projects at every scale, from a four-seat café to a 2,500-cabin cruise ship, we work with clients ranging from independents to global operators. Working across sectors and typologies, we’re increasingly applying our experience in hospitality design to the fields of retail, workplace and residential, as well as innovative blended-use schemes. We actively pursue unusual projects, from a Victorian textile factory and a Swiss Belle Epoque palace to the grade-I listed country house of Sir John Soane. We are proud to have won five international design awards in 2024 alone, including Hotel Designs’ Brit List Awards, and the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards. Visit Profile If you’d like to feature your news or stories on SBID.org, get in touch to find out more. If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here for more information.