Meet our planning team

Ali enjoys his days as a planner, designing just exactly what customers need. For him it is creative work in the broadest and best sense. He came to us from a career in the shipping industry. Lockdown, unexpectedly, became a time to think about life changes. His father (a long–standing Vitsœ customer) saw we were recruiting, and suggested Ali apply. Initially the design aspect of working at Vitsœ was the attraction. But representing the ‘modesty’ of the Vitsœ ethos quickly became its own joy.

Ali is a people person. He likes to talk (for England, he says). He is, well, interested. His family moved to London, England, from Cape Town, South Africa, in 1996. He admits he is a Camden ‘type of kid’ – he likes bikes, designing ‘stuff’ in Adobe, 35mm film, music (vinyl, of course) and painting. Much of it accompanied by his perky Springer Spaniel Huey – named after Huey Newton, the Minister of Defence for the Black Panthers.

Andrew, born and brought up on the Isle of Man, recently spent five years working for Vitsœ in New York. He also travelled across the United States, visiting as many states as he could. It is a country he has long found fascinating.

We first met Andrew when he was working in an Apple Store in 2012, shortly after he had left university, and he has been with us ever since. He studied politics but now thinks that perhaps he had a near miss, not working in that area. He says his reason to join Vitsœ was “completely an ethos-led decision.”

Now based in London, Andrew likes to track down interesting furniture for his home. A Danish table here, some G-Plan chairs there. That’s about getting a bargain and consuming consciously. Otherwise, he enjoys cooking (he made his own wedding cake) and exploring the results of the micro-breweries popping up in his home borough of Walthamstow.

Anna walked across many different countries before settling with us at Vitsœ. As part of her modern-language studies in Spanish and German, she spent six months living and working in Munich. Following graduation, she took time out to see and hear more of the world: principally Central and South America. Back in her (and our) home town of Royal Leamington Spa, she was referred to Vitsœ by her mother, who had an inkling we’d make the perfect match.

On occasion Anna likes to borrow large tomes on fermenting from our chef, trying out new curing and pickling recipes. She is also pondering how to design a 606 system around her huge six-year-old Swiss-cheese plant, for a time when she can one day furnish a place of her own. In the meantime, she keeps herself busy doing bits-and-bobs of sewing, unapologetically devouring romcom novels, creating beautiful life-drawings and running out into the countryside around Warwickshire.

Dahye grew up in southern England, but being half-Korean and half-Pakistani, she is a linguist. In her youth, she often visited her grandparents in Korea and learnt cooking and foraging from her grandmother. This led to writing her dissertation (as part of her graphic design studies) on the ethnography of Korea’s onggi fermentation jars. She came to Vitsœ looking for work that was design-related and ‘human focused’, and she particularly enjoys the camaraderie of the planning team.

Dahye has previously worked as a barista in a small magazine-owned coffee shop in London. She still practices good coffee, made using a V60 brew method. She likes to walk London, fuelled by a long black; or a cortado, if it’s raining. And, what with making sourdough breads and compotes, Korean curries from scratch, and investigating food cultures (both in society and in jars), she qualifies as a food obsessive. Dahye also likes to have a proper magazine in her hands, preferably one about travel.

A former architectural student, Holly studied at the University of Sheffield, England, where she lived for a while in Park Hill: the refurbished brutalist housing estate that put the city (architecturally speaking) on the map. There she met and befriended fellow residents who share a passion for Vitsœ and gradually navigated Holly in our direction. In tandem with architecture, Holly has previously worked in hospitality and interior design. Now based in London, she is enjoying the customer-focus and brisk project pace of being a Vitsœ planner.

Holly originally comes from Maldon, a town on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, famous for its eponymous gourmet salt. Her parents still live there, and she returns often. Holly likes being by, on, and in water. Although she denies being a ‘serious’ swimmer, four or five times a week she will be found in a pool, getting her laps in. And whenever she can, she goes sailing and walking; always happy to be outdoors.

Marie was born and grew up in France. She moved to the UK in 2015. As a resident of Royal Leamington Spa, she watched Vitsœ’s production building being built and was curious. She visited, and has worked for us ever since. She came to us with many years of customer service under her belt – after business school and managing shops. Marie finds her work / life balance is, these days, balanced.

Marie says her young family now feels more British than French. When she asks her children a question in French, they answer in English. Marie’s weekends are when she bakes. She does admit to missing specialist French cooking ingredients a little, especially when making croissants from scratch. She also has a famous chocolate cake she takes as a treat for colleagues, when visiting our London shop.

Having studied Architecture Part 1 in Lincoln, England, Matthew graduated to the sound of the financial crash of 2008 and a dearth of architecture jobs. He decided to go travelling instead. He then spent a decade or so planning bespoke travel tours before coming to Vitsœ in 2021.

Matthew is now commuting the dream. He has a ten-minute cycle ride to work in Royal Leamington Spa, replacing ten years of driving for an hour in the car, each way. Change has been good. He has recently sold his car.

As a man well-travelled, Matthew’s favourite places are where he can be outdoors most of the time. He likes the big outdoors with big scenery: New Zealand, Canada, Scandinavia. He also likes to take in an architecture exhibition or two, on shorter day trips to London.

Nicholas saw (and admired) the Dieter Rams exhibition ‘Less and More’ at London’s Design Museum in 2009, whilst still at university studying interior and spatial design. And then he saw a job advert for Vitsœ. He put the two together and the rest is history.

A planner to his bones, Nicholas also keeps an eye on our internal processes from a customer perspective. He helps keep things consistent across planning jobs large and small, wherever our customers find themselves in need of help.

Outside work, Nicholas can be found doing major DIY in his 1950s house. And he’s slowly furnishing it with canny second-hand buys. Having just bagged a set of Eames chairs and an Eames elephant (for his young son, he insists), next on his list is a Jacob Jensen designed record player by Bang & Olufsen. The rare version, with its stylus.

Robin likes nothing more than to leave his computer behind and connect with people (old-school style) on the telephone. For him, customers make his job – and the 606 system – more interesting. On a recent site-visit, Robin’s hot-orange Onitsuka Tiger trainers were a talking point before he’d even stepped over the doorstep. He appreciates the conversations and the chance encounters of his work.

A customer before he worked for us, he was hooked (Robin remembers) from that first conversation with a Vitsœ planner. He had been looking for work he could settle into long term. He has been with us since 2012.

Having trained as a fine artist, Robin can often be found in front of a canvas; either at home painting (on the abstract side of things) or taking advantage of the plethora of galleries in London. He particularly likes art that is “not easy”.

Toby studied industrial design and automotive design at college, which provoked his love of interiors. He relishes his planning role, meeting customers and tailoring each shelving system to their specific needs from our shop in Royal Leamington Spa, England.

When not working at Vitsœ, Toby can often be found tinkering around in “the family business” of cars. His grandfather worked at the Ford Foundry which previously occupied the site where Vitsœ’s production building now stands. And he is currently restoring a classic 1982 BMW, the same model his grandfather drove. He also restores – or ‘saves’ – mid-century furniture. He hates the culture of built-in obsolescence; things that can’t be repaired.

Toby enjoys hiking, walking, cycling, cooking, vinyl (naturally) and reading. And whilst he admits to owning a collection of classic Ladybird children’s books, his reading is usually researching the how and why things work the way they do.