Heatherwick Studio opens Shanghai office as Asia income soars

According to financial accounts published this week, the practice has registered a company in the Chinese mega-city and leased a studio space within its 1,000 Trees building – a nine-storey, mixed-use shopping centre which resembles a mountain and was completed earlier this year.

A report authored by practice founder Thomas Heatherwick said the space ‘will be a base for designer presence in the region as well as providing a gallery space to showcase the studio’s work’. The AJ understands six designers – all Chinese nationals – will initially be based at the studio.

The accounts show that Heatherwick Studio earned £13.5 million in Asia in the year to 1 April 2022 – a 52 per cent increase on the previous year. Meanwhile it earned £3.8 million in the UK and £24 million in total, making a pre-tax profit of £3.2 million.

Heatherwick Studio earned 56 per cent of its revenue in Asia last year, with 16 per cent coming from the UK, 15 per cent coming from the United States and 9 per cent coming from the rest of Europe. Its overall turnover increased by £2 million, while its pre-tax profit increased marginally.

Last year the practice, which is solely owned by Heatherwick, paid its founder £256,000 in rent for its King’s Cross studio as well as £370,000 in dividend payments. The company accounts do not say what Heatherwick received as a salary.

The practice has opened its Shanghai office 12 years after its design for a UK pavilion was displayed at the Shanghai Expo 2010 to critical acclaim. Its current work in east Asia includes an airport expansion in Singapore, an island park in Seoul and a ‘planted pergola’ complex in Tokyo.

Heatherwick said: ‘We are growing and changing as a studio, with a new studio building opening in London next year and projects that range from the Airo car to buildings in incredible places like Tokyo, Prague, Cape Town and Nottingham.

‘All of these are connected by the idea of humanising cities and using our ability as makers and designers to help address some of the societal challenges that people face around the world.’