In Practice — John Tree

25.03.2025

In Practice is an ongoing series from the Norse Journal, offering a closer look at the people, places, and philosophies that reflect a quiet, enduring commitment to purpose, design and craft.

John Tree is a British designer whose work moves quietly between industrial rigour and everyday warmth. With a practice that spans furniture, lighting, and product design, Tree distils complex processes into simple forms that are intuitive to use and built to last. Photographed at his North London home, a modern, warm space where his design career is reflected in objects placed throughout, he wears pieces from the Norse Standard line. Like his work, the garments are essential, functional, and deliberately unobtrusive — designed to be lived in without demanding attention.

Tree’s career has bridged industry and craft. After time at Sony and a decade at Jasper Morrison’s studio, he founded his own practice with a focus on utility, longevity, and economy of form. His designs are rooted in the everyday, but refined through a lens of internationalism and industrial possibility. He is always asking how things are made, and why they’re made that way. The work resists signature in the traditional sense, favouring timelessness over trend. What remains is a sense of effort and innovation made invisible.

His home is an extension of his design philosophy: warm, charming, and quietly expressive. Natural light moves across open spaces, highlighting considered objects placed with intent. A mix of his own prototypes, enduring classics, and everyday tools.

The space reflects a life built around observation and refinement, where domesticity and design are in constant dialogue. It is a home that speaks not of accumulation, but of character — where form follows function, and purpose shapes atmosphere.