Why Originality Matters

When I started T.I.O, the most common request I received was a photograph of someone else's dress with the words 'can you make this?'

I understood it. A photograph is a shortcut to feeling certain. But I also knew that if I built the house on copies, I would spend my career making things that already existed.

So we made a rule, and we have never broken it: we do not reproduce another designer's work. What we will do is far more interesting — we will sit with you, find out what it is about that image you actually respond to, and design something that belongs only to you.

Nine times out of ten, what a client loves in a reference photo is one detail: a neckline, a fold, the way light moved on a fabric. That detail is the beginning of an original.

This is where the name comes from. This Is Original. It is a promise about how we work.