Homing In with Bethan Laura Wood: "The Need to Make and Create"

Podcast: Homing In
Host: Matt Gibberd (The Modern House)
Guest: Bethan Laura Wood, designer
Date: September 30, 2025

Overview

This episode of Homing In invites internationally acclaimed designer Bethan Laura Wood to explore her deep-rooted creative impulses, personal identity, and approach to home. Recorded in Bethan’s kaleidoscopic East London flat, Matt Gibberd leads a rich conversation about childhood, family influences, dyslexia, bullying, and how Bethan’s living spaces, collections, and signature style are fundamentally intertwined with her sense of self. Along the way, they unpack the interplay between collecting and hoarding, the meaning of objects, and the psychological resonance of home.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Childhood, Family & Early Creativity

[01:54 – 07:26]

• Upbringing: Bethan grew up in Shrewsbury, Shropshire after being born in Manchester. Her strongest childhood memories revolve around her family home, especially the garden with apple trees.
• Parents' Professions: Dad is an NHS-specialized architect (healthcare spaces); mum, an occupational therapist. Bethan credits their caring nature and support for her career choices.
  • "I've got really supportive parents. ... they've always worked really hard to also provide stability to allow me and my sister to do what we wanted for our adult lives." — Bethan [05:51]
• Sibling: Sister Sarah, also in a caring profession (teaching young adults).
• Innate Creativity: The act of making has always been essential—"My mum always says... I kind of needed to do it, whereas my sister enjoyed doing it. But it wasn't like a fundamental element. I don’t think I could cope without it." — Bethan [07:01]

2. The Need to Make and the Role of Discipline

[08:24 – 10:04]

• Bethan enjoys moving fluidly between media: drawing, sewing, pattern-making, woodwork. She finds hands-on making "therapeutic and calming."
• Paper model-making in particular brings her "so much joy."
  • "For me, it's part of the language of what makes life. ... I wouldn't want to not be creative." — Bethan [07:34]

3. Alternative Style, School Years & Bullying

[11:27 – 19:13]

• Describes herself as "alternative" and "creative" from a young age, especially visible in her clothing choices and art focus.
• Early affinity for vintage, self-made, and unconventional clothing. Recounts making a "1950s cool dinner lady" dress for her school uniform.
• School experience marred by exclusion and bullying—ostracized even by "the cool alternatives."
  • "They refused me access to their club. ... I wasn't quite vibing in their direction of what alternative but cool should be." — Bethan [14:17]
• Coping with bullying: developed a strong sense of resilience and self-determination.

4. Dyslexia & Visual Learning

[19:28 – 21:19]

• Strongly identifies as a "TV bunny generation" child; visual learning profoundly shaped her creative journey.
• Discovered the RCA (Royal College of Art) through a BBC TV show and became obsessed.
  • "I'm quite dyslexic... so my main way of kind of getting information was recording TV programmes and things." — Bethan [19:28]

5. The Royal College of Art & Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

[23:07 – 27:56]

• Achieved dream of attending the RCA, mentored by influential designers like Martino Gamper.
• Overwhelmed on arrival: describes bouts of panic, feeling of inadequacy ("classically lost my mind when I got there" [23:07]), crying in tutorials, and eventually finding her groove via exploring the city during her "Super Fake Marquetry" project.
• The imposter experience is shared by many art students:
  • "There's a very classic trajectory... Once you get in and then you, like, panic and lose your marbles... and then produce some work." — Bethan [23:07]
• The importance of finding a creative "tribe" in art school.

6. Personal Presentation: Color, Dots, and Identity

[27:56 – 35:08]

• Bethan's style: maximalist, brilliant colors, layering, patterns, with signature face dots.
• Dots' origins are unclear, possibly inspired by clowns or simply instinctive.
• Presentation is for herself, not for performance, though she acknowledges its power as an "image."
  • "I enjoy to dress up for me. ... But I don't... dress up in the hope that that's going to create performance." — Bethan [31:00]
• Turning "alternative dressing" and dyslexia into career strengths, not weaknesses.

7. Objects, Collecting vs. Hoarding, and the Living Environment

[42:02 – 50:23]

• Bethan's flat: 53sqm Art Deco conversion, a riot of texture, color, and objects from all eras.
  • "You could spend several days here just exploring." — Matt [42:02]
• Background of the building (former electrical showroom with notable pastel palette and light).
• Collecting as learning through "physicality"; started with car boot sales and charity shop finds.
• Consciously avoids hoarding: displays most things, keeps only "what I see and enjoy."
  • "If I'm not seeing it and enjoying it, then maybe I don't need to keep it and that's my nod towards trying not to become a hoarder." — Bethan [47:10]
• Many objects have faces, "cast of characters" and narrative relationships.
  • "There's a lot of faces in the house, or things with faces." — Bethan [48:39]
• Strong psychological connection to objects and their arrangement.

8. The Psychological Resonance of Home

[59:38 – 66:14]

• Home as both comfort and creative stimulus.

  • "I feel comfortable here and I feel comforted. ... I find it very stimulating for being creative." — Bethan [60:12]

• Reorganizing, curating, and resetting objects serves as meditative, anxiety-soothing ritual and transition between creative projects.

  • "I have a bit of a ritual... when you kind of come out of obsessively... there's that comfortable and uncomfortable window... That's when I'll find myself needing to move all the objects in the house and reset the universe." — Bethan [62:53]

• The presence of things is "not noisy" for her; rather, mess is when things are out of place, not numerous.

9. Companionship, Dogs, and Family

[68:51 – 74:10]

• Lives with her Japanese chin dog, Wilma; enjoys the rhythm and responsibility of caring for another creature.
  • "I've enjoyed having the rhythm of another living creature that I also need to kind of respect or have in my life." — Bethan [70:23]
• Unlikely to have children, but enjoys being an exuberant "crazy aunt" and gifting kids visually outrageous toys ("Appa the glove puppet").

10. The Future: Home, Place, and Community

[74:10 – 80:02]

• Visualizes a future with potential for another base (especially Mexico City) but deep affection for her East London building and community.
  • "I do have a love for this building. It's exactly... we are as one." — Bethan [74:27]
• Sees herself as a fundamentally urban person who needs the layering and vibrancy of city life, but values the green pockets in London.
• Not sure about sharing her life or space long-term with a romantic partner, but sees strong friendships and community as central.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On essential creativity:
  • "It's part of the language of what makes life. And so I wouldn't want to not be creative." [07:34]
• On handling bullying:
  • "There was always some part where it was like just wait, you'll see. Wait and you'll see. But... it's not that fulfilling to focus on it." [18:19]
• On personal style:
  • "I enjoy wearing a lot of colour and layers and pattern... I've been wearing dots on my face for many a year. They have moved around a little bit upon my face and changed colour." [28:13]
• On collecting:
  • "For me, I've always found learning from physicality, from doing, or being able to touch stuff and pick it up and look at it important." [45:15]
  • "I get a bit... if I'm not seeing it and enjoying it, then maybe I don't need to keep it and that's my nod towards trying not to become a hoarder." [47:10]
• On maximalism and comfort:
  • "I feel more comforted when I am sitting in a space where there's objects and things... different people find different things comfortable, you know." [54:54]
• On arranging objects:
  • "They’ve been placed in groups and in rhythms and in conversations. So for me, this isn’t noisy." [65:06]
  • "The objects Bethan lives with are like a cast of characters in a film. ... She's also thinking about the stories they tell." — Matt [00:05]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:54] Bethan describes her childhood home and family context
• [07:34] On the psychological necessity of making
• [11:27] Early individuality and “alternative” identity at school
• [14:17] On being excluded by even the alternative kids
• [19:28] Dyslexia, visual learning, and discovering the RCA via TV
• [23:07] Imposter syndrome and panic at the RCA
• [27:56] Personal style (“dots,” color, and narrative dressing)
• [42:02] Description of Bethan’s flat and the building’s history
• [45:15] The origins of collecting objects
• [47:10] Collecting lines and avoiding hoarding
• [60:12] On feeling comforted and creatively stimulated by home
• [62:53] Reorganizing as emotional reset and creative transition
• [70:23] Impact of adopting Wilma the Japanese chin
• [74:27] Hopes for the future: multiple bases, staying in East London

Tone & Atmosphere

• Playful, lively, and forthright—Bethan is both self-deprecating and deeply thoughtful.
• The host, Matt, maintains admiration and gentle curiosity, asking probing questions but balancing with humor and genuine fascination.
• The dialogue paints a vivid, sensory portrait: “I could spend several days in here just exploring it.” [42:02]

Memorable Closing

• "This flat is just one of the best places I’ve been. ... The world’s a pretty gray place a lot of the time, so I really admire your sense of life vivacity." — Matt [87:16]
• "Hopefully in this room, at least, it will still brighten here. Bright." — Bethan [87:40]

Summary:
This episode unpacks how Bethan Laura Wood’s need to create, her maximalist aesthetic, and life story are beautifully embedded within her domestic environment. For Bethan, home is a stimulating, comforting, ever-evolving universe—a manifestation of lived experience, identity, and imagination. The episode explores the deep significance of objects, memory, and arrangement, and affirms the power of embracing one’s difference as a superpower, not a liability.