The tin-opener philosophy of design: founder Ben Farr on analogue thinking and why he chose Stoke-on-Trent

Creative Boom: Insight Creative Industry The tin-opener philosophy of design: founder Ben Farr on analogue thinking and why he chose Stoke-on-Trent The designer and photographer behind IFSOBCZWHY chats about reclaimed pot bank drawers, 99p tin openers, and why his home town made more sense to launch a business from than London. Written By: Tom May 28 May 2026 All photography by Adam Grüning Ben Farr will tell you, more than once, that he's not entirely sure what he's built. It's not false modesty; it's a genuinely accurate description of a studio that has, over eight years, grown into something difficult to categorise.

IFSOBCZWHY, based in a four-storey building in Stoke-on-Trent, is a commercial photography studio, a set-build workshop, a creative space for hire, and a working demonstration of a particular philosophy about how creative work should be done. The fact that none of those things alone sums it up... well, that's kind of the point. "I've accidentally built a photography studio," Ben reflects. "And a lot of the work we do is photography.

But equally, if somebody is like, 'Can you design this thing for us?' or, 'Can you make us this thing?', it's like: 'Yeah, cool, we'll do that.' So it's just become a studio where we get paid to do cool shit." The space itself is at 51-53 Piccadilly, Hanley, in the heart of a city whose creative potential Ben came back to believe in after years working in London, Birmingham and Amsterdam. Almost everything in it has been built by hand, by Ben and his dad. The kitchen was constructed using tool drawers salvaged from a defunct pottery factory, estimated vintage circa 1940. The desks are key clamp frames topped with fire doors.

The electrics run through galvanised conduit, because that's what made sense at the time, and it looks right. Nothing was done to be fashionable. Everything was done to work. The Shangri-La idea The reference point Ben keeps returning to is Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, the converted house where Black Sabbath recorded their comeback album, and where, by most accounts, the atmosphere of the place is as much a part of the work as the equipment. "I was fascinated by how it became almost like a pilgrimage to go there," he says.

"People can go there and do whatever they want to do." The version he's built in Stoke is more modest in scale and more utilitarian in aesthetic, but the underlying idea is the same: a place you come to with an idea and leave with that thing made real. The ground-floor photography studio has everything on wheels, so it can be cleared and reconfigured as a blank space. The middle floor is designed for food shoots and client entertainment. The top floor is where Ben works. The whole building is set up so a client could arrive, the work could happen, and nobody would need to set an out-of-office.

"I basically just made a space I'd want to have worked in," he says. "Everything I hated about working in other studios I've hopefully got rid of. And everything that I enjoyed, I'm hoping is instilled here." Analogue by nature At the core of how IFSOBCZWHY operates is a manifesto Ben wrote a couple of years ago, partly to hold himself accountable and partly to give collaborators a way of checking whether a project is actually the right fit. One of its central planks is the distinction between working for clients and working with them. Another is the commitment to the analogue process: every project starts on paper, regardless of the output.

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Ben Farr's unique analogue approach to design offers a fresh perspective on practical branding strategies, making it significant for industry professionals seeking to align design with core values.