Khuzema and Xanthe talk about Belonging on The Listening Post Podcast

“There’s a sense of ease in that idea of home – a sense that there is no need to put up a façade.”

Khuzema and Xanthe joined Rachel Birchmore and Emma Free on their The Listening Post Supergroups podcast to discuss ‘Belonging’ – the theme of this year’s London Festival of Architecture.

Alongside picking tracks to add to the Supergroups playlist, the conversation covers what makes a practice feel right to be part of: “When I first interviewed for Collective Works, I was like – these people just sound really nice.  They’re practical and they’re sensible, interesting and kind. I have previous work experience where I felt like an outcast in many ways, so it was nice to get to Collective Works and feel like I could work in this industry.”  (Xanthe)

“Collective Works probably was founded by some sense of the three of us [Partners Khuzema, Alasdair and Siri]  who wanted a place where we felt like we could create work and enjoy this space we occupied.”( Khuzema)

It allows us to work on a diversity of work – “we get into the nitty gritty with homeowners, but then we also do community-based work and NHS social prescribing projects as well”

“There’s a lot of conversations around value aligned clients, and how they see something they feel aligned to – something from their own personal experience. When we get really value aligned clients, I think they enjoy the fact that we’re different, and just ourselves. It allows us to push boundaries in a comfortable and fun way, and I think people see value in that.”

A collective responsibility

“Your belonging within a practice is also your sense of contribution – that you are helping to pull the load. From an operational perspective, if everyone having their own agency and their own desires, that increases people’s productivity, then that’s a good thing.” (Khuzema).

Listen for more from Khuzema and Xanthe about what makes a feeling of Belonging at Collective Works , and thanks to Rachel and Emma for the opportunity to talk about it on the Listening Post Podcast.