Tacky Studios is guided by an ethos of playfulness, material honesty, and a deep-rooted sensitivity to place. With work spanning both architecture and furniture, the studio’s output is characterized by accessible materials, unconventional forms, and a reverence for context. At its core, Tacky Studios embraces the idea that design should be both thoughtful and lighthearted, intellectually rigorous yet approachable.

As a designer with an undergraduate degree in history, Hackett and the studio approach architectural projects through a research-driven lens. Each project begins with an investigation into site, precedent, and narrative. Rather than applying a universal aesthetic, Tacky Studios allows the nuances of history and locality to shape the design, resulting in work that is idiosyncratic, layered, and attuned to its environment.

Tacky Studio’s furniture reflects this same ethos. Relying mostly on humble materials like pine and poplar, the studio produces work that is direct, tactile, and meant for daily use. These pieces are not to be highly precious— they are accessible, usable, and unexpected.

What unites the studio’s architectural and furniture projects is a commitment to revealing how things come together. Whether through a mortise and tenon or a timber beam, the logic of assembly is always present, often elevated to a central design feature. In this way, Tacky Studios creates objects and spaces that invite curiosity with designs that can be read and understood by those who inhabit them.

“Tacky” is a deliberate misnomer: the studio plays with informality, imperfection, and the everyday as a way to disarm the formality often associated with design. This spirit of play is never shallow, instead, it is rooted in a belief that joy, clarity, and depth are not mutually exclusive.

At Tacky Studios, design is an ongoing conversation with the past, the present, and the users who bring each piece and project to life.