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Design Milk’s Friday Five features Toast CEO Suzie de Rohan Willner discussing artists and architecture that inform her perspective, including Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa and Philip Johnson’s Glass House. She also describes Toast projects centered on community, textile experimentation and extending the life of garments.
Design Milk’s latest Friday Five features Toast CEO Suzie de Rohan Willner discussing five influences on her thinking about art, materials and design, alongside recent projects from the clothing and homewares brand. The piece links her interest in experimentation and craftsmanship with Toast initiatives focused on repair, reuse and community.
De Rohan Willner names textile artist Anni Albers, sculptor Ruth Asawa, architect Philip Johnson’s Glass House, sculptor Isamu Noguchi and the sculptural doors at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral among her influences. She describes Albers as someone who helped establish textiles as a respected art form and says Albers’s approach began with experimenting directly with materials.
She is drawn to Asawa’s looped-wire sculptures for their contrast between strength and lightness, and to the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, for its glass walls and relationship between interior space and landscape. Noguchi’s work across sculpture, furniture, lanterns and gardens appeals to her for crossing disciplinary boundaries. She also discusses the cathedral doors by William Mitchell, her stepfather, praising his use of concrete and the way he paired historical research with modern design.
The article also describes Toast projects, including a Wales luncheon for the Spring/Summer 2026 collection and a Somerset House event for Spring/Summer 2025. For the first Toast Renewed capsule, Dutch textile artist Meta Struycken made eight full-size pieces from returned and damaged Toast garments and fabric remnants. The source also outlines the brand’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, titled Marking the Turn, which draws on seasonal rituals and handcraft techniques.
How Craft Shapes Toast’s Projects
The interview connects de Rohan Willner’s personal artistic references with Toast’s stated interest in materials, making and reuse. Her examples range from Albers’s textile experimentation to Mitchell’s concrete work, offering insight into the creative influences she brings to her role as the company’s CEO.
The connection is clearest in the Renewed capsule: according to the article, Struycken used returned and damaged garments and studio remnants to produce eight new pieces. Toast also operates Repair, Renewed and Reworn initiatives, which the source describes as ways to mend, alter or reuse clothing rather than discard it. The article presents these as examples of the brand’s approach; it does not provide figures measuring their scale or environmental impact.
The events in Wales and at Somerset House show how Toast has used launches and installations to bring its community together around collections. The source describes the settings and creative elements, but does not report attendance, sales outcomes or audience response.
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Five Influences, One Design Outlook
Design Milk’s Friday Five format asks a guest to share a set of personal inspirations. In this installment, de Rohan Willner’s choices span textiles, sculpture, architecture and public art, rather than focusing on fashion alone. The source says her interest in art and craftsmanship developed while growing up in a creative family.
The article also recounts how Toast Creative Director Laura Shippey introduced her to Lee Krasner’s work. De Rohan Willner says she was struck by Krasner’s practice of breaking apart earlier works and using their fragments in new compositions. She sees a parallel with Toast’s efforts to give existing materials another use. This account is her interpretation of the connection, not an independent assessment of the brand’s practices.
Among the projects described, the Wales luncheon marked the Spring/Summer 2026 launch and took place on farmland around Llansteffan Castle, the brand’s birthplace in Wales, according to the source. The Somerset House gathering celebrated the Spring/Summer 2025 collection with installations and a performance by dancers Francesca Matthys and Masumi Saito.
“She believed design is learned through direct experimentation with material.”
— Suzie de Rohan Willner on Anni Albers
What the Feature Does Not Measure
The Design Milk feature is a first-person profile and project overview, not an independent evaluation of Toast’s business or sustainability performance. It does not give repair or reuse volumes, the number of customers served, environmental-impact measurements, or sales results linked to the collections and events.
The source identifies the Wales luncheon as taking place in the past spring but does not specify an exact date. It also does not provide further detail on the reach or results of the projects described. Those outcomes cannot be inferred from the creative descriptions alone.
Toast’s Upcoming Collection Themes
The source identifies Toast’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, Marking the Turn, as a forthcoming project organized around seasonal transitions and gathering. It says the collection uses folk traditions, handcraft, color and forms inspired by everyday function, but does not give a launch date or retail schedule.
Beyond that collection, the feature does not announce a new initiative or set out a timetable for the brand’s repair and reuse programs. Any additional project details, dates or reported outcomes would need to come from later statements by Toast or further reporting.
Key Questions
What is the news in this article?
Design Milk published a Friday Five feature in which Toast CEO Suzie de Rohan Willner discussed artistic influences and selected projects from the brand.
Which artists and designers does de Rohan Willner name?
She discusses Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa, Isamu Noguchi and William Mitchell, as well as Philip Johnson’s Glass House. She also describes the influence of Lee Krasner after Toast Creative Director Laura Shippey introduced her to Krasner’s work.
What is Toast Renewed?
The source describes Toast Renewed as a project that repurposes returned or damaged clothing and fabric remnants. For its first capsule, textile artist Meta Struycken made eight full-size pieces using those materials.
What is Marking the Turn?
Marking the Turn is the theme of Toast’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, according to the feature. It draws on seasonal rituals, folk traditions and handcraft; the source does not give a launch date.
Source: rss
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