Tessellate.co wants to change the game for architecture talent

It's no secret that according to multiple recent studies, reports, and data from the architecture industry, wages have fallen dramatically in the last decade.

This, coupled with the spiraling cost of architectural education, means our profession finds itself in an increasingly unsustainable position and at risk of facing a serious skills shortage in years to come.

As a practising architect for over 30 years and co-founder of Cartwright Pickard, James Pickard has seen the profession become more side-lined and the perceived value of architects’ contribution diminished. In order to protect and sustain the future, individuals must take action now to reassert relevance in wider society, make a stand against the unnecessary waste and expenditure that blights many areas of the profession, and ensure that employers are able to pay their staff salaries that fairly reflect the huge yet chronically undervalued contribution they make to society. 

In its 23-year history Cartwright Pickard has hired hundreds of staff, sometimes using expensive traditional recruitment agencies to find good talent. Following a particularly negative experience with a leading traditional recruitment agency and having grown tired of paying high fees for a relatively poor service, Pickard was inspired to develop Tessellate.co – an ethical recruitment platform created for designers, by designers. Launched in the summer of 2019, it's already gained support from many of the UK’s leading architecture practices, such as Adjaye Associates, HTA Design, PRP, Scott Brownrigg, TP Bennett, and Níall McLaughlin Architects, who have all joined as members.

Following a similar path to the now hugely successful Wren Insurance Association, a mutual insurance business founded over 30 years ago by a group of architects who had grown frustrated by the limited options available to them in the insurance market, Tessellate.co has been founded and backed by a group of architects and engineers who all share similar past experiences and frustrations with traditional recruiters.

Read more here.