Meet Kate Clare, the Founder of LOUD Architects!

Established in 2017, award-winning East London-based LOUD specialises in mainly residential dwellings, providing innovative design and architectural solutions to everything from expansive country houses to bijou apartments and everything in between! Kate and her team place great emphasis on having fun with their clients and, above all, making the impossible come to life. Embodying the belief that architecture should create joy, they love to create one-off living spaces using an innovative mix of building materials, shapes, and colours.

We met Kate to learn more about her business, how she grew her team, what she loved the most about featuring in our ad and much more!

Kate, we’re so happy to chat with you today! Before we talk about LOUD, tell us what you did before and what your motivation was to start your own company.

I was an architect, working in high end residential and commercial property in London, but I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. My mother ran her own business, a recruitment firm with offices all over the North of England so I knew I always wanted to have my own company.

What motivated you to take the plunge and start the company in 2017?

Seeing a gap in the market where architecture and interior design needed to be blended more, and in a fun, creative way!  

So, at the time you were working as an architect, did you have support from industry contacts or mentors?

I had some industry contacts from working in the field for years prior, but I didn’t have any mentors. I just went for it from experience! I found social media a good tool to see what others in the industry were doing and attending networking events helped as well.

You have been going strong for 4 years now! What do you love most about your company? And being a small business owner?

What I love the most about having my company is meeting new clients and the flexibility and the creative freedom to design what I love. As for being a small business owner, it’s the many different hats you have to wear; accounts, web design, graphics, design! 

You are passionate about making the impossible possible and you aim to have fun with your clients. Can you tell us more?

Each project is so different, we love to introduce new materials or techniques into projects but also work closely with clients budgets to have one or two WOW items.

Talking about WOW, what is your favourite project so far?

The LOUD house or our East London Grade II Listed Townhouse.

LOUD is doing fantastically well, you have a team of 3, when did you start growing?

I started growing the team within 1 year of opening, I knew it was time to hire when I was working 17 hours + days.

How did you find your first ever employee? It’s known to be one of the hardest positions to fill, how long did the process take? What was their role in the company?

I found my first employee through my own contacts, someone I used to work with, then I advertised on a recruitment jobs board and used a recruiter specific to architecture.  

What would you say makes your team successful?

Being open with each other, and checking in regularly on the wellbeing and the happiness in the firm, asking regularly if there is anything that could be done better. We are continuously evolving.

We know how admin management and automation is also key in a small business success… How did you hear about Tide? Why did you choose us?

Saw an advert on the Tube! I use Tide mainly through the app. I love that it works with Xero making filing VAT and tax returns easy! 

And now YOU are on the Tube featuring in our latest ad Founders Make Some Noise! What was your favourite moment on the shoot?

Oh, that’s hard! All of it, I feel very privileged to be asked. I loved the shoot day in the film studio 

The producer of the advert is so talented, he also produced a Star Wars Fan Film which has millions of views on Youtube! 

We love this! One last question before you go…. Where do you want LOUD to be in 5 years time?

I would like LOUD to be more in the commercial market than we are now and design a few more restaurants and bars in the city as we are a multi-sector firm.