Agency/ClientInteriors marketplace

What I did for the marketplace

I worked with the agency - a UK agency - for several years across various client projects. We built a strong working relationship along the way, and I was later trusted to take on a couple of their clients independently.

Afterwards I was brought on to help build the marketplace - a marketplace helping interior designers and enthusiasts visualise, shop and curate their own spaces. Built across 2017–2019, embedded with the founding team.

The site featured a lookbook, editorial features and a shoppable catalogue built on WooCommerce attributes. A distinct challenge: enabling search via common colour names ("blue") while displaying more descriptive labels ("Navy") within the interface - a UX problem as much as a technical one.

Notable features of the build:

• Lookbook - customers browse and curate favourite pieces into their own collections.
• Sidebar colour-picker filter built on WooCommerce attributes - more interactive than any off-the-shelf picker available at the time. Powered by FacetWP for advanced filtering and SearchWP for accurate results and fuzzy matching.
• "From the experts" editorial section - authoritative voices from the interior design sector providing insights and inspiration for visitors.
• Brands area - suppliers managed their own profiles and approved content before it went live.
• Bespoke banner engine - promotional features and upsells injected into several areas of the site (listings, articles, product pages), giving the founders tight control over the visitor experience.

How it helped the team

Aside from bringing their vision to life, the WooCommerce-powered solution I built allowed the marketplace founders to manage their extensive catalogue and database with ease and confidence. I translated their design language into a functional, beautiful website that reflected their passion for interiors and luxury furnishing.

The Lookbook turned passive browsing into active curation. The colour picker meant customers could search the way they actually think about a piece. The Brands area gave suppliers a route in that did not bog the team down in copy admin.

Why this way

Boutique e-commerce requires a steady hand, a keen sense of layout and form and, above all, attention to the finer details that come together to make up an unforgettable user experience. Building with WordPress and WooCommerce meant I could make use of the powerful templating engine as well as many plugins to bring filtering, search and more without having to reinvent the wheel.

Two years of iteration, lots of discussions and deliberation and a client team that knew exactly what they wanted made this one of the best long-form WooCommerce builds I have deployed.

How I would describe working together

My time spent both with the agency and afterwards working on the marketplace gave me the chance to develop a solid working relationship and to build up the trust that comes from long-term partnerships. I've always enjoyed working as a freelancer for this reason: not only do I get to meet inspirational and engaging individuals, but I'm also in a position where I have to stand by my principles and, in turn, earn the trust that comes from placing myself there.

The business has since wound down; but this case study stays because it is a representative example of what premium WooCommerce work looks like at its best.