Inside Decimal’s five-year journey building a global curated network

Five years into Decimal’s evolution, the Brooklyn-based studio has refined a model that challenges conventional agency structure. Operating with a network of over 100 collaborators across time zones, their curated approach to team building – matching specialists to projects based on expertise and interest rather than availability alone. This methodology has attracted brands like Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Google and Meta, with each project anchored by at least one partner to maintain creative vision and quality. The flexibility extends beyond personnel to technology itself; Decimal describes itself as technology-agnostic, building solutions around what the brief demands rather than defaulting to familiar tools. In this conversation, Partner Gabrielle Harlid, Producer Raphael Guenassia and Designer Maki Ozawa discuss how the studio has evolved from reactive to proactive, the systems that make async collaboration work, and what it takes to maintain cohesion across a distributed network. TBI: Hi Gaby, Raph and Maki! Five years in – how does it feel to hit this milestone for the studio? GH: It’s amazing how quickly time flies. When we started Decimal, the goal was simple: bring talented people together to do great work – without the stress and drama that often comes with agency life.