The conversation
Designer Nicola Harding manages to turn beautifully designed schemes into spaces you can imagine living a wonderful – real – life in. She tells our editor Pip Rich how it’s done
British designer Nicola Harding set up her eponymous studio in 2007, and has been creating richly atmospheric spaces ever since. She has just launched NiX, her first collection of furniture and lighting for living rooms and bedrooms.
PIP RICH You’re who I turn to when I want inspiration for a scheme that is supremely beautiful, but really homely, too. You straddle that balance like no one else. What are the ingredients you use to create that alchemy?
NICOLA HARDING Well, thank you! I always think a home should be comfortable for real life, not for the version you think you ought to be living. And it’s the functionality of a space
that brings it together – a reading light you can tuck in next to the bed, a table that’s just the right size to fit next to your favourite chair and hold a cup of coffee and your book. You’ve got to get the basics like this right before you worry about anything else – pieces that aren’t trend-led but that just quietly do the job. Think Margaret Howell, but for the home.
PR Oh, like your Perch Slipper chair [from Nicola’s brand-new NiX collection of furniture]. I can see that working in so many different spaces, and having its own perfect function in each.
NH That design came about because I’m constantly looking for ways to add more seating – and therefore more functionality – to a scheme without it then looking like a furniture showroom. There is so often a corner in a bathroom or bedroom or next to a fireplace that you really could do with a chair for but that you don’t want to close off by placing a big boxy thing in it. Because the Perch doesn’t have arms it allows for a sense of openness still, an airiness armchairs don’t tend to create.
PR When I was designing my living room, it was scouring your projects that gave me lighting advice. My row of armed wall lights above the sofa are a direct inspiration from how I’ve seen you do it.
NH I didn’t know that! Lighting makes or breaks how a space feels. For me, it’s all about the effect a light has and how you can harness it or alter it as you need. I tend to find floor lights can often be too tall and loom over your shoulder, breaking the horizon in a way. I’d only choose an adjustable one where the height can go up or down and you can direct the glow according to what you’re doing.
YOU’VE GOT TO GET THE BASICS RIGHT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE – PIECES THAT AREN’T TREND-LED BUT THAT JUST QUIETLY DO THE JOB
PR Speaking of light, I’m always impressed by how you’re not afraid to use both light and da
