Claire Nelso

from Transcending Luxury

by design et al

NILOUFAR BAKHTIAR BAKHTIARI

CLAIRE NELSON

MANAGING DIRECTOR/OWNER NELSON DESIGN

Claire Nelson grew up with her mother having her own interior design business and Claire therefore started Nelson Design in 1991. Nelson Design Limited is a multifaceted architectural interior design studio based in London specialising in high-end residential, corporate and hospitality projects throughout the UK and Europe. The firm offer a high level of creativity to create distinctive and stunning spaces tailored to our clients’ needs. The architectural interiors approach ensures visual interest and appropriate space planning preserves function.

What are you currently working on? A variety of residential and commercial projects as examples two maisonettes being turned back into a family house and adding a basement and rear extension near Albert Bridge. A spa/gym for a Gated Residence in Sunninghill Ascot designing a new build in the gardens for the gym and refurbishing the basement spa. A residential house in Costa Brava Spain – sourcing and specifying all wall and floor finishes, bathrooms, kitchens and all the soft furnishings. Refurbishment of a Michelin Star Restaurant with the full refurbishment planned now being a soft refurbishment due to Covid-19.

What led you to this career path? Having worked for my mother during school holidays I knew I had a passion for design but I tried studying Industrial Biology to see if there was another direction I wanted to go in but quickly learnt where my heart lay so went on to study design at Instituto per L’Arte e Restauro in Firenze.

Please describe the project you are most proud of to date, with reasons why this was a success? There is no one project I am proud of, I am proud of them all and of my team helping bring them to life. Each project has some element that may bring a smile to my face or of particular note. The most important aspect of each project is seeing the clients reaction to the finished project.

What inspires you? Colour, texture, architecture, art – my surroundings

Where in the world do you like to retreat to? Begure in the Costa Brava.

Has the recent global pandemic changed the way in which you work? Absolutely and in many ways for the better.

Has it changed your outlook? Yes – on what truly matters in life and to take time to reflect.

How do you feel it has changed the world? It has changed our lives completely in this moment in time. Something as fundamental as our experience of space, our

mobility has been severely reduced and our contact with people and has also affected our experience of time.

How will it change the global design sector? It will change so many aspects of our lives from the future workplace embracing a hybrid reality, fusing architecture and technology to accomplish a hybrid workplace, designing workplaces that help people feel emotionally safe, reimagining the future of dining out and how hotels and gyms should consider welcoming back their guests. To develop open spaces as the public’s living room. The high street will need out of the box strategies to reinvent what was already in decline. To consider mental health in all sectors of design and how individuals can interact.

Please tell us your aims for the next twelve months and beyond. While the hospitality sector is trying to cope with the effects of Covid19 on their businesses and I don’t believe that many will be investing yet in schemes for a while until the full impact of what our daily habits will be and there is more confidence in the market and whilst we all consider what the future holds and how we will all need to diversify through our habits and design we will be focusing on challenging this new world we live in and coming up with design solutions for the new world of hospitality as well as focusing on residential projects which seem to be remaining strong with the housing market see a lift in the last few weeks with the easing of lockdown. I am hoping to launch my own furniture collective which has come from my furniture design background and the love of designing individual pieces for both residential and commercial projects.

What would be your key piece of advice for emerging designers right now? Be tenacious and don’t give up. Make sure that CVs and portfolios are precise and well laid out as it tells a future employer everything they need to know about a designer and their skills. In interview come across as hungry, driven, motivated and humble, well read in your subject and show that you are wanting to learn and that you are malleable, you and I are never the finished product there is always more to learn.