Interior design in London

Nara is based between London and Spain, and London is where most of the studio’s UK work sits. The city’s housing stock is largely period — stucco-fronted townhouses, mansion flats, Victorian terraces and converted upper floors — and much of it comes with cornicing, sash windows, chimney breasts and floor levels that a scheme has to work with rather than around.

That is the part of the job the studio is set up for. Nara’s London work starts with the architecture: what the plan allows, where the light falls, which original detail is worth keeping and which later alteration is not. Walls, openings and ceiling heights are considered before finishes, and on renovation projects the interior is developed alongside the appointed architect, structural engineer and contractor.

Two London studies show the range: Belgravia Residence, a layered scheme in walnut, smoked oak, oxblood stone and polished metal; and Chelsea London, where deep cornicing, fluted pilasters and a chequerboard marble floor are kept intact and set against deliberately contemporary furniture.