Nicola Harding: Homing Instinct

Harding takes the principles of English interior design—a decorating style beloved throughout the world for its embrace of color, whimsy, and true comfort—and deploys them with a universal appeal in her debut book, which features a selection of her most celebrated projects.

Having moved around a lot as a child, Harding has always been interested in creating homes that evoke a sense of belonging. After designing several homes for herself, what began as a passion grew organically into a thriving career. Today Harding is known for her quintessentially British, reassuringly familiar interiors that mix traditional charm with rich atmosphere. A sense of meaning comes from deftly weaving together expertly sourced antiques and luxurious fabrics, married with craftsmanship that has a particular significance—for example, a supplier who works in a village near where a client grew up, or antiques from local dealers.  

With a calming, nature-inspired palette, Harding’s residential projects embrace English country-house coziness and radiate a warmth that makes each place feel personal and well lived in, while her hospitality commissions are bold and spirited, often inspired by literary or historic characters. This first book delves into Harding’s design philosophy, which, at its heart, prioritizes human experience above all else.

Nicola Harding is a renowned British interior designer. Founder, in 2007, of the London-based industry-leading design studio Nicola Harding & Co., her work spans restaurants, private members clubs, and hotels as well as the homes of leading figures from the film and music industries, artists, politicians, and royalty. Christine Van Der Hurd is a British textile designer whose career spans some fifty years. She has worked with an international clientele that includes Kenzo, Osborne & Little, Liberty, Kit Kemp, Yves Saint Laurent, and many more. British Nigerian journalist Busola Evans is an interiors specialist. She is deputy chairperson of Women in Journalism and a steering committee member of United in Design, set up in 2020 to address the lack of diversity within interior design.