Lately we’ve been noticing the return of lace and eyelet in a way that’s somehow, against all odds, totally un-frilly. Case in point? The romantic yet fresh lace curtains by Nest Design, like these. See? We love the way they manage to feel soft but not fusty—and we can just see how they’d lift in an open window.
It’s probably helps that Nest Design’s approach isn’t fussy, either. “I’ve always loved making things, particularly out of textiles, so after training as an interior designer I started Nest back in 2001,” writes founder Lucy Bathurst. “Since then, it’s grown from just me in a basement to a crack team of seamstress ninjas designing pieces for architects, hotels, restaurants and private clients.”
Now those ninjas, and Lucy, work out of a converted Mission Hall in London where they “specialize in sourcing unusual, natural, antique, and hand-dyed fabrics,” stitching them into new headboards, curtains, cushions, and wall hangings that can be seen the world over.
Today Lucy writes in from London with the movie bedroom that inspired Nest HQ, her kitchen pet peeve, and the surprising color she dyed her sheets. Read on…
Above: In Lucy’s own place: redone lace curtains.
You’re invited to dinner. What’s your go-to gift?
Champagne, flowers, and cheese if it’s a straightforward dinner and something textile-y if it’s a housewarming. Depending on the tastes of the friend, it might be something vintage that I think they’d love, or maybe one of our handmade cushions.
What’s on your bedside table?
Mainly books, a nice big pile of them—which currently includes a 1970’s Book of Dragons, Hettie Judah’s Lapidarium, and The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. Oh, and some peonies from the garden.
What’s your desert island design/art/architecture-related book?
I’m not sure that it’s strictly speaking any of the above, but Stephen Ellcock’s All Good Things is absolutely chock full of the best kind of visual magic.
What podcast or playlist do you put on when you need inspiration?
I love Jo Andrews’ Haptic & Hue podcast. It’s a fascinating and brilliantly researched exploration of all things textile, and it never fails to remind me what a rich and varied field it is and how lucky I am to work in it.
What’s a film or TV show whose aesthetic has stuck with you?
I got a little bit obsessed with the bedroom in Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite. To the extent that I decided I needed to recreate it in brutalist form here at Nest’s HQ. The end result is really rather lovely and not nearly as bonkers as it sounds.
Above: Lucy’s palette.
What has been your best house upgrade?
Redoing the floors. A bit of an upheaval at the time, but wow does it make things feel fresh and clear. And making Lacys, our linen and vintage lace blinds, for some of the windows.
A simple or budget-friendly design move you wish you’d known sooner?
Moving pictures and furniture around. It’s not that I hadn’t been told this, I just didn’t realize how powerful it is at making you see things afresh until I actually got round to doing it.
My favorite sheets are…
Antique Irish linen ones that I inherited and had dyed the deepest darkest blue green.
My favorite paint color for the bedroom is…
Either something dark and moody, not unlike like the sheets. Or a pale green grey, like F&B Hardwick White.
Above: Curtains by Nest Design at Skye Gyngell’s lovely Spring Restaurant in London.
My unpopular design opinion is…
More fabric! I’m not suggesting a return to a 1980’s frill-fest, but the introduction of a textile or two to a room is so brilliant at absorbing sound, softening spaces, and giving them soul. I think textiles are the magic element that transform buildings into homes.
Your design pet peeve?
Kitchens that look like mortuaries. Predictably, perhaps, but I’ve never been able to get on board with the whole glass, steel, and stone look. Way too cold and echo-y for my liking.
My go-to kitchen utensil is…
Is it very bad to say Deliveroo? I can cook, but it’s so much nicer when someone else does.
Above: Lucy in the redone Mission Hall, now Nest Design HQ.
Something you’re coveting?
Lace and linen collection that I inherited from my mother—an inveterate collector and hoarder—and one of a long line of Scottish ladies who made sewing an art form (my grandmother wrote a book on patchworking).
Thanks so much, Lucy! Follow her work on Instagram here and nestdesign.co.uk.
