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Homelife style: Nathalie de Leval and Maria Gómez


Design Guild Mark - September 17, 2020 - 0 comments

Photo: Andrew Montogomery

It’s incredible, but according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), 9.5million people were furloughed at the height of the pandemic with around 50% of people working from home.

Before coronavirus only 30% of us had tried blending both work and personal life from one’s own abode – now we are all pretty comfortable with it.

In response to this strange new world we found ourselves in, we launched a content series called ‘Lockdown life’, so we could  peek behind the professional curtain of those in the design community who were stuck at home like the rest of us.

Homelife style is the evolution of Lockdown life.

Although the prospect of being plunged back into lockdown – at least on a local level – is becoming more apparent each day, the new name suitably describes in a positive manner what the content series aims to explore – the personal spaces of Design Guild Mark holders and judges.

This month Design Guild Mark holders Nathalie de Leval and Maria Gómez, one half of designer-maker duo Byron and Gómez, show us their homelife style.

Nathalie, tell us about favourite space at home

My favourite room in my house is my little model making workshop. Where others would have a spare bedroom, I have a birch ply work bench that I made, fitted with vice and a few key machines – a small bandsaw, a disc sander and the all-important extractor under the bench. I use this room all the time when designing new products and working through ideas. It is also where I make experimental art pieces often using offcuts from the workshop.

My workshop became even more of a haven through lockdown. I decided to try to raise some money for the Felix Project Food Bank, after helping deliver food for them. I borrowed a beautiful Victorian book printing press and set about experimenting with simple block prints. The result was a series of six prints called ‘Touch’, each made up of two organic stone like shapes that seem to be communicating with each other coming very close to each other but never touching. The prints seem to have a hit a chord and have sold all around the world.

Maria, in what way is this interior a reflection of you?

This little corner of our bedroom has an oak floor standing mirror, made by Charles (Byron) from a fallen tree at his parents’ house in the New Forest, and an Edwardian chair, bought from a local antique furniture restorer. For the art, we have chosen a beautiful painting by our dear friend Hannah Townsend, which hangs wonderfully over bench/table that we find great for piling clothes we’re not quite ready to wash. For the lighting, we have our flush mounted Lunas lampshade with a linen diffuser. Overall, this little corner of our bedroom is a great example of all the things we love to surround ourselves with, all everlasting.

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