A Collection Fit for the Modern Nomad

Humans are never still, but we have never really stopped to pay attention to the way we live and the spaces we inhabit. During the lockdown, for the first time in over 100 years, we took the time to pause and focus on creativity and positivity.

Interior designer Nathalie Deboel has been creating gorgeous interiors for more than 15 years. She has a wide range of clients across Europe, especially in Belgium, where she resides. She works very closely with her team of designers, whom she fully trusts. Last year they visited Charlotte Perriand’s exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, “a great source of inspiration,” says Nathalie. 

When creating a space, she and her team are mainly influenced by the work of architects and designers like Pierre Jeanneret and Bijoy Jain. But something changed within Nathalie during this past couple of months, and she finally found the inspiration she was longing for to create what she always wanted: a furniture line. 

During the COVID-19 lockdown period, Nathalie began her days by taking long walks in the forest. One day she came across a man walking with a stick, and she couldn’t stop thinking about nomads. We haven’t been able to travel and explore for some time now, so this stick that nomads used to carry when traveling became the foundation of inspiration for her collection. 

“Nomads created their own home, and the sticks they carried would guide them to create a new world that only existed in their imagination.” 

Humans are never still, but we never really stopped to pay attention to the way we were living and the spaces we were inhabiting. These past few months, for the first time in over 100 years, we took the time to pause and focus on creativity and positivity. “When I started working from home, I set up in my dining room,” Nathalie said. “Missing my office space, my library and my books, I decided to create a place where I could work in silence. I finally had the time to understand my way of living, so I looked around and created the perfect pieces to work from.” 

As a designer Nathalie uses the words “harmony, comforting, balance, warm with healthy and natural materials, elegant and contemporary classic” to describe her work. So, naturally, all the furniture in her line is crafted with natural materials like oak and walnut and manufactured by local experts on the art of craftsmanship. Her collection features a library with two different sides, two tables (one rectangular and one round), a desk, a daybed, a one-seat club with a table tablet, a big sofa and a bedside table. 

“I am designing this collection for everyone who loves books, who loves beautiful materials and appreciates the real art of craftsmanship,” she says. “The purpose is to create a collection that you can combine in every style and every atmosphere, a collection that you can use for life, wherever you are, wherever you go.” 

Creating a furniture collection has been a fun and exciting ride for Nathalie and her team, but it hasn’t come without any challenges, especially when transitioning into designing spaces to creating furniture where details are more visible and proportions more important. “When you work as an interior designer, to create new homes, you think in terms of volume, organization, space, light and circulation,” she explained to us. “Creating a furniture collection made me think about forms and function. The scale is different, and the ergonomics become more important.” 

All of the creative work and introspection made Nathalie question “why we do what we do?” And with that came the idea to finally finish a book she had been working on for 15 years. Comforting Homes will bring the reader an idea about the evolution of her work and will examine “how we think about natural materials, how we organize homes and tailor-made spaces to create calm interiors that work as a shelter for families.”

Comforting Homes is full of projects and ideas that feel very personal to her, and she has managed to do it in a way that respects the privacy of her customers. “There was a very particular client we designed a house for where every material had to be healthy to live with and create a positive influence on the family’s daily life,” she told us when we asked about a project that she was particularly excited to share. 

With her new endeavors — furniture collections and book — Nathalie hopes to inspire and stimulate young people, to give her undivided attention to those who she loves and remind people to always do everything out of passion. 

“We need more peace, more understanding and more respect for nature. If we can found this already in the homes we create, that is already a start for a new comforting world.” 

Her furniture line will launch during the summer, and the book will be ready by the end of the year. “A nice Christmas present,” she says enthusiastically.