Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Occupation: Interior Designer
Instagram: @rachael_gowdridge
Hometown: North London
Studio Location: Highbury, London
Describe what you make: I design interiors that are rooted in materiality and atmosphere. My work focuses on creating spaces that feel intuitive and lived-in—where craftsmanship, texture, and proportion come together to form environments that are both purposeful and emotionally resonant.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our latest project, The Dean Hotel in Berlin. The project demanded a sensitive balance between preserving the building’s raw history and introducing warmth, softness, and humanity. It has been a defining project for my studio, crystallizing our approach to contrast, narrative, and designing spaces that feel both grounded and restorative.
Describe the problem your work solves: I help clients navigate the overwhelm of creating a meaningful space. My work brings clarity—translating abstract ideas and emotional needs into environments that are functional, enduring and expressive without being over-designed.
Share the project you are working on now: I’m currently working on Fizmer House, a Paragraph 84 home in rural Nottinghamshire UK for a pair of highly creative clients. Paragraph 84 homes are exceptionally rare, permitted only when a project can demonstrate outstanding architectural quality and a sensitive response to its landscape. The design is rooted in crafted domesticity – using composed apertures, expressive timber architecture and tactile, honest materials to frame views, light and daily rituals. Colour and character are introduced in more intimate moments, creating a home that feels both quietly rigorous and deeply personal.
What you absolutely have to have in your studio: Material samples. I design through touch as much as sight, so having stone, timber, textiles and finishes around me is essential to the process. And a carefully curated soundtrack playing softly in the background. It sets the rhythm of the studio and quietly shapes the mood of everything we create.
What you do when you’re not working: Cooking for friends, visiting galleries around London, or travelling. I’m always drawn to cities where architecture, food and culture overlap.
Sources of creative envy (dead or alive): I recently visited the family home of the architect Charles Jenks – Cosmic House in Holland Park London. It’s a place where architecture, art, colour and symbolism collide – and every room offers a new layer of discovery. Wherever you look, there’s inspiration, symbolism and a sense of humour. It’s a reminder that spaces don’t need to be quiet to be timeless.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Business accounting!
Concrete or marble? Marble
High-Rise Or Townhouse? Townhouse
Remember Or Forget? Remember
Aliens Or Ghosts? Ghosts
Dark Or Light? Dark
