Nina Campbell: Design Influence

Nina Campbell was awarded the American fashion award for ‘the woman who has most influenced style internationally’.

She started her professional design life at General Trading Company on Sloane Street and at Colefax and Fowler before setting up her own business. She was asked to decorate the club Annabel’s by Mark Birley and went on to manage projects including The Groucho Club, The Hotel Parc Victor Hugo in Paris and the Savoy Lobby (with David Linley) as well as private residential projects.

When I meet her at her home in Fulham, she tells me about her involvement with the charity Kids Co which supports vulnerable innercity children. Nina and the charity’s charismatic director Camila Batmanghelidjh came up with the Colour My Life project: decorating the homes of deprived children.

Nina mentored a 19-year-old boy, taking him on to work in her company. ‘There tends to be little support once you’re eighteen. He literally had a light bulb in his room and no furniture. We designed his flat and he painted his room. Everyone needs someone to talk to, so we meet and have a chat every so often and text each other.’ She has also recently launched a new range of crockery with Kids Co, Food for Kids which sprang from Camilla’s art classes: ‘One of the boys painted a picture of food served on a plate and he used to eat the paper. He was never fed – he was literally starving.’

Another project Nina is particularly excited about is her collaboration with high street fashion designers, Ted Baker. ‘It’s my first foray into fashion. I wouldn’t dream of doing fashion myself but loved doing it with them with their fabulous attention to detail. They’re such an exciting and energized company.’

Nina feels the current climate is also encouraging a more creative approach in design choices: ‘It’s actually quite exciting - people are being more inventive in the way they’re buying things. For example, they might pick up six lovely glasses from an antiques shop in the country rather than ordering 24 beautiful glasses as they may have done.’

She will be launching her own new glass collection at the designer show Decorex in the autumn. ‘At the moment we’re making everything in England – I want to make sure it’s just right.’ And Nina’s also brought back her signature heart on her china. ‘The cups have a little heart on the inside – a little bit of wit – I want people to feel somebody’s thought about it.’