Design begins with paying attention.
The way morning light enters a room. The pleasure of laying down on a soft carpet. The weight of a door handle in your hand. The changing colour of a wall through the seasons. Paying attention to the things we do without thinking, and to the small moments that make an ordinary day feel special.

Nena works across objects, interiors, architecture and film. For her, these are not separate disciplines, but different ways of looking at the same thing: how we inhabit the world. Every project begins with curiosity. What does a place already have to say? What does a person need, want, remember, or dream of? What small gestures could make a life more pleasurable? Slowly, a new story begins to take shape, always different, but always looking for the wonder hidden in the everyday.

When this new story inevitably has to meet a material, a budget, a craftsperson, a landscape, a climate and a way of living, Nena cares about these realities not as limitations, but as an integral part of the work. She looks closely at materials and processes, considers what a project will cost to make and to maintain, and thinks about its ecological and human consequences. The aim is not to make things more austere in the name of responsibility, nor more extravagant in the name of beauty, but to find thoughtful ways for the two to coexist. Finding small moments where ritual and function become inseparable.

The result might be a house, a restaurant, a shop, a piece of furniture, a film, or something that sits somewhere between them. Whatever the scale, the ambition is the same: to make things with attention, imagination and care. Perhaps it is simply a search for something that was lost — and, in doing so, a way of re-enchanting the world.

I prefer poetry, but for those who prefer credentials, click here.