Atelier NM: The Award-Winning Chameleon Of Interior Design

Atelier NM is an entry in our Great British Brands 2024 book. 

Atelier NM: Great British Brand 2024

Palace Gate

‘We undertook our biggest ever project in 2023, a beautiful £12 million 3,500 sq/ft flat in Belgravia. It took us the whole year to reconfigure it totally, adding a fourth bedroom. It was very client-led, so we shifted away slightly from our usual maximalist aesthetic. I like the idea that we’re chameleons and can adapt totally to tailor every project specifically to people’s individual tastes. I like it when no one can tell who did the design – after all, it’s the customer’s home, not ours.

We were also nominated for a SBID Award, up against a lot of big guns, for a Kensington property we finished last year and were amazed and thrilled to win it.

Everyone’s talking about AI and I know it has the potential to simplify our lives but I hesitate to use it. I’d never want it to replace my four colleagues as they’re such a valuable part of my life. People don’t hire us for our designs but as people. They trust us to deliver. A machine can do a design but it’s when things go wrong you need humans to do the hand-holding. Creating a home can be really stressful. People might think we just run around plumping up cushions – they don’t see the sweat and hard work involved in transforming a design into a home.

Just as the furniture was due to arrive at one project, we discovered £30,000 worth of new carpet was stained. By calling, begging and reorganising, another carpet was delivered the next morning. No machine could have done what we did, as we had the relationships with the suppliers that made them go the extra mile. It’s that human care and love that goes into a project that counts and can never be replaced by a machine.’

Najwa Mroue, founder

Palace Gate

Five Proudest Moments

1. Founding the brand in 2015, building on our rich cultural heritage.
2. Being given our first really big Belgravia flat to design just before lockdown.
3. Seeing our hoarding up in Imperial Wharf on Chelsea Botanica, which we designed from scratch – from the first-ever Peloton gym in a residential building to the concierge area. It was such a buzz to see our name out there and it was London’s fastest-selling scheme in 2022.
4. Finishing our biggest commission to date, the Belgravia flat, in 2023.
5. Being the European winner of the 2023 SBID Best Apartment over £1m Award for a Palace Gate apartment we designed with Chatelaine Interiors.

What I’ve Learnt…

• Having faith that I can resolve even the hardest problem.
• To build up a trusted and close network of suppliers with whom I have a really solid bond and can call on time and time again to deliver.
• You don’t need a big personality to succeed. Integrity, hard work and good intentions will get you through.

Palace Gate

ATELIER NM

The Pavilion, 96 Kensington High Street, London, W8 4SG

+44 (0)7738 528 977

atelier-nm.com

@ateliernminteriors