This list could almost have been endless. The number of incredible interior designers working in the UK keeps us at Livingetc very busy. Their level of creativity, finesse, panache, and decorative understanding is so high that they’re continually evolving what style looks like right now, while taking the best of the British aesthetic and putting it squarely on the main stage (arguably only Australia has quite as many inspiring and influential designers as us).
But the 13 chosen here are the ones who are total masters of their craft, whose body of work is full of examples of how they totally understand what a modern home should be.
Broken into sections — the color experts, the luxe list, and the elevated family spaces — these names are who we turn to for style advice time and again, and who should form your first port of call when it comes to modern home design.
Maddux Creative
Maddux Creative has just launched an interiors line, Maison by Maddux.
(Image credit: Ricardo Labougle. Design: Maddux Creative)
To say that Scott Maddux and Jo Le Gleud of Maddux Creative are ‘just’ color experts is to do them a disservice — they use color to create moods, moments, and magic. Take this 1970s-inspired yet modern bathroom, where the textures and tones of the disco era have been harnessed to evoke a soothing and spa-like space. “We like that bricky red, it’s such a throwback,” Scott says, “but next to the pink it just works — everyone looks surrounded by pink, it’s just lovely to be around, which is why it’s wonderful for a bathroom.”
The duo takes saturated shades — blues often appear — and uses them to make rooms feel like jewel boxes, full of trinkets, treasure, and charm. With Jo’s background in embroidery and Scott’s flair for the extraordinary, their projects are detailed, delicious, and designed to make homes — and the people in them — feel special.
Golden
This color drenched living room is a bold expression of the design studio’s style.
(Image credit: Michael Sinclair. Design: Golden)
Relative newcomers on the block, Golden are making kaleidoscopic ripples with their approach to bold hues, chosen wisely and used well. Helmed by Ellen Cumber and Alice Bettington, not every space is packed quite as much of a punch as this pink living room, but they’re never afraid to squeeze every drop of joy out of any given hue.
“We love Mylands’ BYR 204 pink paint, which is bright and intense, but without being too bubblegum or sweet,” Ellen says of the scheme above. “We covered this whole reception room in it, but that only really worked because the space was so large.” Too much to handle? They know how to pare things back, too. “For a more regular-sized room, we’d probably have gone with Farrow and Ball’s Setting Plaster, which is more knocked-back. Our favourite neutral with a hint of pink is Dimity, also by Farrow and Ball,” Ellen adds. “I have it on my own kitchen walls, and it can look almost white, then in some lights the pink just manages to shine through.”
Studio Duggan
Tiffany Duggan doesn’t mind if you call her palette ‘sludgy’.
(Image credit: Sarah Griggs. Design: Studio Duggan)
Interior designer Tiffany Duggan is so good at curating colorful homes full of characterful pieces that she has also turned her hand to product design (her offshoot brand Trove is exactly as the name suggests.
She is the master of rich, sludgy colors. “I love the word sludgy,” Tiffany says ‘I currently feel like I’ve found my happy place — I really love deep aubergines and browns against chalky and moody walls in a dirty plaster pink. The idea of something matt next to a gloss is really delicious to me. I use a lot of greens, but not really very many blues.”
Except, of course, when it comes to this blue living room, above, which Studio Duggan managed to find a way to pair with a rich pink sofa. “Well I like that sort of Dutch blue you see on Delft tiles, but I find the darker blues really difficult to make work with the deeper, warmer shades I like, so they’re quite restricting in terms of what I can put with them. But green on the other hand… I just painted a house in Citrine by Edward Bulmer and it was a fun jolt of acid bright, which then branched off into softer pink and buttery yellow rooms. Their creaminess against the boldness was a winning combo,” she says, displaying neatly how, essentially, she can bring the best out of any palette.
Morrisstudio
(Image credit: Paul Massey. Design: Morrisstudio)
Tom Morris of Morrisstudio loves to use colors with hints of the earth in them — browns, reds, and caramels feature regularly. He has designed family homes and chocolate shops, in modern and period buildings, each one layered and fascinating and pigmentally diverse. And he’s not afraid to play with softer palettes, as this dining room and its centering around blue shows.
“Blues can be tricky, and rely solely on what sort of light a space has,” Tom says. “Steer clear of blue in north-facing spaces, where many blues become something else far too quickly. Anything bright goes cold, and with warmer blues, which tend to have a bit of red in them, they end up as lavender or lilac. A paint I love is Aerial Tint by Edward Bulmer, which is really soft and has a tiny bit of pink pigment in it. I used it in this big dining room that had windows at both ends. In warm light, it came alive, and on grayer days, it managed to retain a bit of its warmth anyway. Pairing it with a navy tablecloth on the table helped to anchor the blue of the walls, stopping it from veering too far in the direction of that pink.”
Alex Dauley
Alex’s design at WOW!house 2025 was one of the highlights.
(Image credit: WOW!house. Design: Alex Dauley)
Interior designer Alex Dauley is one of those stories that seems like an overnight success, but who has actually been working hard and determinedly for years. She honed her skills overhauling family homes in and around south London, gradually taking on bigger and more luxe projects, recently giving a Notting Hill townhouse marble-filled makeover. And it seems she is finally getting the recognition she deserves with a stellar turn at this year’s WOW!house exhibition at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, where she created a media room specifically for empty nesters who were done with living in a more classically family-friendly space (it’s not difficult to see the link here between Alex’s own design journey).
A gold Artemest wall-hanging sculpture and bespoke Holland & Sherry rug were the standout moments, only slightly overshadowed by the way the Nucleus media system was revealed by a disappearing piece of art. The next phase of Alex’s career is going to be as incredible to watch as the TV was from that curved Julian Chichester sofa in its perfect tone of rust.
Banda
(Image credit: Michael Sinclair. Design: Banda)
When Banda launched in 2007, it was a time when minimalism was a dirty word, and long before we at Livingetc had coined the term minimaluxe to describe a personality-filled yet pared-back approach. Founder Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s vision could be seen as the start of it.
“We strive to create spaces that express calm and offer a serene respite, especially working within some of the world’s most hectic cities and capitals,” Edoardo says. The Banda look takes the slightly rustic edges you find in a country home and reimagines them into a luxe yet liveable urban space. “We believe a home should be a sanctuary, meticulously curated to balance beauty and functionality. Our philosophy centres on crafting environments that inspire tranquility while also embracing the vibrancy of their surrounding context.”
What Banda rooms do is invite you to come into them, to relax, to be at peace in an informal way. Shoes on or off, glass of red wine in your hand or plonked down on a table. The trick is in the curation, the blend of polished and patinated, old and new.
Elicyon
You can expect to see luxurious elements in Elicyon Interiors’ designs.
(Image credit: Patrick Williamson. Design: Elicyon)
Since the designer Charu Gandhi opened Elicyon 12 years ago, she has designed homes for people like Simon Cowell. “The 1% are my thing!” she says, referring to those with super-wealth. Yet while she has insight into how the rich live and decorate, her homes — up and down the budget scale (though not too far down) — all retain the same sense of artistry, craftsmanship, and attention to individual detail.
“I would like to urge people to take a step into the world of craft, it really will change your relationship to the space you live in,” Charu says. “For newcomers, I’d recommend starting by visiting fairs — they’re more relaxed, and with so many people showcasing their work, you can move about fairly anonymously. London Craft Week and Collect are good, as are graduate fairs like the University of the Arts, London. They’re not as intimidating as, say, a modern art gallery might be, and you can just let yourself gravitate to whatever you find interesting.” This approach shines through her work, a sense of discovery and true delight.
Olga Ashby Interiors
Olga’s designs often sit in a creative yet neutral design space.
(Image credit: Vigo Jansons. Design: Olga Ashby Interiors)
At Livingetc, we turn to Olga Ashby for many things — she knows how to use lighting to bathe spaces in the richest and most beguiling glows. She knows how to create rooms you want to sink into and relax in while still feeling smart. And she knows how to get the most from every material she uses, whether it’s backlighting travertine, adding a shimmering gold fleck to a wallcovering, or choosing a rug because it makes you want to walk barefoot.
She has designed a hotel in Puglia, a coffee shop in London, and homes across Europe, each with her signature flair for a neutral palette and ultra-sense of luxury. “Luxury is about pieces that are bespoke,” Olga says, setting out her stall for 2025 and beyond. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. It’s just about taking what is out there and crafting it in a way that works for how you live.”
Stephanie Barba Mendoza
Stephanie’s own house gives a clue to her design style.
(Image credit: Kingston Leverne. Design: Stephanie Barba Mendoza)
After a decade working at Martin Brudnizki, Stephanie Barba Mendoza set up her own studio in 2019, its unofficial motto being the Diana Vreeland quote ‘exaggeration is my only reality’, and a sentiment Stephanie applied liberally when designing her own home, shown above. “It’s that feeling of ‘is it too much? I don’t think so’,” she says. “It’s important to have fun with decor, and I like to have some theater, something unexpected, not paired how things normally are.”
Her mix of antiques, lavish upholstery, and warm tones is what earns her spot in the luxury section of this list – there is a grandness to her schemes that comes from her effortless curation. “Everything is so elaborate, each detail is so well and carefully chosen, the more you look at the decor, the more you realize there is layer upon layer,” Stephanie says of other work that inspires her, but could be easily talking about her own approach.
A New Day
This mix of contemporary materials is atypical of A New Day’s designs.
(Image credit: Anna Stathaki. Design: A New Day)
“I’m obsessed with the idea of gathering, I almost included the word in my studio name back when I was starting out,” says Andrew Jonathan Griffiths, whose studio eventually ended up being called A New Day. “I want to create spaces in which people gather, either with friends or family, or with themselves, where they gather their thoughts.”
And he does just that. Elegant spaces for real life, places people can come together surrounded by a modern take on texture, by rich tones, and in perfect seating just made for conviviality. “It comes back to the context and what that space needs to deliver for the people who live in it — how they’re going to use it,” he says. “I really like having a shift in feel as you walk from one area to the other, so you might have a space you’d use on a Tuesday night that is different from what they’d want on a Saturday, where they’d be in a different area. I want to piece together a home that works for every moment in a person’s life, somewhere they can gather.”
Gunter and Co
Irene Gunter’s use of color and texture has a bold sense of sophistication.
(Image credit: Gunter and Co)
“I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few months about what makes people feel at home, and how I can harness that sense to create better spaces,” says Irene Gunter, founder of Gunter and Co. “What I’m finding to be more interesting than aesthetics, and asking people what colors they like visually, for example, is to asl them lots of other weird and wonderful questions instead. Things like what time they wake up, what they do the moment they wake up, what they do the moment they come home, if they’re a tidier or they need a space to dump their things while they say hello to kids or pets or grab a drink. It helps me build a better understanding of the design they’re going to need.”
This gentle interrogation allows Irene to create homes that are both grand and welcoming, full of clever storage ideas hidden by upscale paneling and color choices. Her work is classic Livingetc — there is always a twist, always something unexpected, but it always works to enhance the life lived around it.
Lonika Chande
Strong colors layered onto a soft background is the signature of Lonika’s designs.
(Image credit: Milo Brown. Design: Lonika Chande)
The designer Lonika Chande harnesses the power of decorating with jewel tones to create supremely liveable spaces, with comfortable seating and areas to come together central to each project. “I’m just not a pastels girl, I love strong tones,” Lonika says. “But our backdrops always tend to be softer, earthier. Jewel shades sit so well against terracotta or light whites, clay finishes that have a bit of depth to them. Those bright hues are so much fresher when there is a neutral for them to sing out against.”
It’s this understanding that lands her in this section — she could easily have been in Color Experts — and the way that her spaces always seem to make your shoulders drop. They are made for relaxing into, living real life around, and being somewhere you’re excited to call your home.
Suzy Hoodless
Suzy Hoodless’ schemes always bring a bit of energy from something unexpected.
(Image credit: Paul Massey. Design: Suzy Hoodless)
Currently celebrating 25 years running her own studio, Suzy Hoodless has perfected the art of putting rooms together. “I liken any scheme to a recipe, you need to put in the right mix of ingredients and it’ll all come together as a whole,” Suzy says. “For a neutral scheme, my approach would be to try and put each paint or fabric choice together so that it all seems perfectly matched, and then throw in that unpredictability to rev it all up. In this neutral living room, my starting point was a white fabric with very slim gray-blue pinstripes. I took those stripes and found other pieces that matched tonally — a velvet sofa in an equally knocked back blue from George Smith, the soft grey of China Grey from Little Greene on the walls, and equally soothing grey curtains using fabric from Kvadrat. Then, when it was all looking quite lovely I gave it a bit of energy by adding a red rug — amping up the room with a bit of heat. It worked, though, because it wasn’t totally random — the base of the rug was the same grey as the walls.”
This forensic understanding is what has made Suzy an icon of our times – her yellow door frame was recently cited as inspiration by Golden Design, at the top of this list, for one of their own projects, and seen her endure for a quarter of a century.
What the names on this varied list all have in common is their dedication to creating spaces where people feel something. Perhaps it’s a room that helps you relax, or makes you want to be elegant, or a place to help you gather your thoughts. Through color, through furniture and through a complete knowledge of decor these leading designers are all paving the way for what interiors look like — now, next year and beyond.
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