Beyond the Makeover: The Realities and Opportunities of a Career in Interior Design

• Discover what working as a professional interior designer actually involves beyond the finished aesthetic.
• Explore the value of gaining experience across different sectors, project types and creative environments.
• Learn why adaptability, ownership and confident decision-making are important skills for developing designers.
• Understand how interior design can improve everyday life by creating spaces that inspire, motivate, protect and care for people.

Hosted by Academy Creative Producer Fiona Byrne, this NACA Creative Conversation goes beyond the popular image of interior design to explore the realities, responsibilities and opportunities of working within the profession.

Drawing on almost two decades of experience across residential, hospitality, retail, sports, office, education, community and healthcare projects, Tom will discuss how working across different typologies has shaped him as an all-round designer and given him the knowledge and confidence to work independently and establish his own company.

The conversation will also explore the thinking that happens long before aesthetic decisions are made - from understanding people and place to developing the big ideas that determine how a space should function and feel.

At its heart is Tom's belief that design improves quality of life, and that interior designers have a responsibility to create environments that inspire, motivate, protect and care for people while responding sensitively to the natural environment.

Tom Nancollis is an interior designer and educator with nearly 20 years of professional experience working across interior design studios and architecture practices.

His career has encompassed residential, hospitality, retail, sports, office, education, community and healthcare projects, giving him broad experience of how different sectors influence and inform one another.

Rather than specialising in a single typology, Tom has developed as an all-round designer, taking on varied projects from start to finish, making confident decisions and taking ownership of the design process. Working across sectors and learning from a wide range of designers ultimately gave him the knowledge and confidence to work independently and establish his own company.

Innovation, adaptability and the natural environment are central to Tom's approach. He believes the biggest ideas come early in the design process and that the aesthetic is resolved later. Alongside his professional practice, he shares this approach with students and professionals, encouraging designers to remain creative, open-minded and conscious of their responsibility to improve people's everyday lives.