Theo Nakamura

Theo Nakamura trained as an architect before pivoting to interiors, and it shows. His Tokyo-to-London practice specialises in spaces that hold their breath — rooms of extreme calm, where every object has earned its place. He is allergic to trends.

@theonakamura theonakamura.co

Preview - East London Stillness

The brief was almost nothing — which is my favourite kind. The client, a composer, wanted a place to think. No television. No dining table large enough for more than four people. A kitchen that could disappear when not in use. A place to hear the rain.

London, England

Preview - A House in East London

Kyoto, Japan

Preview - Silence and Steel in Kyoto

The house belonged to a retired professor of classical Japanese literature who wanted, paradoxically, nothing Japanese in it. Not as a rejection of his culture but as a relief from it — forty years of scholarship had made him hunger for blankness.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Preview - What the Client Forgot to Ask For

Every project eventually reveals a thing the client didn't know they wanted. In this case, it was the kitchen. The clients — two lawyers with a combined work schedule that left almost no time for cooking — had asked for a minimal kitchen, as small as possible. They got a kitchen that became the centre of the apartment.

Berlin, Germany

Preview - The Client Who Changed Their Mind Twice

The first brief was for a minimal apartment. The second brief, after six months of design work, was for a comfortable apartment. The third and final brief — arrived at after a long dinner at which both clients were honest with themselves for the first time — was for a warm, generous space that would also be beautiful.