Get to Know : House of Nomad

August 4, 2021

Founded on the idea that travel fosters the best creativity, designers Kelley and Berkeley of House of Nomad, travel the world to source one of a kind global finds that fit their eclectic modern style. We caught up with them on Instagram Live you can view here. Below are some of the highlights and of course images of our favorite bookshelf hardware.

House of Nomad Designers - Kelley and Berkeley

Images Courtesy : @houseofnomad

Q : Tell us about how HON got started.

We met about 10 years ago. Berk was renovating her house, and I was working at Restoration Hardware in Charlotte. Berk and her husband came in looking for a sofa and I went over to say hi, and I wanted to make friends. After talking for a few minutes we were talking about travel and our love to explore and design. And within a few months of that we had our group of 4 best friends. We met and we knew we wanted to start something together; we just knew we wanted to travel and we knew we wanted to design.

Shop Travel Inspired hardware here.

Q : Was it hard taking that leap to start your own business?

I would say we are very good at calculating risks. We both worked at our jobs for about 6 months working every night and every weekend. And we established clients and felt like we were in a good place to leave our full time jobs.

Bookshelf Design with Benson Backplate & Benson Knob in Brass

Images Courtesy : @houseofnomad @mb_productions_nc

Q: How did you find your initial clients?

My next door neighbor was our first client...and our dentist! We agreed that once we got a project we would really invest in professional photography of the spaces. We really believe that strong photography is important in the design industry.

Q: How has travel played into your design?

It comes in multi layered. A lot of our designs will start with a beautiful Morrocan rug or a color or tile. We see things when we’re traveling and it inspires everything that we do. We’re working on a really fun project right now for a client that’s in love with Morocco. Every design has some sort of incorporation of something that has been sourced by us; it has something very special to it and something that’s very unique to each project...it’s something that you can’t find everywhere and we care a lot about that.

Get the Look : Pair the Benson backplate in brass with the Benson Knob.

Images Courtesy : @houseofnomad

Q: Your two stores also tell that story! Can you describe the Charleston and Charlotte locations?

Yes a lot of clients that come in our store say that they feel very at home or that they could just live here or that they feel transported and we love those buzz words because that’s what we’re really about. And we open people’s eyes to all these different artisans all around the world. Right now we’re working with some beautiful artisans outside of Oaxaca that make beautiful glassware. You get to experience different cultures and it makes it special like it’s not just a water cup it’s handmade and we just get so jazzed up about it.

HON Store locations:

CHARLOTTE
1405 East Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28203
(980) 585-1007

CHARLESTON
214 King St. Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 637-4130

Bathroom Design with Lane Knob in Dalmation Jasper

Images Courtesy : @houseofnomad

Q: How do you choose your hardware for a project?

We tend to be team brass or black. We think black is a good neutral ground where you can blend metals with it. And then we also love anything with personality and we have the dalmation knobs by Modern Matter in our study and they’re just the cutest things. We don’t take it too seriously.

House of Nomad selected the Lane hardware in dalmation jasper.

Images Courtesy : @houseofnomad @laurasumrak

Q: You seem to have mastered styling a bookshelf! Any tips?

We think scale is important when styling. You always need to lean towards the larger scale objects because the smaller objects make it look cluttered. And wallpaper is always a bold good idea with bookshelves.

We also always come in with a texture at some point- like we will have crystals and then a marble sculpture and have this juxtaposition next to each other and it feels so good. We’re always playing with where the textures belong. We want to incorporate as much texture as possible. Balancing out the texture makes you feel more connected to it and it has a lot of earthy elements and makes it more beautiful and refined.

Get to Know House of Nomad