The English interior designer Nina Campbell may have started her long and illustrious career at Colefax and Fowler, but she has ultimately created an aesthetic that is entirely her own. In the 1960s, nightlife impresario Mark Birley enlisted her to reimagine Annabel’s, his private club in Mayfair, and in the 1970s the two opened Campbell & Birley, a shop on Pimlico Road in Belgravia. Campbell eventually moved to Walton Street in nearby Chelsea, and after more than 50 years in business she continues to design homes all over the world while also running operations for her design studio, shop, and showroom—which, this spring, she is moving back to Pimlico Road. She does all of this with a little help from her children—her son, Max Konig, works with her directly, and her daughter, Rita Konig, is a successful interior designer in her own right. In March, Campbell published her latest book, A House in Maine. Herewith, she shares her key components to the good life. —Ashley Baker
Airline: Qantas.
Airport: Any tiny island airport.
App: WhatsApp.
Bag: My huge blue Anya Hindmarch tote, which fits everything.
Bedtime: 11 p.m.
Bike: I don’t have one. The last time I tried to ride one, in the 90s in Nantucket, I fell on my face!
Birthday: Every birthday, I am always so grateful to have got to the next one.
Breakfast, weekday: Coffee, yogurt, and berries. If guests are staying with me, it’s my favorite time of day, as we meet for breakfast and catch up before everyone goes about their plans for the day.
Breakfast, weekend: A late one.
Car: My Mini. I have a huge poppy tied to the antenna so I can find it easily.
Child: For my own safety, I can’t answer that. I have three.
Cocktail: A Negroni made with blood-orange juice. It’s such a beautiful color.
Cocktail appetizer: Cheese straws homemade by Kate, a wonderful lady who cooks when I have parties.
Couple: Babar and Celeste.
Date: Movie night in a super-comfortable cinema, where they bring tapas and drinks to your seat.
Dinner, weekday: Dinings, a Japanese restaurant next to my shop. It’s light and so delicious.
Dinner, weekend: I like to have friends to my house, as I have time to buy the food and, most importantly, lay the table. I am not a cook.
Drive: The drive from Nassau airport to Lyford Cay. It’s only 10 minutes, and it’s lovely knowing what heaven you have at the end of it.
Enemy:
Wobbly cyclists on the road.
Escape: Hope Hill, my great friend Amanda Lindroth’s beautiful house.
Excuse: “Stuck in traffic.” Often, it’s very genuine!
Friend: One who is loyal and low-maintenance.
Good-bye: Quick, especially when leaving a dinner party.
Hideaway: My bedroom. The walls are lined in fabric and it feels so quiet and cozy.
Hotel: The Crosby Street Hotel, in New York.
Indulgence: A spa day.
Jacket: Light, warm, and packable. I travel a lot, so I love Uniqlo.
Last Meal: Caviar on a mother-of-pearl spoon with nothing but lemon on toasted oatcakes, followed by my friend Prea Kumar’s rose kulfi. I’d like to go to heaven with no indigestion.
Lunch, weekday: Usually a delicious salad from La Picena, the fabulous Italian deli next to my office.
Lunch, weekend: Petersham Nurseries.
Movie: Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday.
Neighbor: All of mine.
Novel: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson, or A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles.
Pet: All dogs, especially my own, Twicks.
Piece of advice: “Just keep going.”
Restaurant: Oswald’s, in London.
Ride: One of London’s black taxis.
Second spouse: My own. When we met, he told me the most attractive thing about him was that he was an orphan, so there were no in-laws to worry about!
SHOES: Orange satin Manolo Blahniks that cheer up everything.
Singer: Renée Fleming.
Storm: An electric storm over the sea, when I am watching it at home—and dry.
STREET: Pimlico Road, where I am moving back to after 40-ish years.
Television series: Schittt’s Creek.
Theme song to your life: “My Way,” by Frank Sinatra.
Time of day: Dawn or dusk. Dawn feels hopeful, but at dusk, you can have a cocktail.
Toast: Brown toast with butter and Marmite.
Vacation: A long weekend somewhere, playing cards and antiquing.
View: The incredible magnolia tree in full bloom outside my bedroom window. I just sit in bed, looking at it.
Wake-up time: I’d love to sleep until 9 a.m. without waking up, but that never happens!
Weekend bag: Something someone else has packed for me.
Writing implement: A fine-point black Sharpie.
Nina’s Essentials
