Speakers

A boundary-breaker known for imaginative, pragmatic, people-focused design, Nicola is a multi-faceted commercial interior designer and creative strategist with over 25 years of experience. Her instinct for finding beautiful, elegant solutions to practical challenges has led her to work with globally revered businesses and brands such as McKinsey & Company, Brookfield Properties, Related Argent and Coca-Cola.

Nicola jointly leads the team at Basha-Franklin, an award-winning independent first-generation architecture and interior design practice turning heads across the industry for its transformative, future-oriented design.

A genuinely holistic designer, she merges her understanding of art, architecture, and design to co-create multi-layered, life-enriching work that's good for people and the planet.

Sustainability, wellbeing and inclusivity principles guide her every move. An advocate for building reuse and renewal – 'nothing is more sustainable' – she revels in working with the existing, giving new life and meaning to buildings that proudly bear the traces of their former lives. Flexibility, circular processes, zero carbon initiatives, inventive material reuse and biophilic principles all play a key role in her thinking.

Nicola eschews a one-size-fits-all approach, instead championing truly inclusive design that considers everyone's needs, physical and mental. She believes that only by designing inclusively and creating positive experiences that lead to a sense of belonging can she enhance all people's wellbeing.