Tash McIntosh Moorman is a born-and-bred North Shore, Auckland, girl. The interior designer’s Northcote Point home, a 1920s’ bungalow, features in Urbis issue 82. We chatted to her about her career and her company, MMiD.

Urbis: Where did your passion for design come from?

Tash McIntosh Moorman: I’ve wanted to design things from as far back as I can remember. I was brought up in a home where my mother did the wallpapering and sewing and my father would build anything that he thought was possible. As a child, I had a very large playhouse that my father made from old car cases. At the age of 10, I decided I was going to cut the roof open with a pair of tin-snips in order to create a new room.

U: How did you get into interior design?

TMM: Fabric has always featured in my life. As a teenager, I would spend hours at the sewing machine with my best friend, sewing clothes and creating weird and wonderful things. When I left school, that led to designing and creating handbags.

When my husband started a house painting company, McIntosh Moorman Painting in 2000, I assisted as the business grew. The ability to tell if the colours were going to work came naturally to me and I became more and more involved in the selection of colours for peoples’ homes. Working with fabrics and furniture followed . I was then head-hunted by David Reid Homes Albany. During my time there, I created an award-winning home, which is still its biggest selling showhome ever. MMiD [Moorman McIntosh’s interior design business] came off the back of my husband’s business. We have grown to a team of four and we work closely on all projects. We work from a 1950s’ garage. It’s rough, quirky, close to home and we all love the weird little space.

U: You recently completed the fitout of Russell McVeagh offices in Auckland and Wellington. Tell us about the scope of that job and what it involved.

TMM: Initially, we were to fitout the Auckland branch and it was the largest project I had ever undertaken. Once we got started, Wellington then became part of the equation. It became a challenge and I wanted it to be special. We had to ensure there was a nod to the history of the company while making a modern interruption. The design and build also had to showcase the firm’s art collection. The project entailed a far greater scope of work than just picking a new palette of colours; we were involved in all aspects of the project, including space planning and design, building consents, project management of all trades (which included the MMiD team doing demolition work in heels!). We are so proud of the outcome. 

U: Does your own home,  featured in Urbis issue 82, reflect your design aesthetic?

TMM: Yes, to a certain degree, but I have many feathers to my boa and like to ensure that all of my projects have a point of difference. My home is always going to be a work in progress. I was a magpie in a past life, attracted to shiny, quirky and interesting things. I’m a collector so I’m always searching for something that no one else has to add to the overall look of my home. 

U: What’s the best thing about what you do?

TMM: I love what I do – it’s so much fun – we spend most of our days laughing and creating. I’m not sure that there would be a better job for me or that I could be surround by a better team.

U: What are you and your team working on at the moment?

TMM: It’s a great mixed bag. We’re working on a cottage in Queenstown and a delightful project in Fiji. We have a fantastic client base who are continuously adding elements or planning something grand and we are always involved from the get-go. These clients have been using MMiD for many years and are the backbone of my business.

U: What would be your dream commission?

TMM: My dream has been the same for the past few years: One day I’ll get a call about a fabulous hotel that is waiting for an MMiD fitout.