How did you choose a career in architecture and interior design?

Nancy Disk (ND): I have been artistic for my whole life. When I wasn’t playing sports, I was creating and using my hands, either drawing, building forts, doing puzzles, painting murals, restoring furniture, etc. I went to an art and design university and my parents wanted me to choose a major that would allow me to “get a job” so painting was out. This was pragmatic advice as my family is not artistic or creative — I am the so-called black sheep. Little did they know it would lead to an over-a-decade-long career in Italy, completing projects across six continents, and then to New Zealand.

Who or what influences your thinking?

ND: Life and connections. My thinking and approach to design is influenced by everything around me, and by my curiosity to learn and be stimulated. It’s important that everything has a purpose, a connection and a touch of the unexpected. Every material, colour selection, pattern, wall placement, etc. has been considered within a space linking to a narrative. In my travels, I’ve experienced different cultures, art, architecture, cuisine and landscapes, which constantly feed my knowledge and creativity. The more we understand, the more we can connect. Aged 14, on an exchange programme to Russia, we toured The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St Petersburg. In awe of the detail and beauty of the space, I was transported to another world and didn’t realise I’d been left behind as I was lost in a sensory overload. In hindsight, this moment may have connected me to a future career in architecture and design.

Does colour play a large part in your designs?

ND: There’s something really beautiful and sophisticated about monochromatic palettes full of rhythmic, textured layers. People often don’t consider black, white and grey to be colours but they contain traces of various colours within and that’s where the beauty lies. My palettes always include a hero colour, either in a bold form or a subtle cue. We recently completed TGT Legal’s new office and they wanted a warmer, more inviting space. The subtle transition between Resene Cloudy and Resene Quarter Cloud created a beautiful effect with the sunlight and really shows off their art collection and joinery. We then used Resene Off The Grid and Resene Dark Side in internal meeting rooms and breakout spaces for a subtle flair.

What was the thinking behind your collab?

ND: A Florentine colleague once stressed: “Always respect alignment, symmetry and the turtle dove,” as in dove grey, the ‘in’ colour at the time. I always go back to these three fundamentals. Alignment and symmetry were my nod to Florence, Italy, my second home. My other inspiration was my hometown, Savannah, Georgia, and its Low Country landscape. It references the morning light and the hypnotic billowing of cordgrass (marsh grass) in the breeze, as well as ‘tabby concrete’, a building material made out of oyster shells, sand and water, found in the USA’s coastal south-east. The artwork was photographed in a dense backdrop of lomandra, in lieu of cordgrass.

How did you select your colours?

ND: The neutral Resene Quarter Caraway and Resene Half Lemon Grass are rendered with texture to reference the ‘tabby concrete’, while the teal of Resene Retro is the closest to my own version of ‘the turtle dove’. My hero colour, Resene Neva, is the glorious, vivid green of cordgrass when the morning light hits its slender tips in the summer.

See more from the Resene Colour Collab series here.

ArchitectureNow works with a range of partners in the A&D supply sector to source appropriate content for the site. This article has been supported by Resene.