House Guest by Country & Town House | Interior Designer Interviews

'When we talk about hotels, we talk about building soulful places at scale and you have to feel a connection,' says Tara Bernerd, founder and head of a globally-renowned multi-disciplinary design studio Tara Bernerd & Partners. Tune in to hear more about her projects including the stunning Maroma – a Belmond hotel on the Maya Riviera in Mexico – her collaboration with Italian brand Frette, the time she met Robert Redford in an elevator, and why she’s learning all the time.

From the Alps to Mallorca, Mélie Dunod's August Collections bring elegance, efficiency and eco-conscious design to co-ownership, making the European holiday home dream much more attainable. The chic co-founder of August chats to Carole Annett about why becoming an entrepreneur was inevitable, what the tick-box is for each property August buys, and why she never asks for preferences or advice on the interior design. Tune in for more.

The first House Guest podcast of our new series is interior design supremo Kelly Hoppen. Renowned for her love of neutrals – ‘They are good for your state of mind,’ she says – Kelly tells Carole Annett about her East meets West philosophy, what happened when she met her design icon, Ralph Lauren, how excited she is about creating the ultimate home on the high street with her M&S collections, and why 2026 will be pivotal for her career. The podcast was recorded in December 2025.

Is this the future of vintage furniture shopping? This week, Carole sits down with Portuguese interior designer Barbara Neto to hear about how she's challenging the design industry's status quo with the launch of Curiouz. Describing the brand as more than a marketplace, but a movement, the AI powered platform is designed to revolutionise vintage furniture shopping. Born out of her own frustrations as a seller and consumer (never sure if the information she was given about items were correct or how they would arrive), she created Curiouz so that designers could finally shop and sell with confidence.

'I think the only thing I can rely on is my intuition and instinct,' says this week's house guest Irishman Shayne Brady. A recurring guest on BBC Interior Design Masters (they can't get enough of him and who can blame them), Shayne has recently consciously uncoupled from Brady Williams, the studio he set up with his former business partner Emily over 13 years ago (they still talk most days).
He has taken his commercial clients, including restaurant supremo Jeremy King, into the new studio. Among his many projects is the soon to reopen Simpson's in the Strand. Shayne had me giggling most of the afternoon – loved my time with him. Tune in for more.