Tucked away in the beautiful mountains of Les Gets stands an elegant chalet, worthy of a James Bond film and 007 himself. Once an aging farmhouse, this sophisticated, cosy chalet allows you to tiptoe into nature along its decking, which surrounds a modern infinity-pool, a jacuzzi and a warming fire pit. On the one hand, enveloped in comfort, yet immersed in nature with birds singing and where beautiful conifers are often decked in snow and the sun sets across the valley on rugged peaks. This is a paradise, and goes by the name of Ferme de Moudon, and is the home of top interior designer Nicky Dobree, the lady whose talent truly turns dream homes into reality.

Nicky Dobree is best known as the world’s leading interior designer in luxury ski chalets, but she also specialises in private residential homes internationally and has recently completed her first boutique hotel in Andalucia, Spain. Her work is widely recognised and has won many awards over the years. She has designed an endless list of classic, contemporary, and architecturally brilliant homes.

Nicky approaches every project by taking into consideration the place, lifestyle and daily habits of her clients. She builds an analytical framework that takes these factors into account and applies them to her creative design process. She conceives and visualises these forms and spaces to establish a depth of style that asserts substance and texture and gives her projects a sense of place, harmony and timelessness.

Behind the scenes is her team of skilled professionals, including cabinet makes, upholsterers, leather workers, specialist decorators and carpenters, who instil in every project uniquely crafted interior. Her signature approach brings a sense of wellbeing into her projects.  This personal and intimate quality of her work allows Nicky to be the well-known, well-loved interior designer she is.

Nicky Dobree grew up in Paris and Vietnam and travelled extensively.  This exposed her, from an early age, to many different cultures and countries and became the basis for much of her inspiration later in her career. With every move, her mother would set up home. “She became a wonderful homemaker“ explains Nicky “I was very influenced by these experiences at that young age, they marked my future, in a way I became a professional homemaker”.

Her childhood experiences have also clearly turned her into an intrepid traveller, her last major travels were to Ethiopia, which she describes as “a challenging and extremely rewarding journey into a biblical wonderland”. She describes how she longs to visit Jordan: “I want to take a donkey to the rose city of Petra, rather like Lalibela, with its amazing ancient rock architecture.” It is clear that her love for extreme travel is as strong as ever, and at the heart of her inspiration.

Nicky went to Bristol University to read French and Italian, and after graduating, worked in foreign rights for a number of years before re-training in interior architecture and design. Upon completing her course, she worked with TMH (later to become Taylor Howes,) bringing a contemporary element to their practise.  After Taylor Howes, she set up on her own and her career, as we know, flourished from there.

Her work has been extensively published and she is amongst the Andrew Martin Top Leading Interior Designers in the world and part of the House & Garden top 100. “I am really lucky to do what I do” says Nicky “I really love it, and being recognised for what I do is a bonus, but at the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the pleasure that the client has with their new home” .

Nicky explains how her job is “to give her clients a better sense of wellbeing”. She does not have a preference for a specific type of project and works in different architectural styles internationally: “it is lovely to have diversity”.  She often finds the hardest jobs to be the most rewarding and enjoys pushing the boundaries.

Her projects range from building and designing new homes, to converting older period properties, suitable for living today. For her, both are equally inspiring. With older buildings she sees herself as a “curator”, retaining the soul of the building with its existing architectural details and bringing the appropriate modern twist.  With new builds the challenge is to give it a soul, a sense of place and to make it feel like a home.

Nicky’s work extends way beyond the simple ideas of what materials to use, and how to make them work, her projects ensure her clients end up with a house that they can truly call home, one which brings lasting happiness and wellbeing into their lives.

Nicky’s inspiration for her work stems largely from her love travel, culture and nature. Nicky explains, “Much of my work is inspired by our natural surroundings, I have always worked hard to bring these elements into the home”. One way she does this is to work with local materials. She doesn’t agree with the idea of “putting a glass box on the edge of a mountain”: she prefers to retain the vernacular of a building or surrounding buildings. “History is a great teacher, there will always be a sound reason why a vernacular has evolved, a tradition to be adhered to, I like to push the boundaries of design from the inside”.

Her design style, in her own words, is “classic contemporary, elegant and timeless”, as she believes it is important for design not to date: “It is an expensive investment, people want a home with essence, not a fashionable gimmick”. Here Nicky excels, for her designs are renowned for being timeless: she says “I pride myself on creating homes that may have been done 20 years ago, but are still as contemporary today as they were then”.  Of course, this is the true mark of artistic genius.

There are countless homes that Nicky has designed, and for her to name a favourite is almost impossible. However, one that lives very close to her heart, is her own home in the mountains, Ferme de Moudon. This project involved the conversion of a 300-year-old alpine farmhouse in Les Gets, described by Kevin McCloud in the TV stalwart, Grand Designs as the “ultimate James Bond pad” and “the finest winter house in the French Alps” by Tatler.

Nicky explains how “the process was challenging to go through, unbelievably difficult”, but it has been worth it. Twenty years on, “there is little I would change, it works for summer and winter living and has been able to comfortably accommodate our evolving family needs, as we progress through ‘the seven ages of man’”. This project also acted as her springboard into chalet design: what was initially a place for her family to escape the frenzy of city life, was picked up by Grand Designs, becoming a TV sensation, with over 10 million worldwide viewings. As a result, it gave birth to what has long been acknowledged as setting the trend for Alpine luxury chalet design as we know it today.

Her work is as diverse as ever, from “ground-breaking architectural designs” in Val d’Isere, to a “Hamptons style” house on the south coast of England. Nicky is clearly not short of extraordinary projects. Her admirable talent and work ethic seem to be propelled by her positive mindset and focus on the future. She says, “What I love about what I do is that I am continuously pushing boundaries, and continuously learning”. A mindset that has allowed her to be the wonderfully successful designer she is today.

Outside her hours as a talented designer, Nicky is an enthusiastic skier: “I love skiing and have skied for many years. It has been indispensable to have that knowledge when it comes to the chalets that I design”. While many will have a first memory of skiing as being a series of face-plants, Nicky’s first memory is slightly more unconventional –she says “my parents would go off skiing and leave me in my pram with the chair lift attendant. Once they went off skiing and forgot about me”. This unorthodox story for a first skiing memory “whether it’s a memory or a story, it’s so ingrained, I feel that I have been skiing since I was in that pram”.

Today there is so much about skiing she loves, “the beauty of the outdoors, the freshness of the mountains, that sensation of having had a hard day’s ski and coming home to a log fire and a cup of tea – it’s just the most wonderful way of living”.

For Nicky, her love of skiing and experience as a skier, has also aided her design. She explains how “it’s really important to understand how a chalet works as a skier, the practicalities of a skier’s life, where to put your skis and boots and hang your coats, it’s all about the flow of the space”. There is also a need to consider the chalet’s suitability for living in both summer and winter months. Nicky’s lifelong passion for skiing has been a valuable ally when building and designing chalets.

When asked about her favourite ski resort, Nicky finds it impossible to choose one, but when pushed picks Les Gets for retaining the feel of a traditional farming community, for tree skiing and a huge ski domain and Val d’Isere for a fabulous social winter party scene and exciting skiing. She adds, “I have been lucky enough to work in over 20 different resorts, what makes each so wonderful is its individual charm”.

Nicky Dobree’s outstanding design and endless list of grateful clients, has secured her the enviable reputation as one of the world’s leading interior designers. She created a new genre for contemporary alpine living that due to its timeless nature is as strong today as it was when she set the trend twenty years ago. Her ability to turn houses into elegant comfortable homes is a reflection of Nicky’s generosity and brilliance that make her the go-to designer that she is today.