Hi, I’m Anja,

I’m an interior designer, craftswoman, woodworker and furniture designer based in Manchester offering interior design consultations, DIY consultations and DIY Empowerment Workshops for women.

I love creating natural, warm, contemporary, bright and inviting spaces. I have a passion for natural materials such as wood, bamboo, plants and organic linen. I love positive, calming and life-affirming atmospheres, but also invigorating colours in the right places. Contemporary interior design styles that I draw inspiration from include botanical, industrial, Scandinavian, mid-century, bohemian, modern rustic and Mediterranean.

I spent the first part of my professional life favouring the analytical side of my brain and personality. With a degree in Sociology, Media Studies and English, I reported on British and American culture and society as a freelance journalist for German news outlets such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel, Die Welt und ZEIT Online (here). I published numerous peer-reviewed academic articles and book chapters in the field of popular music and fandom studies (here), and helped other scholars disseminate their work in the English-speaking scientific world in good English (here).

In 2016, triggered in part by the death of my lifelong inspiration David Bowie, I began working creatively with tangible materials like wood, paints, stains and pieces of seemingly unsalvageable furniture. I have since designed my first series of coat racks which combine expressionist and abstract painting with a useful, but often bland piece of homeware.

I consider myself an expressionist craftswoman with a fine art sensibility. But don’t you let that put you off!

In 2018 I earned a Diploma in Professional Interior Design at the National Design Academy. That same year, as a test of my newly acquired skill set, I refurbished a 3-bedroom Victorian house on my own. I did my own hands-on bricklaying, plastering, plumbing, tiling, cabinetmaking and joinery in the process, as well as the conceptual interior design. You can see the results of this work here.

I now want to encourage and empower other women to increase their competence and confidence in different areas of DIY.

When I’m not working in wood or breathing new life into spaces, I like to take long countryside walks with my dog Dixon, immerse myself in the Manchester jazz, art and theatre scene or travel to explore what other cities and cultures have to offer.