mydeco.com in conversation with Nell, from CoucouManou.

How did you decide on the name CoucouManou?
My partner is French and our daughter has the French name Manon and we call her Manou for short. It was actually somebody else who suggested the name CoucouManou, the meaning being Hello Manon. I liked it immediately and it rolls off the tongue nicely, too.

What's the ethos behind your brand?
To offer well made, well designed furniture to as many people as possible. I think more and more people are cutting out the middleman, namely high street retail, in favour of buying direct or through a curated marketplace such as mydeco.com.

Where do you find your inspiration?
From the way something fits together, beautiful colours, architecture, patterns. That's a difficult one for me to answer really. I design things that I like and that I would like to own.

What is your most prized possession?
Not that I truly possess her, but my daughter! An actual thing would be a Faience candlestick that I love.

How would you sum up your personal style in one word?
Original.

Can you explain a little more about how you make your products?
We work out cutting lists for the pieces of furniture and give them to a company who dimensions all the straight edged pieces to the correct sizes. All the shaped components are cut by a CNC router. They then come to our workshop where they are sanded, jointed, painted, finished and assembled.

What would you say is your hero product?
The Red/ Blue/ Yellow Boulder display unit.