A Sydney-based design studio is rewriting the golden rule of parenthood—proving that your home does not have to undergo an aesthetic emergency the moment children enter the picture.
Main Facts
For generations, expectant parents have been forced to make a silent, unspoken surrender. The moment a baby is added to the household equation, the design consensus dictates that adults must pack away their curated aesthetics and embrace plastic playpens, primary-colored ergonomics, and nursery furniture that looks entirely out of place anywhere else in the house. The market, for decades, has treated the concepts of "family-friendly" and "interior design" as two diametrically opposed languages.
Enter Nuage Interiors, a Sydney-based design studio founded by husband-and-wife duo Najah Baroudi and Fares Al-Sarawi. Operating on the core philosophy that a home shouldn’t have to change its identity when a family grows, Nuage has carved out a unique niche in the Australian design landscape. The brand specializes in high-end, aesthetically uncompromising children’s furniture and home objects that seamlessly blend safety, durability, and high design.
At the center of this design ethos is the Arca Table Set—a brilliant manifestation of the studio’s no-compromise rule. Constructed from a smooth oak veneer, the round table features three geometrically curved chairs that slide entirely into the frame when not in use, collapsing the entire ensemble into a single, clean sculptural silhouette. Scaled for children yet sophisticated enough to double as a living room coffee table, the Arca Table Set encapsulates what Nuage Interiors represents: objects that serve children first, belong in the room first, and never force a household to close its doors to guests out of aesthetic embarrassment.
Chronology: From a Single Rocking Chair to a Design Movement
The Catalyst (Pre-2021)
The genesis of Nuage Interiors was born out of personal frustration. While pregnant with her first son, Najah Baroudi set out on a seemingly straightforward mission: to find a rocking chair. Not just any functional seat to soothe an infant, but a sophisticated boucle piece that could hold its own in a home she had spent years meticulously curating.
To her dismay, the market offered no such middle ground. She encountered a stark binary choice: pieces that were purely practical yet visually uninspiring, or design-forward items entirely unsuited for the wear-and-tear of a growing family. This market failure served as the primary spark for what would eventually become a design movement.
The Foundation in Adelaide (2021)
Turning conviction into enterprise, Baroudi and her husband Fares Al-Sarawi officially launched Nuage Interiors in Adelaide in 2021. The partnership relied on a harmonious division of labor that would become the backbone of the brand’s operational success:
Najah Baroudi: Drawing on a background in media and years of global travel that cultivated an innate eye for space and curation, Najah acts as the creative visionary, ensuring every piece possesses an intentional, unforced elegance.
Fares Al-Sarawi: Transitioning from a professional background in pharmacy, Fares brought acute precision to operations, manufacturing logistics, and supply chain execution, transforming creative concepts into structural realities.
Relocation and Scaling to Sydney (2021–Present)
As the brand gained traction, the couple relocated their operations to Sydney, all while expanding their family. Today, alongside running the studio, they are parents to two boys—Malik (nearly five) and Hadi (eighteen months)—who serve an invaluable role as the brand’s most rigorous, unsparing product testers. The company’s name, Nuage (French for "cloud"), reflects both the physical softness required in child-friendly design and the resilience needed to weather real, messy family life.
Supporting Data and Operational Philosophy
Nuage Interiors operates under a deceptively simple yet relentlessly demanding filtering question: “Does this belong in a home I love?”
In an industry where children’s furniture is frequently treated as temporary, disposable utility, Nuage approaches the category with the gravity of heirloom design. The studio’s process relies on two pillars:
Intuition: Guided by Najah’s global aesthetic exposure, the studio evaluates items based on whether they feel "considered" rather than like spatial afterthoughts.
Interrogation: Because the founders live with toddlers day in and day out, every prototype undergoes stringent real-world testing. Edges must be rounded, finishes must withstand heavy use and cleaning, and materials must possess tactile warmth without sacrificing structural integrity.
Product Spotlight: The Arca Table Set
Material: Premium oak veneer with a smooth, natural finish.
Design Mechanics: A round table paired with three nesting, curved chairs that sit flush within the table’s structural frame.
Dimensions: Height: 468mm | Diameter: 970mm.
Target Demographic: Designed for children ages 18 months and older, yet structurally and visually versatile enough to function as an adult-centric coffee table or sculptural art piece in open-plan living areas.
Price Point & Availability: Available directly via nuageinteriors.com and showcased globally through their digital footprint @nuage__interiors.
Official Responses and Creative Statements
The cultural resonance of Nuage Interiors stems directly from its founders’ refusal to accept the status quo of domestic compromise.
Reflecting on the psychological turning point that many new parents face, Najah Baroudi notes:
"There’s a moment when you’re expecting your first child and the world suggests you choose between a beautiful home and a functional one. We refused that."
This philosophy has struck a powerful chord with modern consumers. When clients step back, look at a Nuage piece integrated seamlessly into a living room, and remark that it feels like it was "always meant to be there," Baroudi considers it the ultimate validation.
"That’s everything," she says. "That’s the whole point."
Implications for Modern Interior Design and Family Life
The success of studios like Nuage Interiors signals a much broader cultural shift in how contemporary urban families view their living spaces. For decades, the rise of minimalist and maximalist interior trends ran on the assumption that a home was a static gallery meant solely for adult inhabitants. Families with children were subtly banished to the suburbs or forced to relegate their children’s belongings to hidden backrooms and dedicated playrooms.
However, shifting economic realities—such as the rising cost of urban real estate and longer periods spent living in apartments or smaller footprint inner-city homes—mean that contemporary families no longer have the luxury of compartmentalizing their living spaces. Rooms must multi-task. A living room is simultaneously a boardroom for remote work, a yoga studio, a playroom, and a sanctuary for evening relaxation.
By engineering objects that refuse to sacrifice beauty for utility, Nuage Interiors is helping to pioneer a new era of multi-generational micro-design. Their approach proves that child-centric furniture does not need to be hidden away when company arrives. Instead, it can elevate the room’s overall narrative. As studios continue to bridge the gap between human-centered functionality and high-end aesthetics, the archaic notion that parenthood requires the total surrender of personal style may finally be put out to pasture.
