About Nathalie Trad

A sculptural approach to everyday objects

OBJECTS OF DESIGN moving between the body and the home.

Nathalie Trad is a Lebanese designer whose work explores the space between function and sculpture. Born in Beirut and raised in Dubai, she studied fashion and accessories design in Paris before continuing her studies in design and management in New York. In 2013, she launched her namesake label with a collection of handbags, shell clutches, and jewellery.

From the beginning, Nathalie was drawn to unexpected forms and material combinations. Shell, wood, and leather became a language of their own: a way to catch the light, give rhythm to a surface, or turn a clutch into a small sculpture held in the hand.

Today, Nathalie Trad is evolving into a multidisciplinary design studio. Alongside handbags and her signature sculptural shell clutches, she is developing objects for the home. Each belongs to an expanding creative universe, connected by a shared sensitivity to form, material, and the rituals of everyday life.

Approach to Design

Each object begins with a question: if its function were removed, would it still be something you wanted to look at?

That idea guides the studio’s approach to proportion, surface, and detail. A curve invites touch. An unexpected angle changes the silhouette. An opening gives a solid form room to breathe. Every element contributes to the whole, from the smallest clasp to the space surrounding it.

The intention is to create objects that reward a closer look, revealing something more through use and familiarity.

Materials & MAKING

Mother-of-pearl and other shells remain central to Nathalie’s visual language, joined by wood, leather, lacquer, and polished brass. Their contrasts give the work its character: iridescence against grain, colour against natural variation, fluid metal against a precise edge.

The studio works with specialist makers whose skills suit each material and object. Design takes shape through this exchange, bringing Nathalie’s sculptural vocabulary into contact with the possibilities of the craft.

Natural variations become part of the finished piece: a shift in tone, a line in the grain, the way shell holds and releases the light.

A Collectible Design Universe

Nathalie Trad’s work is made to be used, lived with, and kept. A handbag and an object for the home may serve different purposes, but both belong to the same world.

Together, they form a growing collection of functional sculptures, objects that bring a quiet sense of discovery to the everyday, and become part of the lives around them.