Steven Rodel on Craft, Collaboration, and the Future of Guy Goodfellow

About Guy

In 2023, Guy Goodfellow welcomed Steven Rodel as Creative Director of Guy Goodfellow Interiors & Architectural Design. After years of walking parallel design paths, sharing a trusted circle of master craftspeople, and often discovering they were working on projects just streets apart in London, the collaboration felt inevitable.

Steven brings over a decade of experience shaped by roles at Harrods and the Rubelli Group, along with an international portfolio of private residential projects. Known for his discerning eye and global network of artisans, he approaches each interior as a layered composition — thoughtfully sourcing artists, makers, and antiques that lend depth and individuality. A lifelong passion for art history, textiles, and the English country house tradition — nurtured through study and years volunteering at National Trust properties — informs his instinct for spaces that feel both storied and enduring. Born in North Somerset and now based in London with his partner and their French bulldog, Steven brings a distinctly British sensibility balanced with an international perspective to the practice. We loved hearing Steven’s design philosophies, where he finds inspiration, and more. Enjoy our lastest #talkshop interview!

Describe your style in three words or less:
Layered, refined, tailored.

What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:

1. The stories and patina of historic English houses always fascinate and inspire

2. My great aunt’s home (a jeweller, dealer, and theatre lighting director). It was a crucible of creativity and self-expression, alive with beautiful objects and a love of storytelling.

3. The discipline of tailoring and couture - that artistry in clothing where structure meets ease.

How did you start your company, and/or what is your favourite thing about what you do:
I arrived at Guy Goodfellow with a reverence for tradition and a desire to carry it forward with a contemporary relevance. What I love most is unlocking a house’s personality and reflecting the people who live there. It’s a kind of portraiture—creating a narrative that feels both timeless and vital to its occupants.

Photo by Astrid Templier

Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
Guy himself has been an extraordinary influence. I met him about 15 years ago, when I was just starting out, and he has shaped my trajectory since. His ability to balance rigour with freedom creates a special mix and blend that results in beautiful, comfortable homes full of subtle connections. Fifteen years on, I am his Creative Director. I have also learned enormously from antique dealers, master craftsmen, and fellow designers—there is something so energising about people who live and breathe objects and spaces.

What does your home say about you:
That comfort comes first, and that memory and association matter far more than fashion. Elegance sits quietly in the marks of use, the softened edges, the lived-in layers.

Where do you find inspiration:
Always in landscape and nature - particularly in colour, I’m perpetually in an autumnal mood, and that influences and inspires my palette. Books, too, have been some of my greatest teachers. An education in art and architectural history trained me in colour, composition, and critical thought - all crucial in design, but beyond that foundation, I am self-taught. Everything I know has come from books, and they continue to shape my work.

Who are your style icons:
Christopher Gibbs, Jaime Parlade, Billy Baldwin - and Deeda Blair, whose quiet aesthetic and confidence in leaving a wall bare because she could not yet afford the artwork she wanted, was revelatory!

What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
A martini or champagne to begin. A candlelit table. And almost anything my husband cooks; he’s a former professional chef, so I’m quite spoiled. The right people are the most essential ingredient; get that wrong, and nothing else matters.

Do you collect anything:
Textiles, portraits, and seascapes - I like art that transports you and weaves its own story. Oh, and lamps: I own far more than I could ever need.

Favourite Instagram accounts for inspiration:
@drakesdiary @fthtsi @unreliable.narrators @dreweatts1759, @christiesinc, and always searching for more!

What design “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Symmetry is rarely interesting - it’s important to be confident about breaking it. I’ve never had much patience for rules; design is instinctive and subjective to its inhabitants. I was once told never to mix metals, yet I do it constantly. Exact matching can flatten a room; a little variation gives it life.

What are you working on right now:
A townhouse on Cheyne Walk for an art collector, a Belgravia house for a young couple, and a sprawling Arts & Crafts home in Surrey. There are also whispers of projects in Palm Beach and Abu Dhabi.

Wardrobe staples:
A well-cut navy blazer, Belgian shoes, always long-sleeved shirts, good knitwear, and rollnecks in the colder months.... I eagerly await the arrival of my autumn wardrobe every year!

Favourite Fabric/Wallpaper:

Grasscloth, because it embodies natural beauty, rich texture, and timeless elegance - qualities that are central to my design ethos. It endures beyond trends, offering a lasting self-illuminating backdrop that enhances and harmonizes with everything around it.

Best interior advice you ever received:
“Assumption is the mother of all f*ckups.” Angelo Donghia was said to use the phrase and I like the design connection, and it's a useful reminder in both design and life.

Best career advice you ever received:
After my degree, my grandmother - once a fashion buyer - advised me to work in the best shop in the world. So I joined the Harrods graduate programme. It taught me grit, commercial sense, and the joy in constant access to beauty.

Types of home purchases you invest in, and save on:
Invest in what can travel with you. Joinery is wonderful, but it stays behind. I’ve just commissioned a bathroom sink in Breached Violet marble, inspired by a 17th-century font bowl…and that will follow me wherever I go.

Your greatest extravagance:
You say extravagance, I call them essential purchases. I have a voracious appetite for books, travel, entertaining and Belgian shoes - and my French bulldog, Leo.

Favourite places to shop for home:
Anywhere with antiques, there is always treasure to be found.

Most prized possession and why:
My Little Black Jacket - a book my husband put together for my 30th birthday, inspired by the Chanel project. It’s filled with photos, wishes, and stories from my friends and family. I’ve just celebrated my 40th, and in those ten years, many of the people in its pages have come and gone - but the best are still here. If he were to do one now, it would have many new faces, but it captures my story and my people.

Your interiors motto:
Freedom and self-expression. Comfort and character.

Your life motto:
Integrity. It says it all.

Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Let it be a true and personal reflection of yourself, your history, and your life.

Take Ten: My Favourite…

Food: Pasta with white truffle.
Drink: Martini - gin, not too wet, with a twist.
Film: Private Benjamin
Hotel: Rosewood, anywhere.
City: Paris, always.
Bedding: A thread count of about 400 and a cashmere blanket, the brand is irrelevant; comfort is everything.
Tea or Coffee: Coffee. Latte in the morning, espresso throughout the day.
Playlist: Almost anything by Max Richter.
Weekend Activity: If in town, an exhibition followed by supper with friends. Sundays are local - a walk to Herne Hill, Brockwell Park, the farmers’ market, a few pints and the FT in the pub, then home to cook an early supper. In bed by 9:30.
Design Book: The Bill Blass auction catalogue from Sotheby’s - an endless source of inspiration.