Timeless Sophistication with Purpose - Crafted for the Way You Live.
Meet The Designer
ANNE DIRKLING
Founder, CEO & Creative Director
Anne Dirkling believes great design begins with how a space makes you feel. Drawing from her love of architecture, travel, art, and the natural world, she creates interiors that are timeless, soulful, and alive with texture and light. Her work reflects a lifelong fascination with how people inhabit spaces - blending the craftsmanship and history of European architecture with the vibrancy, colour, and texture of Africa.
At the heart of AD Design lies a philosophy of timeless sophistication with purpose: celebrating authenticity, comfort, and effortless elegance in spaces made for living beautifully and meaningfully.
Trained by acclaimed designers Zahira Curry, Rebecca Robeson, and Kinwoven, as well as through the Mavin Interior Design School in Lagos, Anne’s creative journey is rooted in both technical mastery and intuitive artistry. Her design approach is deeply human with interiors crafted that are refined yet real, layered with emotion, and shaped around how people truly live.
Her aesthetic celebrates light, nature, and organic materials: the warmth of wood, the honesty of stone, the play of sunlight through linen. She loves the whimsy and the unexpected, the dialogue between old and new, and the emotional resonance of spaces that feel alive.
With a background in anthropology and political science and a life shaped by travel - from Europe and Oceania to her home base in Nigeria - Anne’s perspective is one of contrast and harmony, where raw meets polished, and calm meets color. Her spaces reflect that same spirit of connection and ease: settings that invite conversation, warmth, and belonging.
A passionate cook and baker, Anne finds beauty in the details that make life feel well lived. For her, design is a language of care. For her, design is a way to make people feel comfortable in their surroundings, grounded in their story, and inspired by the life they are living.
Our Design Philosophy
Sophisticated. Purposeful. Human.
1. Design as a Personal Journey
A home should tell your story. Each project begins with you: your rhythm, your values, and the life you imagine within those walls. No two projects are alike because every one is deeply personal and centers around YOU. It should meet your needs, fit your lifestyle and reflect your passions.
2. No Single Style — Only Your Story
We design without boundaries of design style, but with clarity of purpose. Interior design is an art form; a shared language between client and designer. The best rooms result when the client and the designer have developed a personal language. We take great pride in personalising the interiors that we develop. We help create the canvas that the client completes. It is the client’s participation in the process with the clear ongoing communication of expectations that will make the home something personal and dear, and not a showcase for our studio.
“We shape our homes, and afterwards our homes shape us.” - Winston Churchill
3. The Power of Neutrals and Natural Texture
Neutrals form a timeless foundation and ground a space, but it is texture, natural materiality and informed use of colour that bring a space to life. Our interiors rely on layered surfaces to achieve a curated home that is both effortless and captivating.
4. Designs That Grows With You
Antique and vintage pieces carry a soul and patina that no new furnishing can replicate. We believe in the enduring beauty of classic forms, but refreshed and reimagined. Spaces evolve and a well designed home should grow with its owners. We pair heirlooms, timeless classics and furniture icons with contemporary elements that speak to the present. True longevity comes from flexibility of a capsule home and integrity, not constant reinvention.
5. Timelessness Over Trend
Classic lines, refreshed forms, and timeworn pieces - each carries history, memory, and beauty. We pair the old with the new to create spaces that feel both grounded and current, never dictated by trends.
6. Harmony and the Unexpected
We celebrate the atypical and the unexpected. We love the tension between contrasts: matte and gloss, rough and smooth, minimal and ornate. We obsess over similarities in line, form, material or colour, but ever so often love to break these rules for unexpected drama and interest. Design thrives in those juxtapositions that spark curiosity and emotion. Informed risk and welcome imperfection are what give rooms their freshness and humanity.
7. Designed for Living
True design serves life, not magazine photo shoots. Attention to details and core design principles like rhythm, scale and flow ensures spaces that feel as good as they look. Our spaces are designed to be touched, used, and loved. Rooms need to be functional, durable as well as beautiful.
8. Balance Is Everything
Understated luxury means comfort with confidence. A home should be approachable, not untouchable - yet it should hold a few moments of awe and spectacle. Every room needs quiet moments and subtle stars, because if everything shines, nothing stands out. Design is a balancing act. The perfect balance of high and low.
9. Lighting Is Queen
Lighting shapes emotion. Natural and artificial lighting are dynamic tools and should be approached in a layered manner. Layering your light sources infuses your space with character, contrast, depth and dimension. Every room in the home should have a mix of different light sources including ambient, accent, task and mood lighting. Use your lighting plan as a travel guide to tell your eyes where to focus.
10. Design for Everyone
Interior design is for everyone. We believe good design should be accessible. Design is not a privilege or indulgence; it is part of wellbeing. Just as we dress to feel our best, our spaces should reflect care and intention. A home that feels personal, functional and comfortable is unrelated to a price tag and can be achieved with all budgets.
Commitment to Sustainability
At AD Design, sustainability begins with respect for materials, for craftsmanship, and for the environments we build within. Each project honours its setting, whether mountain, countryside, or coast, creating a dialogue between architecture, interior, and landscape. We believe that when design grows out of its surroundings, it feels natural, cohesive, and quietly powerful.
We design with longevity in mind. In an age of constant renewal and excess, we choose permanence over novelty by seeking well-made pieces that endure, age gracefully, and tell their story over time. Understanding when solid wood matters and when a precise veneer serves best is part of our craft. Every decision, from joinery to finish, reflects a commitment to quality that resists the disposable mindset of mass production.
Collaboration with skilled artisans from across the globe lies at the heart of this approach. Working hand in hand with craftspeople ensures integrity, preserves tradition, and celebrates the imperfect beauty of the human touch. These relationships ground our work in authenticity for design that feels connected, not manufactured.
Nature remains our truest teacher. The warmth of timber, the coolness of stone and the quiet irregularity of clay - these materials remind us of our shared origin and bring balance to the built world. Especially in fast growing cities like Abuja, organic textures and natural light restore a sense of calm and belonging.
Sustainability, for us, is not a trend but a mindset. We value what lasts, honour what is local, and design spaces that live beautifully far beyond the moment they are created.