Katharine Pooley

Pooley opened a home accessories store in 2004 on Walton Street in Chelsea, London, a design studio the following year; and a showroom in Doha in 2012.[3][4]

Design projects that have received press coverage include hotels, beach houses, palaces, castles, Mediterranean villas, country estates and city townhouses.[5] The design studio now numbers 47 designers and architects, is a member of industry bodies BIID & SBID [6] and is an partner in the United in Design movement encouraging diversity in the Interior Design industry.[7]

She helped her father to restore Forter Castle, which he had bought as a ruin.[8]

In 2022 Pooley was named one of the best 21 designers in the world by Homes & Gardens magazine.[9] In 2022 and 2021 Katharine Pooley was named a Great British Brand by Country & Town House Magazine.[10] In 2021, Pooley was awarded the Community Award for her work on the ‘Decorate a Childs Life’ campaign she partners with The Childhood Trust.[11]

In 2019 Pooley was named ‘British Interior Designer of the Decade’ by the IDAA.[6] Also in 2019 Pooley was named winner of the Residential Property £20 Million + Interior Design Award and Asia's most Influential Designer of the Year Award 2019.

Pooley is one of the Lux Deco Top 100 Interior Designers, Homes & Gardens Magazine Top British 100 Interior Designers and has been named one of the Top 50 Finest Interior Designers in the World by Country & Town House Magazine.[12] Pooley's work has been included for many years in the Andrew Martin Interior Design Review, often referred to as the ‘Bible of the Interior Design world.’ [13]

Pooley has travelled to over 160 countries. Pooley's book ‘Journey By Design’ published by Assouline in 2017 shows how travel has inspired her design ethos.[14] Pooley has summited many of the world's highest mountains, driven a team of dogs on a sled to the North Pole, canoed down the Amazon, and crossed the Sahara on horseback, walked across Tasmania and climbed Kilimanjaro five times.[15]

Pooley is a trustee of the British Forces Foundation.[16] The British Forces Foundation works to boost and maintain the morale of the men and women of the Armed Forces. Since 2017 Pooley has partnered with The Childhood Trust on their Decorate a Child's Life program. This volunteer led program undertakes the renovation of bedrooms of children living in poverty in London. Candidates living in dilapidated housing are found through charities and social services across London's boroughs. So far, Pooley and the Childhood Trust have completed projects across London in Brixton, Newham, Romford, Notting Hill and Croydon. Since 2006 Pooley has sat on the board of trustees for Kings College Hospital, one of London's largest and busiest teaching hospitals.

Pooley is an ambassador for the Lady Garden Foundation, a national women's health charity, raising awareness and funding for research into gynaecological cancers. Pooley is a member of the steering committee for United in Design – an organization created to deliver an equal opportunity pathway for entry into the Interior Design Industry for people from black, Asian, ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Pooley is an ambassador for Al-Johara – a woman's charity specialising in education and philanthropy in the Persian Gulf region.