ABOUT DOMINIQUE & STUDIO NALCA

Multicultural.

A nomad heart.
One mission.

THE STORY BEHIND THE WORK 

Born in Chile with Franco-German roots, I've spent the last twelve years building a life across Europe - Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Each move brought its own beauty. And its own weight.

It was during one of those transitions — in the middle of a new country, a young child, and eventually a global lockdown — that everything shifted. Multiple migrations, burnout, and Covid conspired to teach me something I couldn't have learned any other way:

| Our spaces are never neutral.

They influence us without us knowing - helping us heal and restore, or quietly making us unwell. The body responds before the mind does. And when your environment doesn't hold you, something in you stays permanently braced.

That discovery didn't just change how I design. It changed how I understand belonging.  

I know what it feels like to live in a place that doesn't fully hold you. 

To build a life somewhere new - while a part of you remains unanchored. 

To constantly adapt, adjust, and move forward… but quietly lose the feeling of home and sometimes yourself along the way.

WHO I WORK WITH 

People who have built
a life that works - but doesn't
fully feel like theirs.

Today, I walk alongside expats, global nomads, and families navigating cultural transitions.

People who have moved for love, for work, or for a dream — and created a life that works, but doesn't fully feel like theirs.

My role is not to arrive with answers. It is to listen — and then to design with you. You are always the co-author of your space. 

I bring the framework, the knowledge, the eye. 

You bring your story, your roots, your sense of what home has always felt like.

Together, we translate that into something real.

HOW I WORK

Slow, intentional,
and deeply personal.

I listen beyond what is said. We uncover what has been difficult to articulate — the places you miss, the textures that take you back, the feeling you've been quietly searching for.

I work with natural, sensory materials — light, texture, scent, living things — because your body responds before your mind does. 

This is not about trends. It's about your story, heritage and science.

We build from the inside out, until the result is a space that is unmistakably yours — and that your nervous system finally recognises as home.

You don't need to know your style. You don't need to follow anyone else's. You just need to be open to exploring — and together we'll discover what truly feels like home to you.

QUESTIONS BEFORE SKETCHES          YOU ARE CO-AUTHOR 

NATURAL, HONEST MATERIALS           RESTRAINT AS THE FINAL EDIT

"I don't follow trends.
 I follow Stories.
 People. Place.
 Possibility."

Studio Nalca is named after a wild Chilean plant with leaves large enough to offer shelter.

That is what I create.

Not just spaces to live in - but places that hold you. Places where you no longer feel like a guest. Places where you can finally stay.

"Because we all deserve to live and work in places that restore our senses, reflect our stories, and root us in joy."

Zutphen, The Netherlands & worldwide