Born in Port Elizabeth South Africa, Nicholas was an avid designer and inventor from an early age.

After his studies in art, design and engineering, he moved to England to pursue a career in design.

Over the next 10 years, Nicholas worked for some of the most prestigious furniture companies in the UK, the likes of Smallbone of Devizes and Mark Wilkinson Furniture.

Designing predominantly within the bespoke furniture industry based in some of London’s most affluent areas the likes of Fulham, Belgravia and St Johns wood, Nicholas’s experience included work in kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and freestanding furniture design, trade show design, CNC programming and more.

With a yearning to return to his native South Africa, Nicholas bought a small farm in Nelspruit  and returned in 2012 to renovate his new home and pursue a number of fresh opportunities.

After farming for a number of years, the reality that design, like music and art, is a calling and not a profession, led him back to furniture, also working in Architecture, Engineering design, Interior and Lansdcaping design. Taking on more complete projects designing, manufacturing and installing in both wood and steel.

Saffa design was coined from forever being the Saffa, or South African in London, where people would regularly pick up on his accent.

Belgravia formed in 2024, with Nicholas returning to his pure design roots and pays homage to the area in which Nicholas worked for so many years, a beautiful London suburb bathed in wealth, quality, luxury and exclusivity.

Belgravia explores high quality, cutting edge design, drawing inspiration from traditional through contemporary to modern and ultamodern. Working with only the finest artisans, carpenters and makers.
The warmth of wood and the steadfast reliability of steel, we are only limited by our imaginations.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Benjamin Franklin