Elevated Interior Styling. Rugged Elegance. Rooted in the Wild.
I created Curating Wild Spaces as an interior styling practice for luxury safari lodges rooted in conservation.
I work with established lodges to refine, refresh, and elevate existing interiors — keeping spaces visually current, balanced, and deeply connected to the landscape, wildlife, and values that define them.
This is not redesign. It is ongoing refinement: seasonal adjustments, considered styling, and atmosphere-driven details that allow a lodge’s story to evolve without losing its original soul.
Film trained me to shape atmosphere, edit with precision, and tell visual stories through detail, light, and composition. That cinematic approach translates naturally into high-end hospitality and nature-based spaces, where mood, material, and place must work in quiet harmony.
The African bush is never static. Light shifts, seasons change, wildlife moves — and interiors benefit from subtle, thoughtful refinements that stay in tune with that rhythm.
Revised verbiage to go under new image/s: A broad -strokes look at how I pull furniture, lighting, and a few accents.
MATT GO BY THE IMAGES ON THE 12.15 DOC SO YOU KNOW WHAT TO PUT HERE- THE FIRST BATCH OF IMAGES GOES HERE
What This Looks Like in Practice
My work focuses on styling, refreshing, refining, and elevating existing safari lodge spaces — including rooms, suites, shared areas, and surrounding outdoor environments — through thoughtful interior adjustments, curated objects, artisan pieces, and atmosphere-driven details that enhance what already exists.
My approach is quiet luxury: natural, intentional, and deeply connected to the landscape, with an emphasis on conservation-minded decisions that consider wildlife, land, and surrounding communities.
In practice, this includes considered layout shifts, careful editing of existing objects, the introduction of artisan and locally sourced elements, and subtle visual moments created on site. Each decision supports mood — the sensory details that shape how a guest feels in a space.
This is refinement, not redesign. Whether preparing a suite for a new season or rebalancing key gathering areas, I work within a lodge’s existing design sensibility to reveal its relationship to land, wildlife, and the communities that sustain it.
The goal is always the same: to create environments that feel balanced, authentic, and rooted in place — helping guests feel part of the world around them while honoring the ecosystems and people that make these places possible. MAYBE LISA ADJUSTS VERBIAGE Starting with materials, culture, communities: Lisa adjust verbiage
SEE DOCUMENT FOR IMAGES
What This Can Include
Lodge Spaces & Guest Experiences
- Rooms and suites styled for photography and social media, creating strong visual moments
- Arrival and welcome scenes that establish tone, mood, and sense of place
- Table settings and dining moments-from everyday service to special evenings-styled with warmth, intimacy, and authenticity
- Bush dinners, fireside evenings, and private deck dining styled for warmth, intimacy, and authenticity
Refinement & Micro-Projects
- Micro-projects refreshing specific rooms, corners, or communal spaces at lodges or conservation centers
- Editing and rebalancing of existing décor and layout
- Elevated styling and curated refinement — from introducing a single sculptural chair to shifting lighting, updating textiles, or layering tactile accents
Conservation & Community Alignment
- Donor visits and conservation events, including storytelling moments, and interpretive displays
- Thoughtful styling that reflects wildlife, land, and community narratives
- Artisan-led details and object sourcing from local communities, ensuring craft, culture, and conservation are reflected in the details
Furniture, Lighting, Art & Object Sourcing
I’m able to source key design elements — from furniture and lighting to art, accessories, and crafted objects — drawing on decades of global sourcing experience through my work in film set decoration. I curate a mix of locally grounded and globally refined pieces that bring depth, character, and authenticity to a lodge.
Whenever possible, I work directly with community groups and independent artisans, ensuring the design reflects — and supports — the surrounding landscape and the people who protect it. When international pieces are needed, they are selected thoughtfully to maintain balance, purpose, and a clear sense of place.
This is the kind of décor I specialize in: pieces and palettes that connect to wildlife and conservation in a refined, understated way — pangolin-inspired textures, elephant-toned linens, natural palettes, and woven work from artisan cooperatives. Conservation becomes visible, emotional, and elegant without feeling literal.
This can include:
- Artisan-made objects
- Local and international furniture, accessories, and crafted pieces
- Vintage and one-of-a-kind finds
- Sustainable, natural, and low-impact materials
- Baskets, ceramics, throws, bedding, sculptural elements, wall art, clay vessels, lighting, and tactile accents
Conservation-Based Styling
Conservation is not an add-on — it is embedded in how a space is shaped, edited, and experienced.
I work with lodges and conservation organizations that are already deeply rooted in this work, helping ensure their commitment is reflected visually through considered materials, meaningful objects, spatial balance, and atmosphere. The aim is alignment: interiors that quietly support the work happening beyond the walls. When guests feel that connection, conservation becomes part of their lived experience — not something explained, but something understood.
This work can include the styling and refinement of:
- Ranger bases
- Veterinary clinics and mobile field units
- Guest education and interpretation areas
- Fundraising and donor event spaces
- Conservation-focused lodges and research camps
- Donor briefing and orientation spaces
This is styling with purpose — creating environments that support the people doing the work, help guests understand the mission, and reflect the values of the land, wildlife, and communities behind it.
PLEASES LOOSE THIS BOX.. THE PICTURES BELOW
These images are a few selections of curated room concepts assembled from my own mood boards, created to reflect my aesthetic, styling approach, and the textiles, objects, and materials I might work with.
Cinematic Wildlife & Lodge Storytelling
Social Media & Visual Identity.
MATT I DONT KNOW HOW THE BACKGROUND COLOR DISAPEARED.. I DID SOMETHING..
I capture quiet, unposed moments of animals, people, landscape, and daily life — the scenes that reveal a lodge’s true connection to nature, conservation, community, design, and place.
Working discreetly and respectfully, I document these moments as they naturally unfold, allowing them to become part of a lodge’s immersive visual narrative.
- A lion drifting through dusk
- A ranger getting ready for patrol work
- Elephants feeding just beyond camp
- Morning light spilling across a suite
- A woven basket taking shape in skilled hands
- Staff preparing for the day
- The way light shifts across a thoughtfully designed space
In addition, my film background and the wildlife operations I’ve participated in allow me to capture simple, meaningful visual moments when needed:
- Behind-the-scenes conservation work
- Relocations and tagging
- Short, engaging, impactful reels
“My focus isn’t documentary filmmaking but rather capturing important conservation moments — using a film-informed eye to support the lodge’s story in an honest, natural way.”
MATT PLEASE ADD PHOTOS HERE THE CHEETAH ON A HILL, THE BIRD FLYING PER THE DOCUMENT.
MATT DO YOU THINK THESE IMAGES WORK HERE? IM TALKING ABOUT CONSERVATION AND STORYTELLING ABOVE
Micro-Projects
Much of my work is short, project-based, and light-touch designed to support lodges where thoughtful refinement is needed without a large-scale redesign. MATT PLEASE CHECK BULLET POINTS HERE. MISSING A FEW I CANT GET THEM BACK ON. PLS LOOSE THE PHOTOS BELOW.
"We'd like our deck to feel more atmospheric — can you help with styling and lighting?”
- “Can you help our ranger base or briefing room feel more welcoming for donor visits?”
- “We’re launching a new wildlife project — can you help shape the visual story?”
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“Can you refresh the mood of the lounge ahead of high season?”
“We're re-shooting the suites — can you style them?”
“Can you create a conservation storytelling moment in the guest library?” - PLEASE LOOSE THE IMAGES BELOW... MAYBE MATERIALS AND CULTURE IMAGES GO HERE?
These selections, drawn from my own mood boards, highlight the lighting, tabletop pieces, art, and textiles I might incorporate into a lodge setting.
ABOUT LISA
A little about me. I’m Lisa Goldsmith — a stylist and visual creator bringing my background in film and design into the world of luxury lodges rooted in conservation.
I’ve spent over three decades working as a Set Decorating Buyer in film across Los Angeles, New York, and London. The role demands resourcefulness, creative problem-solving, disciplined budgeting, and the ability to tell a story through the smallest details. Film taught me how to shape mood, layer with intention, and adapt gracefully when circumstances change.
My time in Africa — both on safari and through hands-on conservation work — has deeply influenced how I see space. I’ve spent meaningful time with wildlife teams, conservation partners, and local communities, as well as within a wide range of lodges. It led me to ask deeper questions: How is this lodge designed? What story does it tell? How does it reflect the land, wildlife, and people around it? For me, this is what purposeful design looks like.
Curating Wild Spaces brings together the worlds that have shaped my career and perspective — styling and set decoration, visual storytelling, wildlife and conservation, design, and community. It is my way of weaving these disciplines into a single practice focused on refining safari lodges through atmosphere, narrative, and thoughtful detail.
My cinematic background is my advantage. I’m detail-driven, highly organized, and instinctively attuned to texture, light, and emotional impact. I understand when a space calls for layered richness and when it needs quiet restraint. The goal is never just a beautiful room — it’s atmosphere, story, and the feeling a guest carries with them long after they leave.
MATT IM NOT SURE WHAT IMAGES WILL WORK BEST HERE.. ALL OF THEM OR JUST THE ONE OF SHOES AND BLACK PANTS? TO BREAK UP THE LAYOUT WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST
New Paragraph
When design, nature, and purpose align, a lodge experience becomes something guests carry with them long after they leave. That belief sits at the heart of my work through Curating Wild Spaces.
I’ve developed regional mood boards and design studies for Kenya, Botswana, and Namibia, which I share during more in-depth conversations depending on the project and location.
If this approach resonates, I’d love to connect — to learn about your lodge and explore how we might work together.
Lisa Goldsmith
lisa@headedtoafrica.com
US +1 323 420 5390 UK +44 7477 014320. LOOSE THE TREE IMAGE BELOW IF YOU LIKE
