About

CoucouManou's founder Nell Beale Navarro trained on an HND design course, specialising in Furniture Design and Cabinet making, during the early nineties.

Finishing her studies in 1994 and after a couple of years working at a wood turning company, she established Nell Beale Furniture in Brighton, UK and worked on commissions for private clients, architects and interior designers until 2009 when she moved to France.

Returning to the UK in 2011, Nell felt the time was right to work on her own collection, free from the constraints of bespoke commissions.

CoucouManou was launched in 2012 at the London Design Festival, where her first collection was showcased. The Loop Cabinet Collection was exhibited at the 2014 London Design Festival, at 100% Design.
Nell was selected to show at Collect Art Fair, as one of the Collect Open cohort 2024, the leading international show for Contemporary Craft, with her truly unique and hand crafted Wonderland Collection and she has also recently exhibited at PAD London. 

Some of Nell’s pieces use CNC technology alongside traditional furniture making techniques, whilst the pieces in her Wonderland Collection are entirely made by hand.

For her most recent Wonderland Collection, Nell draws inspiration from her environment, with the initial spark of an idea coming from the wooded valley that her home overlooked, aswell as her love of Folk and Naive Art. 
For these truly unique pieces, Nell uses techniques not dissimilar to sgraffito and intaglio, normally used with clay, to carve and incise onto her favoured material Valchromat.
She replaces the CNC router used in her previous collections with a hand held carving tool. Her hand drawn imaginary trees and plants are repeated over the panels to create a balanced, harmonious design which are then carved and painted or painted and then carved.

Nell's pieces are sold worldwide and have been featured in numerous national and international magazines, blogs and newspapers including Elle Décoration, The Guardian, The Times, Vogue, Icon, Grand Designs, Arts et Décoration etc. She has exhibited at major salons including Decorex, Collect and PAD. 

In July 2024 Nell moved back to France and now works from her studio near Aix en Provence.

’Coucou’ is French for Hi and ’Manou’ is the nickname of Nell’s daughter Manon.

If you love the collection but the dimensions aren't quite what you're looking for, do contact us to discuss bespoke items.

Email Nell at info@coucoumanou.com for any information you may require.

For hi-res images,  please contact Nell Beale.