Curating Wild Spaces
Elevated Interior Styling. Rugged Elegance. Rooted in the Wild.
Every lodge has a story — a feeling, a sense of place it invites guests to step into. My work helps well-designed safari lodges rooted in conservation continue telling that story, keeping spaces fresh, intentional, and aligned with the landscape that shapes them.
Curating Wild Spaces
brings together three parts of my life: over 3 decades in film and set decoration, a love of beautifully curated lodge environments, and a deep connection to Africa’s wildlife and conservation. Film taught me how to shape atmosphere, highlight meaningful detail, and craft a visual narrative — an approach that translates naturally into high-end hospitality and nature-based spaces.
A selection of images drawn from my own mood boards, reflecting the landscape, materials, and cultural influences I might work with when styling a lodge.
The Rhythm of the Bush
The African bush shifts with weather, light, and wildlife — and interiors benefit from small, seasonal refinements that stay in tune with that rhythm. These subtle adjustments restore clarity and balance without altering the core design.
By fine-tuning layout, lighting, objects, and natural materials, I help each space stay aligned with the lodge’s design sensibility, conservation story, and the changing energy of the season. This isn’t redesign — it’s recalibration.
What This Looks Like in Practice
My focus is on styling, refreshing, refining, and elevating existing safari lodge spaces — rooms, suites, shared areas, and surrounding wild spaces — 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 design that considers the lodge’s impact on wildlife, the land, and surrounding communities.
This work includes considered layout shifts, curated object editing, the addition of artisan pieces, and small visual moments captured on-site that help express a lodge’s conservation purpose. Every decision supports mood: the sensory world and subtle details that shape how a guest feels in a space.
This work is refinement, not redesign. Whether readying a suite for a new season or rebalancing key gathering areas, I work with the lodge’s existing design sensibility to reveal its relationship to land, wildlife, and the communities that help 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.
What This Can Include
• rooms and suites styled for photography and social media — creating strong visual moments
• arrival and welcome scenes that set tone, mood, and sense of place
• bush dinners, fireside evenings, and private deck dinners styled for warmth, intimacy, and authenticity
• donor visits and conservation events, including table settings, conservation storytelling corners, and displays.
• micro-projects that refresh specific rooms, corners, or communal spaces at lodges or conservation centers
• elevated styling and curated refinement, which may mean adding a single sculptural chair, shifting the lighting, updating textiles, or layering in new throws and tactile accents
• artisan-led touches, sourcing from local community groups to ensure craft, culture, and conservation are reflected in the details
• artisan-led details and object sourcing from local communities or groups
Conservation-Based Styling
I also offer styling for spaces directly connected to conservation work — places where atmosphere, clarity, and purpose matter just as much as they do in a lodge. These include:
• ranger bases
• veterinary clinics and mobile field units
• guest education 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.
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)
I capture quiet, real, 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. I document these moments quietly and respectfully, allowing them to become part of the lodge’s immersive narrative, such as:
- a lion drifting through dusk
- a ranger readying for patrol
- 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 emotional reels
- intentional, natural field scenes
“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.”
Micro-Projects
Much of my work is short, project-based and light-touch. Here are a few ways you might work with me:
• “We want 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 donors?”
• “We’re launching a new wildlife project — can you help craft the visual story?”
• “Can you refresh the mood of the lounge before high season?”
• “We want to re-shoot the suites — can you style them?”
• “Can you create a conservation storytelling moment in the guest library?”
These selections, drawn from my own mood boards, highlight the lighting, tabletop pieces, art, and textiles I might incorporate into a lodge setting.
Furniture, Lighting, Art Textiles & Object Sourcing
I’m available to source key design elements — from furniture, lighting to accessories, art, and crafted pieces — drawing on decades of global sourcing experience from my film set decoration work. I can curate a mix of locally grounded and globally refined pieces that bring depth, character, and authenticity to a lodge.
Whenever possible, I aim to work directly with community groups and independent artisans, so the design reflects — and supports — the surrounding landscape and the people who protect it. When international pieces are needed, I select them thoughtfully to maintain balance, purpose, and a clear sense of place.
This is the kind of décor I specialize in creating: 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.
Items I’m able to source 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 pieces, wall art, clay vessels, lighting, and tactile accents
ABOUT LISA
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 more than thirty years as a Set Decorating Buyer in film — working in Los Angeles, New York, and London. The role demands resourcefulness, creativity under pressure, strong budgeting, and the ability to tell a story through the smallest details. Film taught me how to shape mood, layer with intention, and pivot gracefully when things change.
My time in Africa — both on safari and through conservation work — has inspired me deeply. I’ve worked alongside wildlife teams, conservation partners, and community projects, and I’ve spent meaningful time in diverse lodges. It made me ask: How is this lodge designed? What story sits behind it? How was it created with wildlife and local communities in mind? For me, that’s purposeful design.
Curating Wild Spaces brings together the worlds that have shaped me — styling and decorating, storytelling and film, wildlife and conservation, design, and community. It’s my way of weaving all my passions into one path: refreshing safari lodges through visual storytelling and thoughtful design.
My cinematic background is my superpower. I’m detail-driven, organized, and attuned to texture, light, and emotional impact. I know when a space calls for layered richness and when it needs quiet restraint. For me, the goal isn’t just a beautiful room — it’s atmosphere, story, and feeling.
Why This Matters
Travel today is increasingly purpose driven. Guests want to understand where they are, why it matters, and how their stay connects to the land, wildlife, and surrounding communities.
I imagine a guest arriving at a lodge and immediately sensing that the design is thoughtful — grounded in the landscape, respectful of wildlife, and shaped by local craftsmanship. When design, nature, and purpose are aligned, the experience becomes immersive in a way guests remember.
People want to feel part of the story — part of the place — part of something meaningful. That’s the heart of what I do through Curating Wild Spaces.
I’ve developed extensive mood boards and regional design studies for Kenya, Botswana, and Namibia, which I share during more in-depth conversations about potential projects.
Please feel free to reach out — I’d love to hear from you, learn about your lodge, and explore how we might work together or support what you need.
US:
323 420 5390
