‘My passion is getting stronger’: Inside the world of James McNamara

For Westport interior designer James McNamara, good design is about much more than creating a beautiful room. It is about creating spaces that feel personal, harmonious and, ultimately, better to live in.

At 13 or 14 years old, James McNamara had already decided what he wanted to do with his life. The young Achill native had discovered interior design on television and, in his words, had something of a lightbulb moment.

“I didn’t know interior design was a job or profession that you could pursue when I was younger,” he says. “And then I was like, wait a second. She’s an interior designer and she’d get paid to design someone’s home. That’s an option.”

From there, there was little turning back. By 16, McNamara had business cards printed, a YouTube channel set up and his Instagram renamed in preparation for the business he was convinced he would one day run.

It is a charmingly determined start to a career that has since taken him from studying Interior Architecture and Design in Sligo to working in the furniture and kitchen industries, before eventually taking the biggest gamble of his career: doing it alone.

“When I left that job I went straight out on my own. I had no projects lined up, I had no savings. I really just took a shot in the dark,” he recalls.

The early years were far from easy. Working for yourself, he quickly discovered, meant that there was nobody else responsible for showing up when the work needed to be done.

“I remember I had maybe roughly around €100 in my bank account at any given point in time during my first two years,” he says. “It was very hard.”

But the dream was bigger than the difficulties. Almost five years on, that gamble has developed into JMC Studios in Westport, with projects taking McNamara around the country. And McNamara is still careful about saying he has “made it”.

“I would say made it yet because I know how much further I have to go,” he laughs. “I’m barely even starting from my context of how I want to scale this and grow this.”

What is clear, however, is that he has found the work he always wanted to do.

Mayo Landscapes as Inspiration

His approach to design is rooted in something less tangible than colour, furniture or architectural detail: feeling.

“We can get over-consumed with what a space should look like, when it’s always about how it feels,” he says. “How do you want to feel in this space? And then we build the design around that.”

For McNamara, a home is not a showroom. It is where people wake up, come home, argue, celebrate, relax, raise families and make memories.

“If you can have a space or a home that is designed in a way that improves your day-to-day living, it’s easier to control the energy within the space,” he says.

It is an approach that seems particularly fitting for someone raised on Achill. The landscape of the West has inevitably found its way into his work, from the use of natural materials, linens and wicker to an appreciation of texture.

“There is so much texture here, whether it’s the moss or flowers or even the trees,” he says. “They all sit together so effortlessly. I think we’re always trying to capture that outdoors environment and bring it in.”

“The longer I’m doing this, the more I look back and reflect,” he says. “You can see it throughout some of the projects that we’re very drawn to natural materials — wicker and linens and lots of texture.”

Walk into a house with McNamara and his eye quickly starts looking for what is missing. Perhaps it is a rug that is too small, a console that does not have enough presence, too much clutter or simply a lack of connection between different parts of the room.

He describes it as a feeling of “incompleteness”. But the answer is not necessarily more. Sometimes it is about taking things away.

“Normally we’re trying to find harmony in the space,” he explains.

Don’t Follow The Trends

That philosophy is also why he is less interested in designing rooms around whatever happens to be fashionable at the time. Trends come and go, often faster than a renovation can be completed.

“The trend cycle is moving faster and faster,” he says. “You need to be choosing items that you actually enjoy.”

For McNamara, individuality matters more than conformity. A piece does not have to match the neighbour’s home — or even appeal to anyone else — if it makes its owner happy.

“Find things that actually spark joy in your life and make you feel excited,” he advises. “It could be something completely unique that your friends and family might hate. But if you like it, that’s the only thing that matters.”

He is equally passionate about creating interiors that last. Rather than designing with the expectation that a room will be ripped out and replaced in a few years, JMC Studios aims to create spaces that can evolve through smaller changes to paint, cushions, hardware and soft furnishings.

The same thinking informs his approach to budgets. You do not necessarily need to knock down walls or replace an entire kitchen to transform a room.

Paint, he says, can have a huge impact. So can changing the colour of the woodwork, adding a properly sized rug, layered lighting, cushions, throws and window dressings.

A Deeper Meaning to Design

Perhaps the most powerful example of McNamara’s belief in the ability of interiors to affect lives came through a recent project at a recovery house for women in Limerick. The project moved the idea of design beyond aesthetics and into the realm of wellbeing, safety and dignity.

“It was an emotional project,” he says. “Interior design is so much more than just, ‘Oh, it’s a pretty room.’ It’s so much deeper than that. There’s such a psychological relationship between you and your space, and especially when it comes to healing.”

He had previously seen treatment and recovery environments that felt clinical and impersonal. When the opportunity came to help transform one, he immediately wanted to be involved.

“To be able to play such a small role in that recovery and to make them feel safe and valued was definitely a highlight for me.”

It also reinforced something he had always believed: that a well-designed space can genuinely change the way people experience their lives.

Only The Beginning

For all the homes, projects, travelling and ambitions, there is still a teenage boy somewhere in McNamara’s story — the one who watched an interior designer on television and thought, I could do that.

And despite the rapid growth of JMC Studios, James’ enthusiasm has not gone away.

“My passion is getting stronger,” he says. “Every time I reflect back, I always think, ‘Oh my God, I thought I was so busy then,’ and then you look a year later and you’re doing more. I definitely think that my love for this and my passion for this just grows more and more every day.”

So what is next?

There is one project he would love to take on: a hotel.

Not simply choosing the furniture and paint, but designing the entire experience — from the moment a guest arrives to the journey through the building, the bedroom, the restaurant and beyond.

“You’re designing the experience instead of just the look,” he says.

It sounds like a fitting ambition for a designer whose work has always been less about how a room looks than how it makes you feel.

For now, Westport remains home to his growing studio — one rooted in the landscape where McNamara grew up, while the work takes him around Ireland.

And perhaps that is the thread running through McNamara’s work: the teenager from Achill who turned a fascination into a career, took a chance on himself and continues to find more to be excited about.

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Learn more about James’ work by visiting JMC Studios on Castlebar Rd in Westport, or at jmcstudios.ie