Mim Design, NNH Residence

Taking home the first place contemporary kitchen prize, Mim Design created a showstopping look for this open plan kitchen. As keen entertainers, the owners of the NNH residence needed a kitchen that could facilitate generous hosting, as well as function for their family, including two young boys. It needed to be robust, practical and high-end, all at once.

The kitchen orbits about the central island, which also offers a casual dining area. Timber veneer joinery and custom stainless steel hardware sit against the natural stone, resulting in a lux, yet minimal, user-friendly space.

Contemporary Category, 1st Place Winner
Miriam Fanning of Mim Design for NNH Residence

Maker + May, Canadian Bay

It’s hard to believe that this fit-out was the first large-scale residential kitchen project of interior designer Kirstyn Lloyd from Maker + May. The brief was to deliver a space for a family with three small children, that was family-friendly without comprising on elegance.

Luxurious materials have been used throughout the space. The neutral tones of the gallery kitchen are anchored by the rich black timber joinery, complemented by the island made of Elba marble, and European oak. The Sub-Zero refrigerator is subtly integrated, cloaked by the Manasta Gray marble hood cover.. The open plan space sprawls into the living and dining area, making the kitchen the true heart of the home.

Contemporary Category, 2nd Place Winner
Kirstyn Lloyd of Maker + May for ‘Canadian Bay’

Chris Connell Design, Armadale House

This professional chef’s kitchen is a modern update to Victorian era home, designed as both a personal kitchen, and filming location for the owner. The space needed to accommodate from eggs on toast breakfasts, to film shoot days, and big sprawling dinner party evenings. The design focuses on maximizing functionality and versatility.

The room is centered on the two refrigerators which ground the space, framed by industrial stainless steel, oak cabinetry and marble countertops. Natural light floods the space through the generous skylight and windows, perfect for both long filming days!

Contemporary Category, 3rd Place Winner
Chris Connell of Chris Connell Design for ‘Armadale House’

Studio Lancini, Copelen Street

This flexible and functional space by Studio Lancini continues the aesthetics of the home into the kitchen, offering elegance and uninterrupted lines throughout the entire property.

Neutral shades are elevated with black accents, including ovens and cooktop, and a black glass sliding door that cleverly conceals a butler’s pantry. There are several hidden delights in this kitchen, including the Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer concealed behind panelled mirrors and cabinetry. These mirrors, along with the reflective stone surface, offer a sleek, streamlined look.

The Small Spaces Kitchen Award
Erika Lancini of Studio Lancini for ‘Copelen Street’

Sub-Zero and Wolf, pioneers in luxury refrigeration, wine preservation, and cooking appliances, proudly celebrate inspiring kitchen design through the global Kitchen Design Contest.

Designed for timeless appeal, these iconic brands bring substance to luxury, with the powerful combination of performance, design and dependability. Learn more at www.subzero-wolf.com.au

After initially cutting his teeth making music videos, Edward Goldner has been working as a commercial cinematographer for the past decade. He began photography as a side interest, but has quickly found an audience for his medium format film images, that draw upon the visual language of cinema to create evocative and immersive scenes. He describes photography as an opportunity to ‘let go of the infrastructure and technical side of work’, but also a chance to bring the motion of video to his still images.

As an eager traveller, keen to move away from tourist locations, Edward is frequently scouting out new destinations as a way to provide ‘a window into a place that not many people get to see.’ His latest photography series, Nājī features portraits taken in remote areas of Mauritania, north-west Africa. These captivating images capture a sense of isolation, and the harsh natural environment, alongside the vibrancy of the local culture and the energy and resilience of residents.

Visiting Mauritania during Ramadan was a profound experience for Edward, as the period of fasting meant the streets were unusually quiet. Due to his inability to speak the local language, much of his month-long trip was spent in near meditative silence – but once Ed learnt some keywords and phrases, he was able to communicate with his subjects in a basic way, and make them feel comfortable.

The title of the exhibition, Nājī, is inspired by the name of the local guide Ed spent much of his month driving the historic streets of the west-African nation with. Nājī means ‘to survive’, and Ed’s photography series captures the strength of the local community.

These mural-size images communicate a distinct sense of place, situating the subjects against the unending sky and sweeping landscapes. Nājī  is being exhibited over four days in Clifton Hill later this month.

Nājī
Thursday October 24th – Sunday October 27th (Opening night event Friday October 25th, 6-9pm)
Stockroom Gallery
355a Wellington Street
Clifton Hill, Victoria

Extravagant beach houses are a fixture of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, but few are used year-round by up to 14 family members at a time!

Originally a disjointed home characterised by ‘make-do’ renovations, Whiting Architects have re-imagined this house as a more cohesive, flexible and inviting space. While the house often hosts several families at a time during summer, the client required that the home also feel intimate during quieter periods. ‘Through the creation of ‘precincts’ within the building we were able to create a comfortable place that feels inviting for two, but also able to accommodate extended family and a horde of children,’ says Whiting Architects director, Steven Whiting.

Another important element of the design was framing the 180-degree beach views, without subjecting residents to harsh summer sunlight or bitter winter winds.‘The building is directed for the views facing Bass Strait, but the beach side is constantly windy, so we needed to create a cloistered space for outside entertaining year round,’ explains Steven.

To overcome this, Whiting designed an enclosed, outdoor dining area with an open fire on the property’s leeward side. A timber arbour-like structure was also introduced to separate the private side of the home from the ‘active’ family side.

Unlike many beach houses that are only sporadically occupied, the owners of this home were able to regularly tend to a produce garden. Developing this garden was carefully considered from the outset, including the decision to enclose the space with high concrete walls inspired by the work of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. Thoughtful planning was also given to the home’s entry points, ensuring sandy feet wouldn’t be traipsing through main living areas!

From 40 degree summer days with belting northerly winds, to blasting horizontal rain, this house can withstand it all. All materials have been selected for their hardworking nature, right down to the nuts and bolts that were first galvanised, finished and protected to avoid corrosion.

The project all came together thanks to Bartlett Architectural Construction, who Whiting make a point of saying were amazing to work with. We call shotgun on the master bedroom!

It’s no secret that we’re huge Stephen Baker fans, having featured him on the site several times, hosted exhibitions with him, and showcased his work at our TDF Open House events!

It’s been a while between shows, but Stephen is back this month with a new collection titled, We’re In This Together. This exhibition is a first for Stephen, in the sense the paintings feature a mostly blue and green colour palette inspired by Melbourne winter.  ‘I’m definitely influenced by the seasons,’ Stephen says. ‘The show before had been quite bright in colour… It felt natural to move into a cooler palette for this collection.’

In typical Stephen fashion, these works depict faceless figures in a timeless space, void of any real-world cues. ‘It’d be nice to think that these works capture a sense of partnership and the exploration of the unknown. Two figures navigating their way through uncharted territories or landscapes,’ Stephen hints.

Stephen’s art is instantly recognisable to most north-side Melburnians, having adorned the entrance of Fitzroy Swimming Pool on Alexandra Parade since 2013 (including a new addition earlier in the year). When asked about the signature characters that feature in his works, Stephen says they provide a base to work from in terms of narrative, and he imagines they will always remain a key motif in his practice. ‘The more familiar the audience becomes with them, the easy it will be for me to take people on a journey, to create relatable connections for them to explore,’ he says.

We’re In This Together
Friday October 11, 6-9pm (Opening night)
Saturday October 12 – Sunday October 20, 12pm-6pm
At The Above
Level 1, 198 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy, Victoria

I was a tiny bit starstruck meeting Alison Bell. I watched the first season of her show The Letdown through bloodshot sleep-deprived eyes. I’d just given birth to my first child and the sense of isolation was palpable. The show offered a kind of solidarity I struggled to find in the real world, and along with countless others I’m eternally grateful to Alison and co-creator Sarah Scheller for bringing The Letdown to life. 

Creating and starring in a successful TV show about the challenges of parenthood while navigating the challenges of parenthood is very meta and makes my head hurt. It’s not a venture for the faint of heart. Alison laughs a lot, which must help with the long hours. Her laugh is melodic and brimming with feeling, with the power to lift her out of darker moments like some brilliant colourful bird. I presume. 

Alison and Sarah have just landed a development deal for US network FX for a brand new show. It’s set to be produced by none other than Sharon Horgan’s company, the genius woman behind the likes of Catastrophe, Pulling and Motherland. 

I caught up with Alison at Cibi in Collingwood to talk life as a mum/show creator, maternity leave, secondary caring and the spectrum of parenting feelings. 

*Editor’s note / trigger warning : we touch on postnatal depression in this story, in relation to Alison’s character in The Letdown.

How do you and Johnny share the parenting load?

There’s no way I could make that TV show without John Leary. He’s been the primary carer for the last three years. I’m very hands-on when I’m home, and carry a lot of guilt around my absence if I’m completely honest. Even though it’s a very normal position for men to take, to be working massive hours and that kind of thing. I still have the feelings associated with wanting to be a different kind of mother. I think that really feeds the show. 

I’m really proud that my little boy is being raised equally by his parents. I was far more hands-on in the first two years, even though I was writing The Letdown at the same time. But as the show went into production my hours became enormous, and Johnny stepped away from work, and said ‘no’ to work, and I don’t know many men in my industry who would do that.

I’m really grateful to have a partner who values my career in that way and sees the long game. He’s been an enormous support. That’s how we’ve done it. I don’t believe we’re necessarily getting things right, but we’re trying to manage this very strange itinerant life of ours with this beautiful little kid, who is exceptionally adaptable these days. We’ve lived in so many houses in so many places in his lifetime. I can do it because I have a partner who is willing to be a parent. 

How do you work through the guilt that comes with being away from home? 

I am no role model there. It’s really, really tough. One consolation, and this is going to sound overly earnest and ridiculous, is that I believe in the work that I’m doing. I know not everyone has that luxury. I’m in a very privileged position where I get to practice my craft and make something I believe in. It does help to acknowledge that fact and recognise this great opportunity I’ve got. I can’t pretend that the feedback doesn’t help. That probably sounds ego-driven, but I don’t want to make work that doesn’t speak to people. I don’t want to put all of my creative/work energy into something that no one connects with. 

I felt a very strong desire to write these stories from the start. To be part of a movement that was addressing a huge, glaring problem in our industry in terms of female representation and authorship. I’m really proud that I’ve been a part of it. And it’s all about timing and opportunity. I’m really lucky I get to do this. 

Is it weird to go to work to be a Mum?

(Laughing) It’s a very different thing. Those little babies are whisked away from me every five seconds. They’re divine and their parents are incredible and always there. And yes, a big part of my day on set is pretending to be Mum to these little people, but between scenes there are so many other aspects to what I’m doing, which I love. It’s such a joy to work with my team, who are an incredibly talented group of people at the top of their game. Half my day is spent in problem-solving mode, discussing rewrites because something isn’t working or a location that’s fallen through and we have to come up with another idea. I love the production side of it. It’s exhilarating.

The stories are so much more about the women than the kids. When the babies are on set it becomes more an exercise in how we’re going to get the scene. With babies you might have a window of five-seconds before they start crying. You’ve got to almost shut off the maternal side of your brain, in a way and work as efficiently as possible with the crew and cast to get the necessary baby shots. 

Was part of writing The Letdown to bring forward the woman, as opposed to the mother? 

I felt that dislocation from myself very strongly when I became a mother. There was an external manifestation of that as well in terms of my industry. There’s no maternity leave in the theatre/film + TV industries. They don’t stop. I did hear whispers of ‘she’s having a baby’ or ‘she’s pregnant’, about other women, and three years on her name might come up for a job and people would say, ‘Oh no, she’s a Mum now. She’s out of the game.’ And it was like, how do you think those mothers support their families? You work solidly for 10 years and you have a baby then you’re unemployable. So, there were external factors fueling this idea that my identity had radically shifted. 

I find that stuff fascinating. The transition into motherhood is very interesting and different for different women, but a major thing seems to be that identity shift. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to incorporate the old self with the new self in a way that’s cohesive. 

It’s like at the end of Season One when Ambrose (the midwife played by Noni Hazlehurst) says, ‘You’re still you.’

Does Audrey have postnatal depression? 

Some people have assumed that. And Sarah and I laugh with horror and say, ‘Oh well I guess we had it too!’ Undiagnosed. Where is the line? We certainly didn’t write the show with any diagnostic intentions, but we did a lot of research into postnatal depression.

Our intention was to write truthfully about the challenges of motherhood, (the identity crisis, the struggle to manage expectations) and to make them funny. The absurdity and the humiliation and all the vulnerability, because vulnerability is the essence of comedy. We wanted to look at that stuff. For us, it’s not the story of a woman with PND.  

One of the key things to me that suggests she’s not depressed is her desire for social connection. She was desperate for friends. So desperate that she returned to a mother’s group where she completely embarrassed herself. I’ve always hung onto that as a signal that she’s not depressed. That doesn’t mean that people who are suffering postnatal depression won’t relate strongly to this journey and see themselves in her. There are many varied opinions on whether Audrey has something clinical going on. 

I think the reason people see that about her is because we highlight the challenges. And maybe that’s an error on our part. Maybe we didn’t get the balance right. Sarah and I were aware that we are inundated with blissful images of motherhood. That people talk ad nauseam about love. 

I know. It’s like, we get it, you love your kid.

Yeah so that was a given for us. I hope we never give the impression that Audrey doesn’t love that little baby. That’s not her struggle with motherhood. It’s around the expectations she has of herself as a mother and the ones she has of her partner, which are not aligned from the very beginning. A lot of the people we talked to discover they’re not really on the same page as their partner in terms of expectations. Then, you know, throw extraordinary sleep deprivation into the mix. 

Comedians say the equation for turning pain into humour is Experience + Time. I’m in awe that you were able to have that perspective as it was happening. How did you do that? 

I think that comes from my personality. I am a mix of tears and laughter at all times. Sarah and I like to make each other laugh, and we often turn the mini traumas of our days into anecdotes. There’s cultural agency in Australia in not taking yourself too seriously. There are moments in The Letdown that have come from my life or from Sarah’s life that are deeply sad. I will absolutely go there at the time and have the tears and experience that moment. But because I enjoy making people laugh, I’ll twist the story so I can make fun of myself. It’s how Sarah and I communicate. We try and make each other laugh with the stories of our failures. It’s a way of coping with them. 

It probably would have been a completely different show if you made it on your own. 

Yeah because a lot of the stories came out of our conversations. Things that had happened to us or we’d heard about our friend, one of our sisters, they came out of those chats.

That desperate need for connection, that’s where those opportunities arise. You share your vulnerability and see that other people are just as vulnerable and then have a laugh about it. In isolation it’s harder I think, to find the humour. We need people to laugh with. Otherwise what is the point?

FAMILY FAVOURITES

Rainy day activity

Melbourne Museum visits.

Sunday morning breakfast

Johnny’s buttermilk pancakes – they’re exceptional.

Ultimate ‘me time’ experience

Do you know what, just this week, for the first time in six years I went back to yoga. It was like a dream. Exercise was a big part of my stress management before kids. My work is so public and I was highly adrenalised a lot of the time. I used to do a lot of yoga and pilates until I had a child. And I haven’t exercised since! So going back this last week was just like oh my god my brain needs it.

Date night?

Dinner and/or a show! Theatre – we don’t see nearly as much as we used to so it’s a real treat these days.

Go-to album

Lately I’ve returned to When we Fall – The beautiful album by All My Exes Live In Texas.

Weekend getaway

We don’t. Getaway. We’re always moving about – heaven is being in our Collingwood home!

Season 2 of The Letdown is currently airing on Netflix USA, and coming soon to Netflix Australia, where you can catch all of Season 1. Alison and Sarah have also been working on the pilot of an adaptation of Holly Throsby’s novel, Goodwood produced by Alice Bell, Claudia Karvan and Imogen Banks for the ABC. 

If there’s one thing you should do this weekend, it’s head to Collingwood to experience the wonderful floral exhibition, Flowering Now!

After taking out the Floral Design award at this year’s TDF Design Awards, the immersive, collaborative floral installation is back for its second year, driven by two of Melbourne’s most creative florists, Melanie Stapleton of Cecilia Fox and Katie Marx of Katie Marx Flowers. Last year’s showcase was put together in just three weeks (!), and Katie and Melanie have the upped the ante in 2019, by introducing more florists and a special Saturday twilight session.

The idea for the original Flowering Now concept came about over an early morning market visit, when Mel and Katie began discussing the up-and-coming talent in their industry. Rather than being intimidated by the new generation of florists rising up through the ranks, Katie and Melanie were inspired to create an event that would showcase the industry as a united collective.

‘Katie and I really wanted to work on something that was inspiring and something different that didn’t happen in a flowering community already,’ says Melanie. ‘We really wanted to create a community, support them, and hope to change people’s ideas on what’s possible with flowers.’

This year’s exhibition brings together the work of 14 florists, in the lofty warehouse building that will soon become the S.O.S Sense Of Self bathhouse. Each florist has chosen a specific space in the building to transform using any floral and botanical material they wish.

It was important to Melanie and Katie that no brief be provided, in order for the event to feel separate from the florists’ everyday work. ‘We’ve decided to keep it theme-less, just purely because we always get a theme and a mood board [in our line of work] and we wanted to try and step outside of that,’ says Melanie.

This year’s Flowering Now is a ticketed event to support the business’s new scholarship fund in collaboration with Melbourne Polytechnic’s floristry course. ‘We’re working on a project where students can pitch an idea to us, which Katie and I will judge, and we’ll fund the winner to make a work at the next Flowering Now,’ explains Melanie.

Tickets are available in two-hour sessions, with an extra-long evening session happening on the Saturday night. This particular session will serve alcoholic beverages, snacks and include a performance from singer Sarah Mary Chadwick. ‘What we realised from last year is that people really just wanted to hang out in the space. It will be nice that you can grab a glass of wine or coffee this time,’ says Melanie.

In just one year, Flowering Now has successfully elevated Melbourne’s floral community to a new audience. Once considered perhaps a ‘daggy’ or ‘suburban’ profession, Katie and Melanie say florists are increasingly being recognised for their gruelling and creative work, which involves very early mornings, challenging materials, and many high-stress occasions!

‘When I first started being a florist it was not cool at all, but in the last five years or so, it’s really become a trendy job to have,’ says Katie. ‘People are now doing so much amazing work, that we sort of just wanted to celebrate that and give a voice to up and coming florists and people who are pushing a few boundaries.’

‘We’d love to see as many different people come and have a look what we do.’

Tickets to Flowering Now can be purchased here.

2019 florists: Azalea Flowers, Bloom Boy, Candy Mountain, Cecilia Fox, Feld Flowers, Flos Botanical, Georgie Boy, Glasshaus, Good Grace & Humour, Ive & Eve, Katie Marx Flowers, Pomp & Splendour, Poppy Culture, and Raven & The Rose.

Flowering Now
Saturday October 12th – Sunday October 13th
Sense Of Self (SOS) Upstairs
30-32 Easey Street
Collingwood, Victoria

Purchase tickets here.

Will Studd has been gardening all his life. He grew up in a large family in the UK – he’s one of six boys – and his father spent a lot of time tending to their backyard vegetable garden. ‘I suppose it’s where I got the bug for growing my own,’ he says. ‘It becomes obsessive after a while.’ As an internationally renowned cheese expert, writer and TV host, Will has received plenty of accolades over the years, but I suspect the school gardening prize he won when aged 10 rates amongst his most treasured achievements.

Will’s home garden is on the outskirts of Byron Bay, in northern New South Wales. It’s a large, lush, sub-tropical wonderland, complete with over 180 species of palm trees, and a huge vegetable garden. Will and his wife Bonnie moved to Byron around 10 years ago from Victoria, and the new climate and its associated plant palette was a real culture shock. ‘When a house plant turns into a garden plant, I think that pretty much underlines culture shock, doesn’t it?’ he says with a laugh. ‘I assumed gardening up here would be easy. It was a massive learning curve, working out what plants would and wouldn’t grow. Particularly in the vegetable garden.’

To help create the structure of the garden, Will enlisted a stonemason friend from Victoria, Otto von Johannsohn of Redhill Stonework, who spent three years building walls, stairs and terraces, helping define spaces within the steep garden. He worked with local plantsman Mike Lickfold and his partner Helen Fawell, who did all the ornamental planting. ‘Mike had a great eye. The garden wouldn’t be what it is without him and Helen. Having lived in Victoria for most of my life, I needed that help.’

As well as the huge collection of palms, there’s a bunch of rare cordylines and other colourful exotics. ‘The climate up here means you get really vibrant plants, with loads and loads of colour and texture. You just don’t see that in other places. The cordylines that Mike put in, he picked a really amazing variety of colours – bright greens and purples. People come around and ask for cuttings of the cordylines. I love that.’

Whilst Will loves the vibrant ornamental garden, his focus is firmly on the vegetable patch. ‘The defined seasons you get used to down south don’t really exist up here. Up here the weather is fantastic most of the time, we don’t get extremes. You’d think, then, that growing vegetables would be super easy, but from about November until just after Easter it’s difficult. Rain, humidity and heat is very destructive on a lot of plants. Some things grow really well – like chillies and aubergines and cucumbers, but I don’t bother to grow tomatoes anymore, they just don’t do well. The vegetable garden up here is very productive for around eight months of the year but over summer it’s a bit tricky. I’m still trying to find some interesting things to grow over that time.”

It’s clear that Will is a very, very passionate food gardener. His garden feeds him and his family on a literal level – ‘I definitely overproduce. Our kids, visitors, everyone gets stuck in but there’s still always excess. It’s the way it is’ – and on a soul level, too. ‘When you plant a garden, you plant for the future. There’s something very uplifting about that. When you plant a tree and know that it’ll hopefully be around for the next 40,50, 100 years, that’s a very special, very generous, thing to do.’

Will is right. A garden is a gift. It’s clear he treasures his, and the people who helped him create it. ‘I am incredibly grateful to the people who helped me make this garden. It wouldn’t be anything near what it is now without their help. Let’s face it, growing a carrot isn’t that hard!’

Robin Boyd: Design Legend at Heide Museum of Modern Art celebrates the expansive career of the architect, writer, educator and social commentator who helped introduce modernism to an Australian audience. During his career, Boyd designed over 300 projects, playing a primary role in shaping the Australian design identity. The Robin Boyd Foundation describes, ‘he was passionate about good design and devoted his life to creating a wider public understanding of its benefits.’ As well as the architecture projects he is renowned for, Boyd also designed furniture, now distributed under license by KFive + Kinnarps in partnership with the Robin Boyd Foundation.

In the year of what would have been his 100th birthday, the exhibition on now at Heide II shows photographs, drawings and Boyd’s models of ten of his most significant house designs, including House of Tomorrow (1949), his own Walsh Street House (1958) and the iconic Featherston House (1967-9).

As part of the exhibition, Heide has commissioned a pair of chairs, sofa and coffee table from the Robin Boyd Collection, upholstered in fabric by renowned Australian designer Garry Emery, screen printed by Spacecraft. These items will be auctioned at Heide on Sunday October 27th, supported by Nelson Alexander, with all proceeds supporting the Heide Museum of Modern Art and Robin Boyd Foundation. 

If you are keen to take home your own piece of Australian design heritage, it’s all going down later this month! Register here before the day of the auction for your chance to bid. The pieces can be seen at Heide anytime between now and then.

Pre-registration will also grant you free access to the exhibition on the day of the auction, and a drink to get you in the paddle-raising-spirit!

Register interest for bidding in the Robin Boyd Collection Furniture Auction here. 

Robin Boyd Collection Furniture Auction 
Sunday, October 27th 
Viewing, 2pm 
Auction, 3pm 
Heide II
Heide Museum of Modern Art
7 Templestowe Rd, Bulleen 

On this episode of TDF Talks I chat with a truly remarkable Australian artist, who picked up not one but TWO awards at our recent TDF Design Awards – I’m talking of course about Tyrone Wright, otherwise known at Rone. If you’re Melbourne based, there’s a high chance you would have visited his spectacular project, RONE Empire, earlier this year. It is impossible to describe the mind-boggling scale of this self-initiated and largely self-funded project.

Rone and a team of collaborators transformed the historic Burnham Beeches property in the Dandenongs into an epic multi-sensory installation across 12 enormous rooms, bringing together Rone’s haunting artwork enhanced with interior styling and decoration, botanical installations, soundscapes, bespoke scent, virtual reality, augmented reality and more. Over 22,000 people visited the project over a 2-month period.

It’s the sort of project that just doesn’t happen without a truly visionary creative to imagine it, to drive it…. and to take a whole lot of risks to make it happen.

I was so inspired by Rone’s relentless creative drive. In person he’s a pretty humble guy, but one thing is clear – Rone isn’t interested in doing anything the easy way. This is an artist who has found his niche pushing creativity and collaboration right to their limits – and proving that with enough passion, you really can make seemingly impossible things happen.

NOTES + LINKS

Visit www.r-o-n-e.com  for more info about Rone, EMPIRE and his other projects.

You should definitely also be following him on Instagram at @r_o_n_e – especially to see the MIND BLOWING (and somewhat depressing) before and after transformations he’s been sharing recently, of reinstating Burnham Beeches to its original empty state!

Next year, Rone’s work will be exhibited in a public institution for the first time, back in his hometown of Geelong!  The Geelong Gallery will be hosting a survey of Rone’s early works, along with some new installations. The show is due to open in May of 2020, but we’ll keep you posted!

As I write this, it feels as though Spring has officially arrived! The backstreets near my house smell of jasmine, there are more blue-skied days than grey and the windows have all been flung open. It’s safe to say that this time of year makes most people feel slightly more chipper too, and you can sense it. It also brings anticipation of what’s to come – mangoes eaten over the kitchen sink, outside gatherings and lazy afternoons.

Spring also happens to be the perfect time to enjoy strawberries, and they are the very first fruit which signals the warmer weather to come. A galette, or crostata, is basically speaking, a rustic open tart and is a wonderful alternative to a pie which often requires a little extra effort and skill. The more homemade looking it is, the better. I am a firm believer that you don’t want anything to appear so perfect that people think you’ve bought it. The pastry is so flaky and really simple to make too. If you’ve never embarked on pastry making before, I urge you to try it! Just be sure your water is icy and the butter very cold. When incorporating the water, don’t overwork the pastry dough either – you want to handle the dough as little as possible to ensure the pastry is flaky and light.

You can use a variety of other fruits here in lieu of the strawberries– blueberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches and rhubarb all work very well, which means you can enjoy well into summer as new season fruits emerge. Just be sure to adjust the sweetness depending on what you choose. A more tart fruit like rhubarb will most likely need a little extra sugar. Try different flavourings too – vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom and lemon zest work wonderfully with certain fruits. This tart can be assembled the day before and kept in the fridge – all you need to do is brush with cream and scatter over the sugar before baking.

JULIA’S STRAWBERRY GALETTE (serves 4)

Ingredients
750g strawberries, hulled and halved
3tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp cornflour
Zest of an orange
1tsp rosewater

Flakey Pastry
250 g plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Pinch of fine sea salt
180 g chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1tbsp white vinegar
Iced water

Rose Cream
300ml pure cream
1tbsp icing sugar
1tsp rose water

Pure cream, for brushing
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Roasted pistachios, roughly chopped, to serve

Method

To make the dough for the pastry, mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the mixture is pebbly. You want to almost rub the butter into flatter pieces rather than into something that resembles breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the vinegar and sprinkle over enough iced water to just bring the dough together. It will still be shaggy but shouldn’t be dry or floury and hold together when pressed. Flatten into a disc, wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Allow the pastry to rest out of the fridge for 10 minutes. Line a 25 cm round baking tray with baking paper. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface into a large roundabout 5 mm thick, massaging the edges as you roll to prevent it from cracking too much. Drape the pastry over the prepared tray. In a bowl, mix the strawberries with the sugar, corn starch, orange zest and rosewater. Arrange the fruit on the pastry, leaving a 4 cm border. There isn’t really a need to be precise with the border or overhanging pastry as it is wonderfully rustic, so any overhanging pastry, even if more than 4cm can be just folded in. Fold in the overhanging pastry edge to create a border, pinching it together at intervals to create a circular shape. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Brush the pastry with cream and scatter with demerara sugar.

Bake the galette in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes until the pastry is golden, the fruit is soft and the juices are visibly bubbling. Allow to cool – this step is very important to allow the juices to thicken.

Meanwhile, whip the cream and icing sugar to soft peaks and fold through the rosewater. Serve slices of the galette with a generous dollop of the cream and a scattering of pistachios.

What else I’m cooking with…

Asparagus simply drizzled with really good olive oil and flaky salt and grilled in a hot pan for a minute or too. Toss through some mint and buffalo mozzarella and serve with crusty bread.

What I’m eating…

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll see I’ve recently been eating lots of amazing things in Japan!! But now that I’m back home I can’t get enough of the salad sandwich from Wild Life Bakery. It’s the kind of sandwich you could definitely make at home but somehow tastes so much better there.

You can follow along with Julia on Instagram and find more fab recipes via her website! 

After working in the design industry for many years, and being frustrated with the lack of options in small architectural and interior hardware, Cassie James-Herrick of CJH Studio, and her husband Shaun Herrick took it upon themselves to fill this gap in the market. Cassie explains ‘we started Linear Standard two years ago, opening to online trading early this year, and growing our range constantly.’ The range includes door handles and door knobs sourced from across Australia and all over the world, in addition to the custom designed pieces by the couple.

Cassie explains ‘what started as a bit of a sideline project to appease a long dreamed out creative itch, has really started to take on a life of its own.’ With a young family, and a burgeoning business, Shaun has recently left his job in construction after 17 years to focus on parenting – both growing kids and a growing business! Cassie explains, ‘with a trained eye we have handled (pardon the pun) every piece in our range, carefully selected and discarded a LOT that we felt didn’t meet the level we were aiming to attain.’

‘LS Editions’ refers to the pieces Cassie and Shaun design themselves, and this collection is all manufactured in Australia, with a focus on reusing discarded construction materials, including aluminium, brass, oak, walnut, leather and even neoprene. In future, Linear Standard will release marble and stone pieces and they’re also collaborating with Dustin Frische from Softer Studio on some exclusive timber designs. Move aside boring cabinetry hardware, a new standard has arrived!

Following the recent announcement of The Design Files Design Awards Sustainable Design winners, our editor Lucy Feagins will be hosting a conversation all about designing for a sustainable future!

Join Lucy, along with special guests Karina Seljak of Seljak Brand, packaging designer Brittney Wheeler, and Abigail Forsyth of KeepCup, to an uplifting chat about the awesome things Australian designers are already doing in this space, and how we can do even better.

Abigail Forsyth was one of the judges for our TDF Design Awards, and spoke so passionately about the necessity of considering not just the materials products are made from, but how those materials are sourced, how long they last, and where they will end up. She brings with her a decade of expertise as the co-founder of KeepCup, to the panel!

We’re also super exited to chat to Karina Seljak of Seljak Brand, whose closed loop merino blanket took out the top prize, and packaging designer Brittney Wheeler of Contain Design Studio whose ‘Milk in Glass’ concept was awarded a commendation. These designers will share their insights about the challenges and responsibilities of designing new products in the era of unprecedented climate change.

All up, it’s set to be a super inspiring night from three local leaders (and ladies!) in sustainable design – the future starts here, people. Join us!

TDF Design Awards – A Live Conversation on Sustainable Design 
Wednesday 30th October 
6:30pm – 8:00pm 
Mercedes me Store Melbourne 
525 Collins Street 
Melbourne 

Tickets are $15.00 – includes drink on arrival and grazing table

Prop maker and installation designer Kitiya Palaskas and partner, signwriter Matthew Rhynehart were looking for a new rental in Melbourne, and expanded their search beyond the conventional inner-north boundary to see what delights might be affordable a little further out. A scroll through online listings one morning landed on this townhouse in Pascoe Vale, and ten minutes later Matt was at the property inspection (while Kit stayed and finished her brekkie!). Matt may have sacrificed his toast that morning, but he landed upon a winner – a large townhouse, surrounded by older European neighbours who have deep community connections.

Kitiya explains that ‘being a rental, there wasn’t much we could do structurally to the house’ but this certainly hasn’t stopped the couple putting their own vibrant touch on every surface. ‘We have transformed the inside and our little outdoor courtyard by filling them with colour, plants and cozy textiles and rugs’ Kitiya highlights. Her secret weapon is 3M hooks – ‘we have artwork hanging everywhere, which really makes a difference’ Kitiya explains.

The home is brimming with what the designer describes as ‘carefully curated clutter.’ Tiki bar-ware, kaleidoscopes, woven baskets, fake fruit, vintage glassware, kids toys and 70s picnic blankets all jostle for space, and bring a real sense of joy to the house. Many of the objects also tell a story of the owners, as Kitiya grew up in the Middle East and Papua New Guinea, and textiles and rugs from these places adorn the walls and floors. Meanwhile, Matt’s hand-painted signs bring even more colour and personality to the residence.

The home is flooded with natural light, which Kitiya describes as a perk of living in the suburbs. She highlights that ‘the houses tends to be bigger’ and ‘everyone has a front yard.’ Perfect for morning walks, which Kitiya enthuses are especially delightful at this time of year due to the spring flowers blooming everywhere!

While modern townhouses can sometimes lack personality, Kityia sees the blank slate as an opportunity to introduce your own flair. She describes ‘for me, its people and their stuff that truly make a home warm and liveable.’ This home is packed with colour, Matt’s hand painted signs, artwork from talented creative friends, handmade props by Kitiya, textiles and cushions, clashing patterns and BOLD prints.

If this aesthetic has caught your eye, make sure you check out Kitiya’s upcoming exhibition Superbloom at LCI Melbourne, opening Thursday October 24th. Colour explosions guaranteed!

Artist Bec Smith created her latest body of work while staying in an off-grid 1970s stone cottage. Nestled in Victorian bushland, the property sat up above an expansive valley, which prompted Bec to think about heights, depths, vantage points, and the hidden power of the world beneath the surface. Her work partly reflects on this human desire to extract value from beneath the earth, and the hidden riches that we exploit from the landscape.

The artist connects the geography of landscape with her navigation of more personal emotions and experiences. Bec explains ‘I considered just how much individual inner, personal “gold” could be drawn upon, by simply acknowledging and believing in its quiet limitless existence. And how some things that may remain conserved and undisturbed are in fact more powerful than we could ever know.’

We love the distinctly muted palette of Bec’s work, balanced with her minimalist, clean lines, and expert control of shape and form.

If you’re in Sydney, join Bec at Saint Cloche in Paddington tonight, October 16th from 6pm-8pm to celebrate the opening of Sub!

Sub by Bec Smith  
Opening Night Wednesday October 16th, 6-8pm 
Exhibition runs October 16 – 27th
Saint Cloche Gallery 
37 MacDonald St
Paddington, New South Wales

The Sybil house in Red Hill by Templeton Architecture connects a series of buildings across a picturesque site that looks over rolling hills and the glittering sea. The property was designed to be an escape for family and friends, and in architect Emma Templeton’s words, a place to ‘bring loved ones together.’

Emma explains that she and her team have worked with this client several times, and so developed a good understanding of the aesthetic tastes and functional requirements of the family over the years. This provided a solid starting point for this ambitious project, that was ‘one of an ever-expanding nature.’ The initial brief was to make small adjustments to the existing buildings on site, before the scope of the renovations grew to match the the client’s increasing love of spending time there. Emma highlights ‘as the client’s love for the property took hold, it became the focus of their leisure time and a place they dearly wanted to share.’

The property was originally a ‘chook farm’ and consisted of multiple buildings and dams scattered across the expansive site. Emma explains ‘we needed to connect the disparate spaces, both the buildings and external experiences, to create new opportunities and enhance the relationship with the rural location.’ The pitched roof also reflects the form of the original building, and echoes the silhouette of many surrounding properties.

After careful consideration, the architects selected a palette of raw and robust materials, which also delicately relate to the environmental context. ‘We have carefully framed the landscape, providing visual context to each building and space’ Emma describes. Inside, the rammed earth walls provide a refined and understated warmth, and a direct connection to the landscape.

The main dwelling is the primary residence for the family, while the surrounding cluster accommodates a rolling parade of guests. For Emma, while each element of the property is beautiful, the success of the project is in the overall atmosphere, as an ‘inviting, generous and relaxing space.’

Once ‘Sybil’ was complete, the client sent Emma an extract of Gaston Bachelard’s book ‘The Poetics of Space’, reflecting on how Templeton Architecture had managed to create spaces that allow he and his family to daydream. Who would have thought there was so much poetry to be brought to life in an old chook shed!

‘Our house is really full. The family live upstairs, then downstairs on one side is my studio, and on the other side is my husband’s business, a cheeserie. So pots come out of one side and buffalo mozzarella comes out of the other!’ ceramicist Shannon Garson explains cheerfully. The scenario in her rambling family cottage, perched atop a hill in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny, is indeed unique.

Shannon has worked as a ceramic artist for the last twenty years, refining her throwing skills and studying decorative techniques throughout the world. In 2005 she received a Churchill Fellowship, which allowed her to spend three months travelling in Europe studying the art of the medieval and Renaissance periods. As a result, she brings solid skills in observation and composition, along with formal elements of draftsmanship to ceramics through training her hand and eye as a painter – this lends a distinctiveness to Shannon’s work that sets it apart.

Porcelain is the artist’s clay of choice, for its beautiful surface quality and interaction with colour. ‘I want the surface of the pot to be part of the drawing, not just a surface for the drawing to sit on,’ Shannon describes. ‘I want the whole pot to be experienced, from the weight of it as you pick it up, the texture, the drawing, colour, smoothness of the glaze – all the elements draw a person into experiencing the vessel.’

Shannon’s practice is punctuated with regular exhibition work, which loops back and guides the evolution of her domestic collections. Each body of exhibition work is inspired by a landscape. ‘Drawing the landscape onto pots creates a stronger connection between our interior or domestic lives, and the landscape they are taking place within,’ she reflects.

Outside Shannon’s studio in the garden is a giant eucalypt tree; if you look closely you can see loads of tiny Welcome Swallows looping through the air and between branches. ‘Welcome Swallows were named by sailors as the sight of their flashing blue bodies and red breasts mean that land is near,’ says Shannon. These swallows are the small migratory bird that also gather in a marsh area nearby where Shannon goes walking. They form the inspiration for her latest exhibition, Precious Nature – a series of large gently rocking bowls, unsteady on their rounded bases as the swallows swoop in a drawing across the surfaces, inside and outside, over the rims and underneath. ‘Welcome swallows capture both the gladness of returning home, and the strange melancholy of the end of the journey.’

Precious Nature opens at Beaver Galleries, 81 Denison Street, Deakin, Canberra, on October 17th and runs until November 3rd.

As well as making and exhibiting work, Shannon also runs occasional creative tours, retreats and workshops called ‘Creative Voyages’, which look and sound amazing. Keep up to date with Shannon’s creative journey: @shannongarson

Leila Jeffreys is a self-described ‘bird nerd’ – and has built a huge following for her incredible portraits of birds. Her latest body of work, High Society  at Olsen Gallery, Woollahra sees Leila move from single portraits to shooting entire flocks of birds together.

While many of Leila’s more recent projects have involved larger bird species, her desire to capture a flock meant she needed to work with birds who were both tame and familiar to her. Ten years after initially putting budgies in front of the lens, the bird most associated with childhood pets (rather than photographic models) is back centre stage.

Leila explains ‘it occurred to me that I’ve spent my time focusing on the individuals, and shifting my focus to the flock had enabled me to really observe how the birds interacted.’ Watching her feathered friends interact in this way revealed family groups and couples that shined a light on how budgies work as a ‘society’. Her husband James suggested the title High Society as a playful way to reflect that they are ‘literally a high society given that their homes are in trees, but also flipping the dialogue and playing with the suggestion that they are more important than us mere humans.’ The humble budgie is elevated to new heights!

The artist highlights that capturing the birds collectively was logistically complex, and required extensive planning and the building of a temporary aviary in the studio. This 10-metre long and 4-metre high structure allowed Leila to capture the birds sitting in trees devoid of leaves, where the small birds mimic the blossoms or foliage of the plant. She explains that this composition ‘highlights  the relationship of the birds and trees, depending on each other for survival.’

In addition to these arresting group shots, Leila also presents her iconic close up portraits of budgerigars. The brightly coloured birds have all been named by Leila’s friends Matilda (11) and Harriet (8), whose own pet budgies Pineapple and Ocean feature in the exhibition! The two girls provided the names for all of the featured birds in the show (‘celery’ being one of our favourites names!) which Leila describes as ‘names that could only have come from the beautiful, young, creative minds of children.’

If you are an established fan of Leila’s work, or keen to find out more, you can view a documentary about her work and process as a photographic artist available on ABC iView right now. It’s directed by award-winning documentary maker Poppy Stockell and produced by Cecilia Ritchie, and called Bird Nerd: The Art of Leila Jeffreys.

High Society by Leila Jeffreys
October 16th – November 10th 
Screening of Bird Nerd and Q&A with Leila on Saturday, October 19th 
6-8pm 
Olsen Gallery
63 Jersey Road
Woollahra, New South Wales

This year, over 100 rooms around the country were entered into the Australian House & Garden’s Top 50 Rooms competition, an award that has been running for 21 years to celebrate the best of Australia’s design talent. Think bling, think colour, think lux marble surfaces, as well as many unexpected moments of delight!

Australian House & Gardens editor Tanya Buchanan highlighted ‘the jury recognised new directions in interior design in these projects, including the clever use of raw materials, a love of simplicity and restrained approach to design. We are truly honoured to showcase the very best rooms in Australia.’

The judging panel was a line-up of home and interiors experts, including Harry Bolanakis of King Living, Kirsten Stanisich and Jonathan Richards of Richards Stanisich, Richard Unsworth the founder of Garden Life, Saskia Havekes founder of Grandiflora, and Kate Nixon, Australian House and Garden’s interiors and houses editor.

This houses-brains-trust have selected the winners across eleven categories, and you can view all of these incredible rooms in the November issue of Australian House and Garden.

King Living Room of the Year

Arendt&Pyke

Blum Best Kitchen 

Studio Ezra

Parisi Best Bathroom 

Decus Interiors

PGH Bricks Best Use Of Materials 

Carter Williamson

Armadillo & Co Best Use of Colour

Greg Natale Design

Wynstan Best Indoor-Outdoor Connection

Hare & Klein

Zip Best Use of Technology in the Home 

Doherty Design Studio

Best Outdoor Room 

Madeleine Blanchfield

Best Use of Soft Furnishings 

Cameron Kimber

Samsung Hall of Fame

Thomas Hamel

Cover Room

Stacey Kouros Design

When I was a 19-year-old student at RMIT, fresh out of the south-eastern suburbs on my own in the CBD for the first time, Anna Schwartz Gallery was one of the places I (shyly) frequented between lectures and tutorials. Wandering around the gallery in complete, blissful ignorance to what I was looking at, or the history of the space, I felt like the cosmopolitan young woman I had always aspired to be. Like this gallery was in the epicentre of everything that was sophisticated and special, grown-up and important. But it is not by chance that Anna Schwartz Gallery is part of what makes Melbourne feel like Melbourne. Anna was there at the start of it all.

Anna’s first venture into galleries was in 1982 at United Artists, a group venture in St Kilda with artists representing their own work – ‘an artist run gallery doomed to business failure’. Anna was representing the work of her first husband, and father to her daughter Zahava, the late Joel Elenberg. Eventually, she wanted something bigger, and realised what potential there was in running an art gallery.

Four years after this first foray into galleries, Anna was introduced to a large space at 45 Flinders Lane (which now operates as the art space fortyfivedownstairs), and opened City Gallery with another from the original group in 1986, in the same year Gabrielle Pizzi opened her Indigenous Art Gallery on the same street. ‘Everybody said, “you’re crazy, people won’t come, they can’t park”, and it was at a time when the city closed down at 6pm. There were basically no residential apartments yet, and very few restaurants’, Anna recalls. ‘It was just at that point of change that had started in the city.’ She moved into 185 Flinders Lane, the site of the gallery as it stands today, in 1993. When I asked Anna what made her confident that her gallery would succeed when others were so convinced it wouldn’t, she said, ‘I never listened to other people’s advice.’

This steadfast self-assuredness is a quality Anna is renowned for, and is inextricably linked to her success over the last 37 years of gallery stewardship. Despite having represented many of Australia’s leading contemporary artists over the years, Anna has ‘never chosen anything because of its potential for commercial success’. Rather, she considers it her responsibility to show what she thinks is serious and important, and ‘try to make it commercially viable’ so her artists can make a living, and their work can be culturally understood.

Anna is fiercely committed to her artists, gallery, and family, and has knitted her personal and professional worlds so tightly together that they are one and the same. ‘It’s a privilege to live a life that is totally indivisible from my work’, she says. This journey has been delightfully documented in the upcoming book Present Tense by Doug Hall, chronicling the world of Australian contemporary artists and cultural figures, as they relate to Anna, over the last 35 years.

We visited Anna in early October, only a couple of days before the opening first part of the gallery’s landmark exhibition Never the same river. The milestone show draws on the histories of Anna’s four galleries, with work by over 50 Australian and international artists, spanning the 1980s to the present.

FIRST THING

I wake up very early and am the lucky recipient of a very well made coffee by the person who has been lying next to me all night [Morry Schwartz, owner of Black Inc Books and publisher of the Quarterly Essay, The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.] The best cafe latte in Melbourne!

I do pilates with a close friend who is an absolute expert, she was a prima ballerina in Australia and internationally. Morry and I both go to her class twice a week. Apart from that, I try most days to walk to work and back, and as soon as it’s warm enough I swim three or four days a week at the Carlton Pool.

MORNING

Often early in the morning, I go to the Victoria Market which I love. I’ll go there two or three times a week and buy fresh, organic produce. I’ll prepare food and think about what I’m going to make that night.

I get into work around 10am. I always talk to everybody who works in the gallery about what needs to be done, the current exhibition, how the future is tracking and what issues have come up. I try to take everything forward.

LUNCHTIME

It’s extremely varied. After this conversation, I’m going over the road to Supernormal for lunch with some people who have just been in the gallery and invited me to join them. Supernormal is a great favourite and Andrew McConnell is a great restaurateur who has contributed so much to Melbourne. We often have lunch here in the gallery, which either I will cook or they will bring over from Supernormal. I’m a big fan of their ramen in winter. In fact, I might be made of that ramen soup!

AFTERNOON

I love being in the gallery so I’m here unless something else takes me away. Today I’m picking up my grandchildren from school, they live very close to me and I love driving them. I do that once a week, if not more, and pick them up. My daughter is a single mother, has three kids and lives opposite us. It’s like a village really, we all share the responsibilities. I can’t imagine it being any other way.

EVENING

Depending on what’s going on I will leave work around 6pm, go home and make dinner. I love cooking with music playing and having people around.

I have cooking heroes. They are Marcella Hazan – when she passed away a couple of years ago it was like a personal loss to me; Claudia Roden – she is an expert on Jewish and Middle Eastern cuisine, and Charmaine Solomon – I’ve had her Asian cookbook since the 1970s. Basically, if you do what these three women say, then you’re a great cook. I often cook Indian, Sri Lankan, Burmese, or Italian, Spanish, North African. I also make a lot of traditional Jewish food. We have a wonderful house designed by Denton Corker Marshall, and it’s very nice to have people there. We probably have people over three or four nights a week.

LAST THING

I really love to read. I feel remiss about the television shows that everyone is engaged with, I just never seem to get to television. What I do is so consuming and I think it’s really important to read and keep up with writing, and because my husband is a publisher I like to keep up with his newspapers – The Saturday Paper, The Monthly magazine, The Quarterly Essay, Australian Foreign Affairs, and the hundreds of books that he publishes. I’m in the very privileged position of having access to early copies of things.

Right now I’m reading… 

We recently went to East Timor and I met Kirsty Sword Gusmão, and she gave me her autobiography called A Woman Of Independence.

I’m reading the biography of Susan Sontag by Benjamin Moser [Sontag: Her Life]. It’s an extraordinary life by a great American intellectual who engaged with culture, literature, art, film and ideas.

I’m also reading the latest book that has come out of the diaries of Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook, and I’m really enjoying her perceptions and ideas. She’s very much my generation and I’ve known her for a long time.

The other book I’m reading is the biography of Penny Wong by Margaret Simons [Penny Wong: Passion and Principle]. It’s terrific – so inspiring and reassuring to read about a politician in this country with the values that she has.

One important thing I do every day is…

Speak to my daughter.

I get my best work done when…

I’m inspired by what’s around me. Whether that’s art or the interest of the audience and collectors, my best work is done in response to other people’s enthusiasm.

A philosophy I live and work by is…

Never compromise.

My productivity tip/tool is…

I don’t think about myself. I think about the objective.

Something I learned the hard way is…

I can’t really distinguish easy from hard. I think that I’ve always presented myself with challenges, approached them and tried to meet them. And I don’t think anything less is worth doing.

Part one of Never the same river opened at Anna Schwartz Gallery on October 5th and will run until November 1st. Part two will open on November 8th and will run until December 21st. The exhibition has been curated by Tania Doropoulos. 

Present Tense: Anna Schwartz Gallery and Thirty-Five Years of Contemporary Australian Art by Doug Hall will be released in early November by Black Inc Books.

It always pays to letter drop.

When agent Marcus Lloyd-Jones of Modern House (the only Mid-Century Modern real estate agency in the country) had his offer taken up to appraise this home (after popping a flyer in the letterbox) little did he know he was to stumble across one of the most exquisitely secret residences in Sydney.

Owned since 1974 by the Payton family, English immigrants with over 5 generations famous within antique and fine musical instrument business, they have lived within and cherished this home for over 45 years. The home’s origins lie some ten years earlier when it was built in 1962-63 as a commission by Peter Swan. Swan had offices in Pitt Street, though his business was in commercial architecture, this residence is the only private residence known thus far to be designed by him.

The commissioning client was the Welch Family, of also another noted family business this time in construction, Welch Bros, which worked with other noted architects at the time, though their reasons for employing Swan to design their family casa is unclear. However, all of this wonderful (and until now undocumented) history doesn’t really convey the sheer stun this home will inflict upon viewing. The cascade of expletives and gasps will commence with the street view, the low-slung carport and hints of stone, a tempting invitation to anyone versed in MCM residential architecture. Inside the house reveals itself slowly but surely and it is here you can sense the incredible use of materials including; Tassie Blackwood paneling, stone fireplace, full-height glazing and the outstanding design with total north facing living, garden lightwells, pool-centred courtyard and split levels.

The entire residence an individual expression of Modern architecture at the time, with clear comparisons to some of our most beloved and well-known names such as Walter Burley-Griffin, Bruce Rickard or Neville Gruzman. This home is up there with the greats, its recent discovery enthralling and immaculate, all original presentation we hope magical enough to attract a deserving custodian of integrity, if not also some form of heritage recognition.

View the property listing on Modern House here, and original MA article here.

Run by Patricia Callan and Pete Bakacs, Modernist Australia is the passion-project/website dedicated to raising the profile of mid-century design and modernist principles in Australia. For more eye-candy, visit modernistaustralia.com.