I don't have the urge to gut a house and start again. It's expensive, it makes a room look like everyone else's, and it throws out interesting things. The rooms I love are full of things with a past - a lamp that's already had a life in a flat (near Milan circa 1970 would be great), a piece of marble that is too good to end up in a skip, a chair that's far better re-upholstered than replaced.
What I do is build rooms out of real things. Most of them I find in person, on trips through Italy - markets, and dealers I've been buying from for years. A few I make in the studio, from salvaged marble and offcuts of good fabric. And a surprising number are things you already own and had written off.
It's a slower way to do a house and a far more personal one. You'll have a house that is not based on trends, instead is suited to you and how you want to live. The function and flow of the space is equallyas important as the aesthetic and the light.
A few things I believe
I'll warn you now, I have opinions. I think overhead downlights are the enemy of a nice evening, and I'll nearly always talk you into lamps instead. I won't let you polish the brass - the tarnish is the best part of it. And before anyone spends their budget on an extension; nine times out of ten the house its already big enough, and its the layout letting it down, not the square meterage. Let's make what you've got work harder first.
It's your home, it's my job to help you realise it. But you should feel comfortable with almost every decision (a little uncomfort is usually a good thing to create the amazing home).
The way I work
I work as a consultant, by appointment, from a studio in North Melbourne. I design the room and tell you exactly what to find and where it goes, you, or your builder, make it happen. I'm not on site running trades, which keeps the whole thing calmer, more affordable, and about the room rather than the paperwork.
Most of my clients are in older Melbourne homes - terraces, period flats, places with character worth keeping. But I also love to work on more modern homes, to bring that element of history to a more modern property is something I relish.