Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i Real Living Australia

See more on page 68. I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE… I’m addicted to buying tea towels. New or vintage, striped, checked or plain – I just can’t stop. There are so many great Australian brands doing beautiful linen styles. And as for the oldies, I regularly check Etsy.com for chic French and Irish linen textiles. Even better if I find one that’s monogrammed. Do you have an item that you just keep buying over and over? I think a tea towel is the easiest way to update your kitchen, adding colour and pattern to change up the look ever so slightly. If you’re looking to take on a more permanent change to your kitchen, or create a new one from scratch, this issue has you covered. Take the shopping…

A LOT CAN BE ACHIEVED in 100 years – just ask the Alessi family. When Giovanni Alessi opened what was essentially a foundry in 1921, he could not have imagined that Alessi would go on to become a household name in the realm of homewares. Heading the business until his death in 2009, it was Giovanni’s son Carlo who would foster Alessi’s growth from a humble workshop in the Italian Alps to a global industrial-design powerhouse, producing instantly recognisable objects – always with a signature twist. The secret to Alessi’s success has been its willingness to champion boundary-pushing design and to embrace a sense of playfulness. Over the years, Carlo’s son Alberto (who joined the family business in the 1970s and today is the company’s president) engaged many of the…

CATHRINE DE LICHTENBERG HAS ALWAYS LOVED COLOUR, but it wasn’t until she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after a secondment in Africa that she realised the effect colour can have on emotions. She used her discoveries to design the interiors of her 19th-century Copenhagen home in 2017. “I began to use colours as therapy and discovered how they can calm or reignite harmonious energies, provide a feeling of safety and affect the nervous system in a positive way when used decoratively within a room,” she says. Cathrine’s home has been designed to promote a particular mood or feeling in each room. “The kitchen was transformed into a bathroom, the dining room split into two bedrooms and the sitting room became a kitchen,” she says. FRESH START “I start…

Cabinet skirts turn the personality level to high – and they’re easy to DIY. If you’re confident with a sewing machine, you can tailor your own. If not, buy ready-made and hem to fit. We won’t tell! When your kitchen’s footprint is squeezy, skirt-fronted cabinets can be a real space saver. Turn awkward corners into eye-catching features with contrasting prints in complementary colours…

“THIS IS WHAT WE CALL SOFT MODERNISM, or soft minimalism. There is a warmth to the design, but it’s also pared back to very few elements,” says Brooke Aitken, architect and principal at Brooke Aitken Design. “The client had specific design ideas, and her desire for a clean and minimal kitchen was an important part of the brief.” HOT SPOT Located in the heart of an open-plan dining and living space with amazing harbour views, the kitchen design is a direct response to the incredible scenery. “We knew that everything within the apartment needed to be calm and minimal so that the view had no competition. The all-white palette was actually a strong brief requirement from the client,” says Brooke of the white-washed scheme. END GOAL Together with architect Delphine…

ORIGINALLY A SINGLE-STOREY VICTORIAN terrace home in Melbourne – with a traditional floor plan extending over a long and narrow site – this property is now spacious and exciting, thanks to Melbourne studio, Wowowa Architecture. “We retained the first two rooms and the hallway, to maintain the sense of formality typically associated with a traditional Victorian terrace,” says Nikita Bhopti, architect at Wowowa. “Beyond that, we gutted the interiors and added a second floor, as well as a living, kitchen and dining area that stretches across the width of the site,” she explains. “The site felt bigger and the sculptural, double-height volumes over the living area gave the project a dramatic sense of space and light, especially in contrast to the Victorian layout it initially had. We also added a…

SOMETHING’S GOING ON in Downtown Los Angeles. After decades of being overlooked in favour of its glamorous neighbours (West Hollywood, we’re looking at you), the cultural city centre in the heart of LA’s historic core has earned its way back to the top of the Californian itinerary. From the landmark architecture of the Million Dollar Theater and the renowned Bradbury Building to the more modern wonders of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, DTLA is a large-scale mash-up of the old and the new. When Proper Hotels opened its latest property on the corner of South Broadway in DTLA’s South Park district, interior designer extraordinaire Kelly Wearstler was tasked with breathing new life into a circa-1926 building. Constructed by iconic Los Angeles architects Curlett & Beelman, the property was once a…

WHEN FURNITURE DESIGNER Felix Conran returned to London for the first-time after lockdown restrictions eased, an early morning visit to an old friend’s photography studio lead to a fortuitous procurement. “I’d been out seeing a whole bunch of people, then around three in the morning I turned up at my friend Angus’s house. He showed me the space, we shook hands, and I came back at eight to pick up the keys,” Felix explains. Since relocating back to England from New York at the beginning of the pandemic, Felix had been living in Sussex with his father and business partner, Alex Willcock, while searching for a place of his own. “I was living with dad, which is also where we work, so it was quite a lot!” says Felix. The…

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SIMPLY MARBLE-OUS! That sums up furniture designer Adele Cotruzzola’s early adulthood, which she spent surrounded by the natural stone in this family home in Melbourne’s east. It inspired her passion for the classic material and made her appreciate not just its beauty but its functionality. A trip to Milan and Tuscany, in 2019, underlined the epiphany. Adele found herself smitten by Milanese architecture: “I’ve always been drawn to Italian architects’ composition, which is bold, mixing colours and patterns,” she says. “There’s no holding back, marble is everywhere. I wanted to create the feeling of Italy in Australian homes, so we can adopt Milanese style.” Just Adele, specialising in marble furniture, was born. THE LOVE BEGINS The seeds were sown years earlier by her mother when renovating this luminous family home,…

This month, we look to three stellar design studios for small-kitchen style inspiration…

SWEDISH STYLIST DANIELLA WITTE PREFERS soft and natural interiors, a design approach shared by kitchen specialists Nordiska Kök. So, when the time came to redesign the kitchen of her home in Lomma, in Sweden’s south, she turned to Johan Lundkvist, the creative director and founder of Nordiska Kök. “Daniella has a very distinct style. She wanted to create calmness with natural materials and a monochrome colour scheme. She had a clear idea inspired by nature and the Scandinavian light,” says Johan. “The kitchen is rather small, so it needed to be built smartly.” Integrated appliances and cabinetry with invisible top grips ensure a streamlined finish that allows the kitchen to exist harmoniously with the adjoining living and dining area, while homewares made from timber, stone and linen echo the styling…

FURNITURE DESIGNER KARA MELCHERS can track her life in monsteras. The early Victorian terrace house in London that she shares with her music producer partner Nick Douwma is full of them: they stand majestically in corners of the living room and bathroom, and on kitchen shelves. They’re all cuttings from one original plant she dubbed ‘Mama Cheese’, and have moved with Kara through various flats and homes as she has built a life in the city, learning to propagate along the way. “They grow with you,” Kara says. “Plants give you something to nurture, and having another living thing in your home truly makes it a nicer environment.” Having grown up in the countryside, her plants have helped her feel grounded. “The more you can bring the outside in, the…

IT’S NOT OFTEN you stumble upon an inner-city property that comes complete with a bomb shelter dating back to World War II and an orchard for a garden, but when Melbourne-based interior designers Fiona Richardson and Belinda Hall of Richard Hall & Son were called on for their expertise, that’s exactly what they discovered. “Our client had just purchased this incredible stately home, but it was very dated,” says Belinda. “The rooms were set up in a very austere manner with a 12-seater table in the dining room, and a grand piano in the entry,” she adds. The homeowners recruited local firm NTF Architecture to renovate the kitchen and update the floorplan, while leaning on Belinda and Fiona to reinvigorate the interiors in a contemporary style, with respect to the…

ABSTRACT PAINTER KIRSTEN JACKSON and her husband were planning to overhaul their home in suburban Melbourne soon after they bought it in 2009. “Then life got in the way,” Kirsten says. The couple’s two children were starting high school, and she decided a large-scale renovation would prove too disruptive for them. By the time the kids graduated, Kirsten was raring to go. She already knew designer Kristel Marshall and her company Studio Joy from Instagram and decided to give them free rein. “It’s the biggest compliment when a client puts their trust in you, and Kirsten did that from the get-go,” Kristel says. “It was a bit of a dream.” FIRM FOUNDATIONS The home was designed in the 1990s by an architect who lived there himself. “It’s so liveable as…

at home, Sydney 1 Solstice Skin Over the years. my skin and I have had a love/hate relationship and I’ve tried so many different products. Owner Hayley Fogarty is amazing at looking at all sorts of other issues that could affect your skin and her facials are a real treat. solsticeskin.com.au 2 Holiday & Double Rainbouu Obviously I’m a little biased, but I’m very excited to have opened my first retail space in Paddington this year (below). Our store is a lot of fun and the perfect place to try on your new favourite pair of pants! emonholiday.com 3 Incu There’s always a really great selection of brands and shoes that are difficult to find anywhere but online in Australia. incu.com 4 Route 66 A Sydney staple for vintage finds.…

laminate THE BENEFITS Timber-, metal-and stone-look finishes, plus all the colours of the rainbow, mean this material is an interior designer’s dream. From a practical point, high-pressure laminate will even resist scratching and staining. It’s lightweight and easy to install, both of which contribute to one of laminate’s most appealing attributes: it’s more affordable than other benchtop options. THINGS TO CONSIDER Laminate won’t tolerate heat the same way as stone or composites, so you can’t put hot pots directly on it. Expect it to look great for about 10 years before wear and tear starts to show. While water-resistant, laminate can be damaged by water seeping into cracks and scratches. This, coupled with incorrect installation can lead to peeling, which is not so appealing. natural stone THE BENEFITS For centuries,…

“I love the flavour of melon, apple and mint, and I really wanted to make something using the combination.” RASPBERRY, VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE LAMINGTONS Makes 12 Prep + cooking time 1 hr (plus chilling) “I make this for the kids all the time,” says Jaclyn Koludrovic. “The lime zest adds a bit of tartness and zing, and the coconut cream and cocoa powder makes it a bit fudgier and not too sweet.” Lamingtons can be made a day ahead. 185g softened dairy-free butter1 tsp vanilla bean paste220g (1 cup) caster sugar3 eggs, at room temperature270g gluten-free plain flour2¾ tsp gluten-free baking powder125ml (½ cup) almond milk, at room temperature2 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa175g raspberry jam Finely grated zest of ½ lime200g shredded coconut20g freeze-dried raspberries, crushed ICING 500ml (2 cups) coconut…