Tag: absolutely beautiful things

Categories
Design Designers Interviews

Anna Spiro’s new book A Life in Pattern

Celebrated Queensland interior designer Anna Spiro has a beautiful new book out, A Life in Pattern. In the below extract, she talks about how she always wanted to be a fashion designer and the similarities between how she puts together outfits and rooms.

Anna Spiro approaches dressing the same way she approaches decorating

In my younger years, if ever I was asked what I wanted to do for a living, I would always reply, ‘I’d like to be a fashion designer.’ I used to read every Vogue magazine and I would paste tear sheets of cool fashion shoots and fabulous rooms I loved all over my bedroom walls –a wallpaper of my dream life, so to speak!

Fashion is something I am still intensely interested in. There is definitely crossover between designing a divine, interesting room and designing an exceptional dress; many of the same principles apply. Just as I like to create rooms that are always different, I love wearing clothes that nobody else wears, clothes that make people curious. 

What I wear is an expression of me. It can show who I am and what I am about. Therefore, most of the clothes I own are either vintage or are pieces I have had tailor-made. I believe the art of dressing well, as with dressing a room well, is in the combinations. For example, I may pare back a stand-out dress by combining it with an unusual vintage vest or an elegant blazer –it’s about pulling together interesting pieces to create a totally individual look.

Recently, a lovely woman contacted me via Instagram, as she had a set of cool vintage curtains that she wanted to offer me. She’d had them made in the United Kingdom many years ago and had carried them with her all the way to Australia, but no longer needed them.

Knowing my penchant for singular vintage fabrics, she thought I would love them. She was right! I bought the curtains from her and ended up making a fabulous dress out of them. People 0ften ask me, ‘Where did you get that amazing dress?’ I love that it is one of a kind and that it is made out of recycled material that had been loved and cared for since the 1970s as curtains and is now loved as one of my favourite dresses.

Vintage fashion is such a wonderful concept. You don’t have to go full-on vintage from head to toe, but by incorporating one or two pieces into your outfit – whether it’s a coat, vest, earrings or a hat – you can make your outfit your own while at the same time supporting recycling. Whether upcycled or repurposed, fashion or furniture – vintage is great for the environment and creates fun, unrepeatable outfits and rooms.

When it comes to fashion, I am fastidious about fit. I think having something made to match you and your shape is really important and can make a big difference to the overall appearance of your outfit. Knowing what styles and cuts best suit your body shape is paramount. I’m lucky that my dearest friend, Sophie, is a dress designer, and I can always rely on her startling talent to make me something stunning and different that suits my shape perfectly. 

Since I started having most of my clothes made to fit, I now find it difficult to buy items off the rack. They never seem to fit well and always look ‘wrong’ somehow. Not to mention there’s the added risk of turning up to an event wearing the same dress as someone else! 

If having your clothes custom-made is out of reach, consider taking a trusted friend shopping with you, to get a second opinion as to whether the fit of the piece you are considering is right for you.

Photography: Tim Salisbury

A Life in Pattern by Anna Spiro published by Thames & Hudson | $90 | Available in November 2021.

Our picks from Anna Spiro’s new Anthropologie homewares range

In a major coup for an Australian designer, Brisbane-based interior designer Anna Spiro has just launched a collaboration with the esteemed American homewares and fashion retailer Anthropologie. Anna and her…

Anna Spiro’s book: Absolutely Beautiful Things

Apart from the obvious, that this book will seriously brighten up any coffee table it graces, Anna Spiro’s first book, Absolutely Beautiful Things, is a delight. I read it over…

Covet My Coffee Table: With interior designer Anna Spiro

The queen of mixing and matching, it’s no surprise to find that the celebrated Brisbane-based interior designer Anna Spiro has a coffee table that is brimming with unique finds and…
Categories
Interiors Addict

Anna Spiro’s book: Absolutely Beautiful Things

Apart from the obvious, that this book will seriously brighten up any coffee table it graces, Anna Spiro’s first book, Absolutely Beautiful Things, is a delight. I read it over two days because I didn’t want to put it down. Not only is full of photos of wonderful colourful, delightfully (perfectly) mis-matching real homes, it’s also packed with great advice.

absolutely-beautiful-things

And if you want to create this unique look in your own home, there’s nobody more qualified to offer up their advice, so read up, take it all in and make notes!

Anna’s profile isn’t, in my opinion, as big as it should be. She isn’t a self-publicist like many other top interior designers and decorators (rightly or wrongly) but regardless, she has a cult following. I wasn’t, for example, sent a review copy or even a press release about this book, but I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!

9781921383946-4

Anna’s look is full on colour and pattern, which is not for everyone, and is perhaps much better suited to Queensland, where she lives, then here in Sydney, for example. But whether you love it or not, Anna’s look is so different and so very her, it is really interesting to study how she puts things together and learn from it. What I love most about Anna’s philosophy is only having things that really mean something to you in your home, as well as how warm and cheerful her work is. It really does make me smile.

I won’t say that since reading Anna’s book I could pull off this kind of look anything like she does (she makes it look effortless but it’s only easy when you know how!) but I did pick up a few pointers which I think will make all the difference to my new home.

9781921383946-3

Of course, being published by Lantern, the book itself is beautifully designed. The cover was painted by Anna’s sister-in-law Pip Spiro (formerly Boydell).

I thoroughly recommend this book. The best price I found online was through Booktopia.

Categories
Interviews

An Interview with Anna Spiro

Looking at photos of interior designer Anna Spiro’s work makes me go a bit giddy. I know this sounds ridiculously sycophantic and over the top, but I mean it. I could (and have over time) spend hours getting lost in her blog Absolutely Beautiful Things, where she shares a lot of photographs of her work and beautiful objects she sells in her store Black & Spiro. Anna’s known for breathing new life into well loved vintage items, layering colourful, clashing textiles and making old and new pieces somehow work together perfectly. And  her home’s been featured in Vogue Living. ‘Nuff said.

This year Anna also launched an online store which sells a small collection of gorgeous items, wonderfully styled in a vignette, a season at a time. Needless to say I was delighted when Brisbane’s finest agreed to an interview for Interiors Addict.

Anna’s style is hard to sum up, but she describes it pretty well herself: “Collected, colourful, layered, comfortable, interchangeable, interesting, unexpected.” Nothing matches but at the same time it all ties together perfectly. It’s that kind of look that only those with a real eye for interiors seem to pull off. Although the Spiro look is very distinctive, she can still be flexible. “I could never be a minimalist but I can and do create neutral schemes for clients,” she says. “I suppose these days my clients tend to come to me for what it is that I can create for them which is a lovely thing.”

Anna started her blog five years ago. “I had no idea at the time that it would eventually be read by thousands of people every day and that people all over the world would actually be interested in what it is that I had to say. I am humbled by its following. I am also very grateful for my blog, even though it requires a tremendous amount of work and dedication, as I have had the most wonderful experiences through it.”

With the online store however, Anna wanted to create something totally different to anything else available out there in the interiors space. “I really wanted to create an event-like experience for my clients and customers which only occurred seasonally throughout the year. I am extremely happy with the response we’ve had so far. I’m very excited about our Christmas/Summer Vignette which we will be launching early next month. It’s going to be slightly different to our previous vignettes. I think in the online world, as well as the bricks-and-mortar world, it’s all about evolving and moving, changing and continuing to inspire your customers and that’s what I put all my effort into every day of my life.”

What shines through from Anna is the passion she has for comfortable and real homes. “For me, my family and our home is everything so it’s probably one of the most important things in my life to create a house which is comfortable, liveable, happy, cosy, inviting and beautiful. You should fill your home with things you love and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. Be confident and follow your heart.” Her best advice? “If you feel uneasy about a piece then don’t purchase it. You have to love it 100 percent.”

Anna, who feels extremely lucky to do what she loves every day, says a good interior designer listens to their clients and tries to help them inject their own sense of style into their home.

Being based in Brisbane, she stands out from the majority of high profile stylists who are based in Sydney and Melbourne. And it’s quite possible the influence of her location is what makes Anna’s work so different. “I think we do have a different style here in Queensland which I try to encourage my clients to embrace. We have beautiful, warm, balmy weather, which should inspire us to decorate our homes with a vibrant sense of style. Most of our houses are open, airy timber houses and they look so beautiful when decorated with fresh and invigorating colours. I hope to be an ambassador for colourful, sunny Queensland style.”