If you only know Robyn Holt as a judge on The Renovators last year, or as former editor of Vogue Living for more than a decade, you don’t know the half of it. Robyn’s achievements in the publishing, fashion, beauty and interiors industries are nothing short of remarkable. She is also a really lovely lady who can’t get enough of fresh flowers or sharing her knowledge with anyone who’s interested or passionate about something she knows about. She’s headed up fashion label Collette Dinnigan and the Yves Saint Laurent beauty brand and looked after magazines like Vogue, GQ and Monocle all over the world. Suffice to say if I were to list all the impressive things she’s done I’d be here all day.
An exclusive new event has just this minute been added to the lineup for decoration + design and I’d advise you book a ticket, fast!
International guest Martyn Lawrence Bullard, designer to the stars and a celebrity in his own right on the Million Dollar Decorators show, will join a panel alongside Australian design talent Thomas Hamel, Greg Natale and Marco Meneguzzi.
This moderated discussion will see the four design experts talk about how design will play on the international landscape of 2012. Moderated by Robyn Holt (judge on The Renovators and editor of Vogue Living for over a decade), this intimate panel discussion is not be missed.
Date: Friday 3 February 2012 Time: 8.45am for light morning tea & refreshments followed by panel discussion from 9.15am-10.15am Venue: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Convention Parkside Ballroom, Level 1 Tickets: $49.50.
Now running the successful Darren Palmer Interiors, with his work published in respected magazines, a regular interiors column in GQ and teaching at Coco Republic Design School, he’s come a long way since growing up in country Queensland and just quietly, we think he could be the next big thing.
At 27, after working in graphic design and advertising, Darren decided it was time for a career change. Around the same time, he bought and renovated his first apartment. “A dear friend who is an interior designer really loved what I’d done with the place. His business partner was overseas for three months and I asked if I could work with him and learn the ropes. He was really happy to include me in some projects. Belle Magazine published my apartment in their renovation issue and it all grew from there.”
Darren caught the public’s attention on Channel 9’s HomeMADE and also appeared on The Block this year. Wisely, he has focused on making the most of the exposure from HomeMADE, which even he admits, didn’t do brilliantly. “I came out of the reality TV world with a really positive experience. TV exposure helps you to build rapport with people that you haven’t met and it’s a great pre-qualifier as they’ve seen your work and feel comfortable with you because there’s credibility that comes along with exposure.”
Since the show, his business has grown, along with his personal style. “I’ve been featured in Belle’s kitchen and bathroom issue and named as one of their Mood Makers for 2011. I’ve had work featured in Luxury Homes Magazine and taught at the Coco Republic Design School. I was also fortunate to be a part of this year’s hugely successful The Block, which all probably would’ve been a lot harder had I not been given a start on HomeMADE.” Humble Darren is no celeb though. “Generally people forget who’s been on TV and for what within six months. You stop being recognised after a while!”
He simply describes his interiors style as natural, drawing from the colours and textures of nature.“Things like a sunset when the sky is those beautiful muted, desaturated colours after the sun is gone, to the textures of wood, stone, leather and sisal. I love anything that’s textural and real, not synthetic. I really like to create spaces that are inviting, relaxed and texturally diverse and layered yet refined, slick and sophisticated.”
Darren thinks this year’s reality renovation TV verged on overkill. “I think people only have enough space to care about a few shows at a time and fortunately the one I was involved with was that show, though I really feel for The Renovators’ contestants as this was a big deal, that would’ve taken a lot of energy and effort, with not as big of a reward after it finished as they might have enjoyed.
“In terms of the industry it’s a double-edged sword with the up side being that the viewing public are more literate in design, exposed to new ideas and are in some ways able to see how much work goes into design. On the flip side it does make design accessible which can make people think “Oh I can do that” which can tend to make it a little harder to sell your level of skill.
“I think as long as there’s integrity behind the way the genre is managed, and the products that are used, it’s more good than bad, and it’s certainly a great way to get noticed and get experience from a participant point of view. It was certainly my steepest learning curve to date.”
What’s next? “I have loved the direction that my career has taken in terms of speaking and writing so that’s definitely somewhere I will be putting energy and I would really love to be back on the box again. There’s a few focuses there but I’m confident I can manage it.”
Outside of work, he’s a self-confessed “massive dork”, married with a two year-old son, two dogs and a cat. “I like to train at the gym and generally be one of the least interesting people you’ve met. My big goals personally amount to trying to get a sleep in and being a good dad. Pretty boring but kind of wonderful.”
He recently bought an apartment in North Bondi which has new paint and floors but will one day have a major overhaul, plans for which are constantly ticking away at the back of his head. “For now it’s a really nice cosy home for my family with high ceilings and nice big 1930s proportions. I intend to make it the ultimate kid and pet-friendly designer house – an interesting brief but I have a good insight into how to fuse functional and beautiful.”
Tomorrow: Mistakes people make with decorating, how to get it right, why he hates feature walls and who he admires.
I was delighted to be invited by designer Vicki Meintjes to the opening of Dearwood in William Street, Paddington today. I love her screenprinted wallpaper and lampshades (which featured on The Renovators). Best of all, everything’s screenprinted by hand here in Sydney. I predict the ‘Deer in Woods’ design will be the bestseller. Interiors Addict wishes Vicki all the best in her new venture. Gorgeous shop. You must visit!
Being named Belle Coco Republic Designer of the Year was a great start to 2011 for Greg Natale and it’s turning into a pretty huge year for him as he celebrates a decade of running his own business.
Known for his decorative style and use of pattern, Greg’s look is very different to the laid back aesthetic of many Australian interior designers and stylists. Perhaps not surprisingly his idols include Americans Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler, both known for their high end glamour.
Having studied painting, architecture and interior design, Greg believes he has a more rounded view than many. “I think of design as the integration of architecture, design and decoration and I am very fulfilled when I decorate our own buildings. It is very important and satisfying for me to complete this process. The art background gives me an appreciation of the importance of art in interiors.”
Greg was delighted to be named 2011’s Interior Designer of the Year. “It was a great feeling to be recognised by my peers, I’ve had a great response from it.” And the fun doesn’t stop this year, buying a new home which he’s due to move into at Christmas, doubling the size of Greg Natale Design’s offices, celebrating 10 years in business and working on some exciting projects.
Like many Australian designers, Greg now has his own product range, a collaboration with Designer Rugs, which actually came about by a bit of luck. “In 2005, I won the lucky door prize at Corporate Culture for Saturday in Design which included a Designer Rug. As part of my prize I designed a repeat pattern rug which caught the eye of Yosi Tal (Designer Rugs co-founder) and then the rug collection was born.
“I am working on a broad loom carpet range for them and have other things in the pipeline. I think it’s a great thing when local companies can support Australian design. It happens all the time in the US and Europe and think it should happened way more here.”
Greg’s work has been photographed and featured in many a coffee table book and he’s currently looking for the right publisher to bring out his own. What with his recent guest spot on The Renovators, he thinks it’s finally time for interior designers to shine and get widespread attention and recognition for their art. “I think it’s fantastic and it’s supporting and promoting our industry. Fashion designers and chefs get so much attention for their talent; I think it’s interior designers’ turn now.”
His distinctive design philosophy incorporates the trinity of design, decoration and architecture. “I think it’s important to integrate all three to have cohesive and warm interiors. I think an architect can sometime lose the romance of a building in detail and a decorator can get caught up and forget about the concepts of design. If you can balance all three, you have a great project.”
While Greg is known for his striking decorative style, he’s flexible. “It changes all the time. I can totally swing both ways. I love minimal interiors but I also love decorative ones. You can’t always answer each brief with the same look. I would say I am a versatile designer. Our architectural style (Greg Natale has a residential architecture arm) is quite minimal and then I like to add a layer of decoration to bring in our clients’ personalities. I would call myself more Phillip Johnson than Mies van der Rohe.”
We all know everyday people without design knowledge can be afraid of using pattern in their homes. Greg advises: “Use it as a backdrop and not a feature wall. Stick with a theme and don’t try too much.” Likewise, knowing where to start with decorating a new home can be challenging. “It can be a piece of furniture and the starting point is the hardest part. For my new place, a pair of 80s lamps out of an estate in Beverly Hills was my starting point. For the apartment where I live now, it was black coffee tables I bought at auction.”
Greg’s new home will be a whole new look for him. “My current home is grey on grey with black, mink and pink accents, it’s very masculine and moody. The new place is going to be black and white with accents of camel and gold. It is much lighter with geometric, wall-to-wall carpet.”
He’s excited about his latest residential projects too: “A gorgeous bachelor pad in Elizabeth Bay, which is grey on grey and black with accents of teal, a family home in Bellevue Hill with classic lines, French deco influences and heaps of Jonathan Adler furniture, and a new architect-designed family home inspired by Paul Rudolph’s Florida homes.”
When he steps back and looks at the finished room, or home, Greg says the feeling is amazing. “I love when I can style a project, photograph it and have it featured. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I can put the projects up on my website and in the press.”
He is an interior designer though, rather than an interior stylist, and he doesn’t style shoots for magazine editorial, only his own projects. “I am a trained interior designer and have done part of an architectural degree. The difference is an interior stylist works on shoots for editorial and advertising. I only do editorial for my own projects. An interior designer is basically an interior architect who works with structure, an interior decorator works on soft furnishings. I sort of do all three at different parts of the project.
“I never switch off and I’m always taking in new things, whether they are bad or good. I am always looking for new ideas and gaining knowledge.”
Shaynna Blaze is the well loved female face of LifeStyle Channel’s most popular show, Selling Houses Australia. Not bad for her first TV gig.
She recently ran a colour masterclass on Ten’s The Renovators. As she points out, free to air TV has been slow to catch on to what has been a hugely popular genre on Foxtel for years.
“People have always loved renovation shows and free to air is just getting back into it,” she says. ”I think these shows will do two things. There’ll definitely be more renovation and improvements to homes as we hit a flat spot again in our real estate market and secondly, it will put the focus back on creating a home and a beautiful space.
“Too often we feel we are governed by trends but renovation and design shows are about creating a beautiful and functional space no matter what style or trend. The importance of function unfortunately does get left behind on some of these shows as they focus too much on the entertainment angle.
“I do like all the shows for different reasons. The Block has been more about the personalities of the renovators and how their style is reflected in the interior, and sometimes your style isn’t what everyone wants to see which has encouraged healthy discussion of what people do and don’t like. The Renovators is all about learning skills that will get you a renovated house but like a lot of other people watching, I would like to see a lot more renovating and seeing them get stuck into the house. I would like to see how they use or fail with their skills in the actual work. All these houses are for sale and need a professional to oversee them, so why not show where people go wrong?”
Shaynna was keen to run the colour masterclass on The Renovators because all too often people are terrified of picking colours for their home. “Whether it is painting, bed linen or furniture, there is such a fear of selecting the right mix of colours that the majority of people play it safe with too many neutrals. That or they go crazy and overdo it and it’s like colour vomit!”
Her advice? “The best way to stop scaring yourself is work out the base of a colour. That means does it have more blue or red or yellow etc, and then use one main colour as your starting point. Slowly introduce one colour or neutral at a time that has a similar base to it and then build layers of contrasting hues slowly. Stop trying to do it all in a weekend as colour is affected by natural and artificial light and you need to look at the colour over a few days to see how it settles in the home. Until you train your eye, take it slow. Most people procrastinate for months, even years, to change the colour and expect it all to look perfect in a weekend. Take the pressure off yourself and take time with colour and enjoy experimenting with it. A couple of weekends with paint pots won’t be the end of the world!”
Shaynna, who has her own design business blankcanvas INTERIORS, went straight to college from high school and landed her first job as a designer for showrooms for a national company. She did most of her work in the retail and commercial sectors before taking some time off to be a mum and concentrating on her other loves of singing and art.
“I got back into interiors about eight years ago and it has been a huge ride ever since,” she says. “I am very lucky to be on an award-winning TV show, Selling Houses Australia, while creating some amazing interiors for my own private clients. I feel totally blessed!”
She’s currently filming the show’s fifth season. “For three years in a row we have been voted the most popular show on Foxtel! The show is about people struggling to sell their homes anywhere from a couple of months to several years (one lady had hers on and off the market for seven years if you can believe it!) and most of them have serious difficulties, whether financially or healthwise and they have to sell their home.
“Andrew Winter is the main host and real estate expert and my role as the interior designer and co-presenter is to get the houses ready for sale. Charlie Albone whips the gardens and exteriors into shape.
“This is more than just a makeover, it is getting behind the reasons why the houses don’t sell and giving solid ideas and tips to viewers for their own real estate campaign. I love working on the show as I am constantly surprised by how different every situation is and the homeowners are at such a vulnerable time in their lives as they open their homes and problems to us.” She freely admits to being “the sook and hugger” on the show. “During a three-day makeover I get quite close to the homeowners. I always leave knowing we are seriously changing these people’s lives and helping them to move onto another chapter.”
Shaynna spends a lot of time on the road, traveling around the country for filming. “The traveling is fantastic for a while but you do get a little jaded. I do treat the plane as a big bus and it is not until I get on a plane with my husband and see how excited he is to travel that I realise I do take it for granted.”
I asked Shaynna to share some tips for people working away from home a lot. “It is so important to make the hotel room where you are staying have a little ‘you’ in it. I used to take a scented candle but I am so paranoid of the sprinklers going off I have now resorted to good quality room sprays! I was given a beautiful Diptyque one (Mimosa) as a present and I spray it around the room as soon as I get settled. I also travel with a teapot and a three-stacker tin of loose leaf teas. Lemongrass & ginger, Moroccan green tea and chamomile are the flavours of the moment.
“It is important to take a few things that make you feel at home and to complete it I put on my comfy slippers (I’m really sounding like a nana now!). I spend most of my days traveling in designer heels or getting dirty in bludstones and painting gear so comfort when I get back to the room is number one for me (there might be a daggy trackie thrown in there too)!”
About half of 40-something Shaynna’s year is free of filming commitments and that time is all about blankcanvas INTERIORS (when she is busy filming she reduces her number of clients by half). “I have a great team to support me but it is important for me to know the jobs and have the connection with the client.
“I love working on jobs where the client wants to push the envelope a bit. Most are a little timid and want to make that change but are too fearful to make the change themselves. There is a certain energy that goes into a home and I like to tap into the client’s energy to bring that to life.
“A good client shows trust. They have employed us to put their home together and need to let us guide them into the vision. Most people start to see the transformation of their home only when the end is in sight so as designers it is also our job to be the best tour guide possible in showing them the potential of their home.”
As if she wasn’t busy enough already, Shaynna will soon be adding an online shop to her website. “I am finally getting my artwork onto prints, designing furniture and selling curios I have picked up on my travels. This is such an exciting time for the business as we expand into a new area.”
Shaynna says her own home suffers from a little bit of a split personality. “It’s part relaxed entertaining and part structured and dramatic. Even though these are polar opposites in description the reality is similar in that it revolves around simplicity, very little clutter and lots of black. I love black!”
Groundbreaking show The Renovators is coming to Australia from the makers of Masterchef and I couldn’t be more excited!
Network TEN and SHINE Australia claim the scale of this show has never been seen before on Australian television.
“We have scoured the country to find the very best renovators from all states, from all skill sets and from all age groups, all with a proven record in transforming properties and profiting from them,” said a spokesman for TEN. “Renovations are already well underway on a range of properties in varying degrees of dilapidation, from a fibro cottage to a sixties suburban to an inner city terrace, each attempting to increase its value which will be determined in a massive finale auction.
“The task: to transform these nightmares into real estate gold. The winner will be the last remaining contestant responsible for the property that has increased most in value and the prize is worth rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty for.”
In addition to these renovations, the contestants will congregate at the central Renovators’ warehouse – the largest television set in Australia – where they will be presented with regular design, decorating and construction challenges to win valuable assets and advantages for their own renovations.
Meet the judges
BRENDAN MOAR – Host
Qualified landscape architect and two time ASTRA award winner of Favourite Male TV Presenter, Brendan joins The Renovators having appeared in numerous lifestyle shows including Home, Moar Gardening and Dry Spell Gardening.
PETER HO – Judge
Design director of PHOOEY Architects in Melbourne, Peter has received international, national, state and local awards for his architectural work which tends toward sustainability. He’ll not only be casting his architectural eye on the home transformations, but also how the contestants use and re-use their materials – giving them the green thumbs-up, or down…
ROBYN HOLT – Judge
Design consultant Robyn Holt says design journalism and styling have been her passion for the past 20 years. As the Editor of Vogue Living for 10 years she has become known as a leader in the design industry and has been responsible for uncovering new talent in the field of interior design, celebrating known designers and presenting inspirational homes.
BARRY DU BOIS – Judge
Barry’s building career spans more than 30 years which includes a three-year posting as President of the Master Builders Association Eastern Suburbs. Retired at an enviable 46, he sailed around the world in his yacht and now spends six months of the year cruising international waters. With a character as big as the Renovators’ set, get ready to be bowled over by this loveable tradesman.
Coming soon to TEN. Watch this space for more info! I can’t wait, can you?
