Our Young Designer series aims to inspire those who are yet to get their first foot on the ladder in this fiercely competitive industry.
Many graduates would give their right arm to be where 25 year-old Connie Condylios is. The interior designer at Greg Natale Design impressed her well known boss with her initiative and good work ethic.
She completed her Advanced Diploma in Interior Design at the respected Design Centre, Enmore, where Greg also studied before her, and worked for interior designer Thomas Bucich throughout her studies.
She explained how showing initiative and not being afraid to ask, got her where she is today.
Renowned interior designer Thomas Bucich moved to Sydney from New York in 1990 and has been living a bit of a ‘gypsy’ existence ever since, enjoying the best of an international and flexible lifestyle.
Portrait by Marvin Joseph
“These days working anywhere in the world is so much easier,” he says. “Since I moved to Sydney, I’ve always maintained all my professional contacts to keep me current on what’s going on back home, but the bulk of my work is in Sydney.”
He likes to maintain a ‘virtual studio’ with most of his time spent between his design and art studios in Sydney and Avalon on the Northern Beaches. “I love having the flexibility of doing what I do without being tied down to a specific place. I collaborate with some amazing people around the globe. Between Skype sessions and emails, we can make design projects happen anywhere.”
A Thomas Bucich residential project in Sydney’s Paddington. Photograph by Dominic Loneragan.
Thomas’ latest collaboration, which he’s very excited about, is with one of my favourite homewares stores, Becker Minty, in Potts Point. “Jason Minty is an amazing entrepreneur and retailer with an aesthetic that I really connect with,” he says. “His stores encapsulate the style I like to create with my interiors, based on collecting one of a kind pieces and adding luxurious finishes and textures. We had a chat about creating an interior design studio in-house that would complete the offering of the store; to make Becker Minty a one-stop-shop for everything from cufflinks to fully bespoke interiors.”
