My Design Origin Story
I’ve always been creative — and that definitely came from my darling mum, Laurel. She was a talented tailoress, and a successful small business owner. Mum had the most incredible eye for colour and pattern, and she passed that gift, and an incredible work ethic on to me. She was also a big believer in self-expression. Even though I am naturally quite shy, Mum encouraged my sister and I to be fully ourselves.
Looking back, that’s where it all began. My earliest memories are of sewing buttons on fabrics scraps with a needle and thread while mum worked from home. I was always making, sewing, and crafting. Designing my bedroom became my first interior design playground — even though I didn’t realise it at the time. I was not just focusing how it looked, but how it made me feel - quietly confident and optimistic. We lived in an auntie and uncles’ home in my early years, while they were stationed overseas, one the first homes built near the Nepean River in Penrith, Western Sydney in the 1950s. It had amazing built in joinery, large picture windows to the front and back garden, an expansive crazy-paved front porch, and this beautiful energy about it. I think that’s where I began to understand that interior design is as much about creating a feeling as it is about arranging furniture. So even as a kid, when I visited friends’ homes, I’d find myself noticing the colours, the patterns, the flow of their spaces. And how they lived in their homes.
Mum, my sister and I in matching, but individually coloured/styled tailored suits that mum designed and made, in the mid 70s. I think we are heading off the meet dad who was a tourist coach driver at the time, and hop aboard his passenger laden coach for the drive back into Sydney. Suits, boots and berets! No wonder I still love fashion so much!
By high school, my path was more becoming clear. I studied art and technical drawing —hoping they would provide me both the creative and practical tools I’d carry into my career. In Year 10, through a careers program, I placed myself in the decoration department at Grace Bros (before it became known as Myer in NSW). By Year 12, I was doing work experience in an architect’s office. Those early experiences gave me my first real taste of design practice — and I was hooked.
After completing high school, I studied architectural drafting before moving into an interior design diploma. That was when everything really began to fall into place. In my final year while travelling through Europe with my classmates, I learned I’d won the National HPM Industry Award for Excellence in Design. My entry was an art gallery in the Glasshouse Mountains of Queensland, that was to host an exhibition of First Nations art. The concept was all about nature and connection — expansive glass walls that pulled the bushland into the gallery, a central mezzanine inspired by the majesty and strength of towering trees, and a pond that encouraged pause and reflection. Looking back, I was leaning into biophilic design principles long before I even had the words for it.
Just some of the drawings and details from my graduate project and winning entry in the National HPM Industry Award for Excellence in Design. It was all hand drafted & hand rendered back then (it was the early 90s). They might look a little wrinkled all these years later, but I’m still really proud of this project.
Press clippings, invitation to awards luncheon and crystal trophy from the National HPM Industry Award for Excellence in Design. I really am a bowerbird and hold on to these treasured mementos. Fun Fact: In the bottom left photo with me is Lia Pielli - current Senior Designer at Designer Rugs, who I met again years later while we were both working at Designer Rugs. Small world.
Shortly after graduating, I was already creating dynamic spaces. I designed my mum’s bridal retail stores, and l when my local gym (where I taught also aerobics part time – it was the early 90s OK…) was planning on moving to a bigger space, I was excited to be asked by the owner to design their new business. Both projects gave me an early understanding of how design can transform the way people feel and move within a space at key points in their lives.
Presentation boards from a couple of my first professional projects as a freelance interior designer | Penrith Fitness Centre & Penrith Bridal Centre.
After graduation, my first professional role in the industry was with Designer Rugs. I was chatting with founder, friend and mentor Yosi a few weeks ago during an industry event and I was reminded that I first began working there 31 years ago! It gave me a chance to reflect on the impact it has left on me. I first started as both a retail and design assistant and went on to became their Senior Designer. Those years were formative. It was immersive, hands-on work: designing one-on-one for clients and Designer Rugs house collections, overseeing production, colour matching yarn, calculating quantities and ordering thousands of tonnes of wool from their dye house over the years, climbing scaffold to draw designs full scale on vertical frames (luckily for me I actually enjoyed the heights), and watching each piece come alive, tuft by tuft by talented artisans. During this time I was also extremely privileged to meet and work with some of Australia’s most iconic talents, like artists Simon Palmer and Linda Jackson, legendary Sydney interior designer and decorator Leslie Walford, and iconic architect Harry Seidler. I mean, really!!
A large hand-tufted rug I designed as Senior Designer at Designer Rugs. It was a commission for the Liverpool Catholic Club over 2 decades ago, featuring stylised Australian flora. The design was highly textural, consisting of multiple tufting techniques including stippled yarn, cut and loop piles. It was also over 8 metres wide, and was featured in multiple publications at the time.
This moment of me tufting a section of rug at the Melbourne studio of Designer Rugs for Saturday InDesign a couple of weeks ago was the catalyst of all of this nostalgia you are reading today.
Much more has happened since then – maybe for another time – but these early experiences instilled in me a lasting truth: design is as much about learning, process, and collaboration as it is about the finished work. More than 30 years later, those lessons still guide me. My work is shaped by values formed early on — honouring craft, trusting my gut, working hard, celebrating local making, and creating spaces and work that are not only beautiful but purposeful, full of personality, and heartfelt. I’ve also learned that understanding and honouring the story of things deepens our appreciation of them.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. If you have any questions, or something has resonated, I’d love to hear from you.
xx
Ready to design a home, hospitality or retail space that reflects your life, your values, and your sense of beauty—I’d love to help. Start your enquiry here.
