Stylists out in force for ercol launch at Temperature Design

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It was a full house at the launch of iconic British furniture brand ercol into Australia at Temperature Design in Sydney tonight.

Interior stylists were out in force, including Glen Proebstel, Jason Grant, Kirsten Bookallil, Darren Palmer and Stacey Kouros.

Top Design judge Amanda Talbot MC’d proceedings and ercol managing director Nick Garratt flew in from the UK.

Some timeless pieces were on disaply, including the well known butterfly chair and Studio lounge (which was designed when Elvis was at the height of his fame!). Old classics continue to be popular and have been given a modern twist with on trend colours like orange. These simple, gorgeous designs, with some pieces by Sir Terence Conran, certainly caused a stir.

(Interiors Addict, Mr Jason Grant and Kirsten Bookallil)

(Interiors Addict and Glen Proebstel)

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Seen the new Aura by Tracie Ellis range?

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The new Victoria Amber range by Aura by Tracie Ellis is out now. Check out this gorgeous image, styled by Glen Proebstel and photographed by Sharyn Cairns (the dream team)!

I continue to LOVE everything Melbourne-based Tracie does!

Available in Myer and online at www.aurahome.com.au

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Aura + Glen Proebstel = interiors porn!

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’m ridiculously distracted by the Aura by Tracie Ellis catalogue for summer which came with my recent order. It’s sitting on my desk, tempting me. DIVINE styling by Glen Proebstel and simply gorgeous linen for beds and tables, not to mention the cushions… It is all just so beautiful! Definitely my all time favourite Australian brand for bed linen.

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Jane Frosh, styling events with personality

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jane Frosh has worked as an event producer for more the a decade but it’s the styling aspect of events that really gets her excited and it’s led her into interior styling work too.

When you think event styling you might think dodgy chair covers and centrepieces, things that make Jane shudder. “I style an event as you would your lounge room, or the cover of an interiors magazine. Individual, quirky, on trend. It seemed a natural progression to move from event styling into the interior styling industry. At present, I manage to do both, and consequently launched the company show.pony.”

Jane runs show.pony with her business partner, a designer. “I like to call our company a collaboration, as we often pull in a team of experts in their niche industry, whether it be amazing floral designers or high end technical experts. We set ourselves apart from the crowd by doing things a little bit left of centre. show.pony will not pitch a time worn theme (I refuse to even use the word ‘theme’), rather we will create bespoke, quirky events to suit both our client and their end purpose. No ‘James Bond’ here!” (Oh good, because that sounds like the kind of ‘organised fun’ that Interiors Addict HATES!).

The three main elements of her work she loves are:

  • The pre-production stage. “The buzz of creating a concept and then building storyboards to pitch to a client. Seeing the look of joy on their faces as they fall in love with what we are proposing. It is such a rush!”

  • Prop sourcing. “I always have my eye out looking for interesting props and tools. I have many favourite haunts that I visit weekly just in case!”

  • Seeing the concept come together on the day of the show. “Having the time to walk around, tweaking, positioning, ‘dressing‘ the event. Seeing your storyboard come to life. What could be better than that?”

Jane says there’s no point spending hundreds or thousands on an event which looks the same as three events held last week. “Clients need to have the ability to inject their own personality into their event but need help to do it stylishly and cleverly. Our aim is for the guests to leave saying ‘That was amazing. I have never seen anything like that before’. And that end result often does not come down to budget. It comes down to an events team with an innovative, creative nature. We like to offer ‘new eyes to a tired industry’.”

There’s no denying living in the Blue Mountains with three children has influenced Jane’s own home style. “We have French doors off every room in our house, and at any stage during the day, there is at least one of those doors open and at least one child, dog or chook wandering through the house! My style is not pristine, not minimalist and not designer. It can’t be! My style at home revolves around our lifestyle. It’s a little bit vintage industrial, quite whimsical and filled with objects that reflect the personality of my family. I think that is important.” And Jane’s home is soon to feature in the February issue of Country Style, in case you needed any further proof of how stylish this lady is.

She adds: “I am constantly moving things around at home, creating vignettes, painting walls or furniture. It’s fun and it keeps the space alive. I tend to follow my one rule ‘make it pop with colour and then ground it with nature’. It’s a good one to remember. It helps control your space. For example, a gorgeous, sunny yellow metal chair works perfectly when pared back with a rustic wooden table. The contrast grounds both pieces.”

Jane loves French farmhouse, monochrome and pops of yellow and isn’t one to follow trends, although, as a stylist, she thinks it’s important to research them all and be across what’s hot.

Her favourite fellow stylists? The “amazing” Megan Morton, Mr Jason Grant (for his “fabulous” use of colour) and Lynda Gardener (“she has an amazing sense of style; incredibly feminine with a masculine edge. I love that.”) She also admires Glen Proebstel. “He is the ‘king of beds’ and the master of deep, moody tones.” And then there’s American Kelly Wearstler, whose books Jane finds a great reference in regards colour, pattern and using metallics.”

You can like show.pony on Facebook here.

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Freedom Style Council with Vanessa Colyer Tay from Inside Out

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I had a great time at the third and final Freedom Style Council event at Freedom’s Belrose store on Tuesday night. The delightful Vanessa Colyer Tay, renowned stylist and Inside Out style editor, shared some great insight on the role of a magazine stylist and I thought I’d share it with you. If you’ve ever wondered how they choose the homes to feature in the magazine or how the shoots come together so beautifully, read on.

“Houses come to the magazine through all sorts of channels,” Vanessa said. “Sometimes from an architect, sometimes a proud home decorator and sometimes we seek them out ourselves. Before we start a shoot we like to have a really good idea of what we’re embarking on. We might visit the home and take some rough photos. If it’s a cosy little home it might be better for a winter issue and if it’s a coastal home it might work better in summer. We attend with a photographer and work together to capture the home’s personality. We focus on what works and remove what doesn’t.”

While stylists work with what’s in the home and belongs to the owner, they’ll usually take a box of props with them too. Vanessa said a trick for tying all the shots of different rooms together (which can equally be applied to improving the flow of your own home) was to repeat a splash of the same colour in every room. “It doesn’t have to look like a really colorful home either, it doesn’t have to overwhelm you,” she added. “On the shoots we just add a few little extra things. We want the shots to reflect the owner’s personality.”

TOP TIPS:

“Even in an eclectic home it’s important to offer a bit of breathing space.”

“Try mixing a cluster of smaller items with one big solid item.”

As well as shoots in homes, sometimes the stylists start with a completely blank canvas in a studio.  “This allows us to create a little bit of fantasy,” said Vanessa. And then there are the time-consuming location shoots. “This is where we take everything to a beautiful location and shoot it there. This ties into an emotive response. They’re a big labour of love!”

So how does the story development process work? Briefly:

  1. Develop a good understanding of the brief or concept
  2. Create a colourscheme
  3. Source the products
  4. Develop composition and ideas through sketching.

When starting to create the colourscheme it’s best to start with a visual reference. “You start with a mood board, pull out colours and consider the overall style,” Vanessa said. “When sourcing products they should reflect the colourscheme and overall style of the mood board. Then you sketch out composition ideas.

“The hardest part is always making decisions!”

Later this week, Vanessa’s tips on creating indoor/outdoor living in your own home.

Stylists Arent & Pyke and Jason Grant spoke at the previous Freedom Style Council events this year. Vanessa collaborated with Inside Out style director Glen Proebstel with him doing the shoot and her giving the talk.

Photograph by Sam McAdam

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Jason Grant, living his dream

August 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jason Grant left his prestigious role as style director for Real Living magazine last year and hasn’t stopped working since. It’s a good job he loves his work so much it feels like play.

One of the most positive and passionate people I’ve interviewed, while he may insist he’s been given a lot of ‘lucky breaks’ there’s no doubt people warm to his infectious enthusiasm and his natural talent for what he does speaks for itself.

He just spent eight weeks styling the new Freedom catalogue and the results are divine. No doubt Jason’s work has something to do with the fact I want to buy almost everything in it! “Working on Freedom’s summer catalogue was a great experience,” he said. “It was one of the biggest jobs I have worked on and the end result is very pleasing.”

There’s plenty of other commercial work too. He styled a home organisation catalogue for Officeworks and will launch his own range for the stationary store next month. He released his first range of paint colours (“a very exciting collaboration”) with Murobond earlier this year. “I love working with them as they believe in me and understand me creatively. The ability to transform a room or a furniture piece with paint cannot be underestimated. I love to paint (everything)!” A second range of colours will be released later this year.

While Jason still does plenty of work on Real Living, going freelance has opened the doors to more variety. “It’s a magazine I’m very proud to work on but being a freelance stylist means I can work across multiple titles and have even more variety of work.”

He has a passion for his work which you just couldn’t fake. “I do work very hard and don’t really switch off. Work is play. I guess it comes down to the fact that I don’t really suffer from a case of the daily grind.

“Yes, I do love my life. I work every day with amazing people creating beautiful images for publications. I guess I’m living my dream.”

The generosity and faith of other creative people who spotted his talent gave Jason his start in the interior styling industry. “I guess I’m very lucky making contacts with people in the industry early on that believed in me. Glen Proebstel and Karen McCartney (of Inside Out) are two people that gave me a chance. Starting out working in a small capacity for Inside Out magazine, my career grew, eventually taking a big leap moving to Sydney to be the style director at Real Living.

“I guess it’s a combination of enthusiasm, hard work and lucky breaks. I believe you can’t buy style. You either have it or you don’t. In life I believe you should live what you love and love what you live. I like to make a list and make it happen, to dream big.”

Jason is quick to heap praise on other interior stylists and the list of people who inspire him is long! “I believe people fall into leaders or followers, innovators or imitators,” he says. “I’m very lucky that I get to work with so many amazing, talented people. The people who inspire me are confident and have their own point of view. They are kind, creative and happy to share. Most of all they are passionate about what they do.”

He adds: “I’m inspired by likeminded, creative, hard working people such as stylists Sibella Court, Lara Hutton, Megan Morton, Kirsten Bookallil and Glen Proebstel, photographers Paul Barbera, James Geer, Prue Ruscoe and Felix Forest and fashion designers Lisa Gorman, Fleur Wood and jac + jack.

“Internationally I love Else Crawford and Abigail Ahern, Jonathan Adler, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Todd Selby and Martha Stewart.”

Jason also respects people who are experts in their chosen field like green crusader Liane Rossler (formerly of Dinosaur Designs), “super cool florist” Simone Gooch, modern day man Greg Hatton and “walking 20th Century furniture encyclopedia” Dean Angelucci.

So how does Australian interior design compare to the rest of the world? “Australian style is unique and exciting and defined by the beautiful light we have here. We have world class designers in all categories, be it fashion, art, architecture or interior design. I think Australian style is relaxed and unpretentious and in tune with nature.”

Last but not least, most successful interior stylists seem to be women or gay men. Can straight men style? “Hmmm… I’m struggling!” he jokes. “But I can say that (Australian artist) David Bromley has one of the most beautiful homes in this country and his personal style is very impressive.”

In part 2 tomorrow, more stunning photos of his work and Jason’s must-read guide to the best shops and websites. Read his blog here. See my top picks from Freedom’s new range here.

Portrait by Murray Harris

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