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Hunter collector: Inside the home of Alex Zabotto-Bentley

June 14, 2017 Leave a Comment

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An avid collector, the Sydney home of interior designer Alex Zabotto-Bentley is as much a gallery space as it is private residence. Taking up the entire floor of a converted Victorian stately home in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Darling Point, like any fabulous interior, the home gives a fabulous insight into its owner, his life, travels and passions.

“A home’s interior has to feel real and it has to speak of the person who lives there, like a book slowly exposing characters and stories. A successful space is an unfolding narrative with layers of meaning – motifs, art, collectables and furniture are all important. This space reflects my travels, my love of 1940s neutral palettes, my art collections, my obsession with amazing books, the pleasure of cooking and entertaining, and at the end of the day, my love of comfort,” says Alex, design director of AZBcreative. He has just launched a residential arm to his business, adding to his impressive commercial portfolio, together with offices in New York and Bali.

Interesting vignettes feature throughout the home

Filled with a vast collection of art and books, the home references classic French apartments, old Hollywood set design and there’s not a trend in sight. “There’s nothing worse than an interior that’s trendy. I wanted to retain a sense of the building’s history, without creating a museum piece. I love old French apartments that were re-decorated before WWII, mixed with the set-design colour palette of classic Hollywood city spaces – think Cary Grant’s luxe, gentleman’s apartments and spaces from Rome to Monaco,” says Alex who used soft white and grey paint to capitalise on the apartment’s natural light and highlight the collections within.

“I love masculine furniture, robust and beautifully crafted but then offset with other pieces that are light and frivolous. Combined, they create the perfect balance of light and shade, masculine and feminine, yin and yang. Everything in balance. I am a collector and it is an art to present those collections so they are as exciting to your guests as to you,” says Alex who hangs his art in Paris salon style. “It allows you to group pieces that work together and hang them above each other. It also allows you to hang more art but also give the room a grander feel,” says Alex.

Alex’s colour-coded library

And with so many pieces, gathered over a lifetime of travel, the space could so easily look cluttered. “You can imagine what it was like trying to perfectly place these elements. You need a PhD in elegant clustering to keep a sense of balance and space and not turn it into an episode of Hoarders!” says Alex who started collecting art at the age of 17.

“Every piece tells a story and recalls a memory of a great trip or a weekend combing through flea markets and auctions all over the world. I love the thrill of discovering a new artist or a new piece to add to this ever-growing collection. You have to be very disciplined but it also pays to have a massive AZB warehouse for storing my ever-evolving collections!”

Alex in his home

One of the apartment’s standout pieces is a painting of an owl by Joshua Yeldham. “It’s one of the most prominent recent pieces I’ve bought. It is quite delicate, yet it commands your attention – I love that tension between intricate and bold. I’ve tried to maintain a balance of masculine and feminine energy in the space. It’s definitely a masculine retreat, but not too much,” says Alex.

“As for furniture, I love my two modernist Italian timber and brass armchairs, crafted in the 1970s, the massive 1840s French credenza and the new Volta Paris cantilevered coloured sculpture on my mantel piece, reminiscent of Calder and Mondrian, is the bomb!” says Alex whose passion for collecting and curating has become part of his creative offering too.

‘The Owl’ by Joshua Yeldham sits above Alex’s favourite modernist Italian armchairs

“We have just created the AZB art procurement service, as I have several international clients now. I love having them on the same trajectory as me. Sourcing and finding art for clients is a wild trip, as their budgets are infinitely more than mine! For a moment, I get to feel as if these acquisitions are part of my own collection. It’s a fantastic feeling, just for a moment!” says Alex.

Bedroom

Photography: Jacqui Turk

For more on AZBcreative | Follow Alex on Insta

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The patient has very much bounced back! Letterbox The patient has very much bounced back!

Letterbox kinder egg deliveries from a friend, dressing changes without a flinch and refusing to nap despite all the bribes (check the face on him in pic 3!).

Thanks for all your care and messages/comments for this tired and shaken up mama! Now very relieved and grateful 🙏
Before & after It's not just the award winning de Before & after

It's not just the award winning designer houses that get us excited here. It's also the beloved family homes which are renovated and extended to make them fit for purpose so people can continue to live where they love 🤗

@inspiredspacesaus helped her clients with teenage kids transform this house in Sydney's Hills District inside and out, making it their forever home. 

Due to the nature of the block they could only extend sideways and then gave it street appeal with render, new windows and doors.

See inside on the blog now, via link in bio. It was completely overhauled!
Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into tiled steps 🤕

Oh what a night. Thankfully Hornsby Hospital were as amazing as always and we avoided stitches. All taped and glued  back together and now to keep him calm for the next few days (🤪) and watch for signs of concussion. 

Bravest little patient ever. Yes I've had a 🍷

Funny how we go into super organised mama mode in times like these. Grabbed dinosaurs, textas and scrapbook on the way out in case we had a long wait!

UPDATE: thanks for all the love! Charlie is so well this morning after a big sleep!
Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressi Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressive!

The new @studio.xox ONLY sells Australian brands. Like @nood_co coloured basins, lead-free eco brass from @faucetstrommen and @lindseywherrett's  ceramic basins made by hand in Tassie.

And as for their Sydney showroom (they also sell online): WOW.

See and read more on the blog now via link in bio.

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I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

🦘🐨Forget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers🙏

Apply to exhibit or find out more at their website, via their bio, now!

Are YOU buying more Australian made post covid?

#madeinaustralia #australianmade #aussiemade #aussiedesign
Do I recommend a timber vanity top? A big fat NOP Do I recommend a timber vanity top?

A big fat NOPE! 💧 

Which is why we have recently covered ours with a Caesarstone top (thanks to @justinplace_sydney for the advice and supply) and the sweet RELIEF of not having to worry about this high traffic area anymore, I'm telling you!🤗

Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

Ours probably lasted a year (if that) before it started to go downhill (and we want a good decade out of a bathroom, right?!). 2.5 years on, everything else in this bathroom looks virtually brand new and the water marked vanity top was really letting the side down and making me sad!

But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

The kids are allowed to brush their teeth and wash their hands (liquid soap 🥴) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon 😆

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!💪🏻) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too 😉

#interiorsaddictbathroomreno2 #interiorsaddictfamilyhomereno #timbervanity
Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

I think not!

Grab the recipe on the blog this morning via link in bio.
Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 @nood_co coloured con Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 

@nood_co coloured concrete basins is a great Aussie business success story. Although co founder Matt Di Costa first found fame as one half of Matt and Kim on The Block, he hasn't relied on this to build his brand.

“We are very honoured to have been a part of The Block, and all they have done for us. I am, however, a believer in letting the product take centre stage,” he says.

Read our interview with Matt via link in bio now.

🙏Share your favourite colour basin in the comments!

#colouredconcrete #noodco #colouredbasin #blockheads #the block #bathroomtrends2022

Pic 1 by @naibudesign_ and 2 by @twostyleinteriors
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Amy Collins Walker

About Amy Collins Walker

Amy is our regular feature writer, an experienced journalist and interior stylist living in Perth, Western Australia. Find out more about her styling work at http://www.amycollinswalker.com/

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