The creation of husband and wife team Poppy and Scott Gibson, Melbourne’s Pop & Scott has become a firm fixture on the Australian interiors scene courtesy of their instantly recognisable range of bold, hand-painted pots. We caught up with one half of the design duo recently for the inside skinny on the brand whose wares also include a fabulous range of furniture, lighting and accessories.
“I am from a northern coastal suburb of Perth, I left school and went to flower design school then moved to Melbourne when I was 19,” says Poppy. “I went on to work in boutique flower shops and then later worked as a freelance florist working with some of the floral greats like Katie Marx and Cecelia Fox. The work was corporate and event installations and it was a very fun and exciting time in my floristry career. I am, and always will be, a florist – I have been for 17 years and it’s a major part of my creative adventure.”
Husband Scott started his career in the skateboard industry before training as a plumber in his late thirties and then moving into furniture design. “After a few years of plumbing, Scotty decided to trade the smell of sewerage for the smell of sawdust,” says Poppy, who credits Mexico with the inception of the brand. “I have always had a love for well-designed spaces and furniture and on our travels through Mexico, Scotty and I started dreaming up designs together.”
Pop & Scott’s latest collection, Indigo Folk, is an ode to the 1970’s (a period beloved by the brand based on their past collections) and features a sumptuous shade of indigo blue. “While I was pregnant with Lou, our new darling son, I started to really reconnect with my bohemian roots again. We were listening to loads of Joni Mitchell and had Carole King’s album Tapestry on repeat.”
“We have had the perfect indigo colour in our paint collection for a while and have been excited to use it. Indigo was featured a lot in traditional folk arts so it was fitting to pay tribute to the colour. We looked at jewellery, folk embroidery and paintings to gather up simple elements for these designs,” says Poppy whose favourite features an olive leaf motif. “We have been trying to work in an olive leaf design for a while and then one of our artists, Darcey, nailed it perfectly,” she says.
Pop & Scott has a showroom in Melbourne’s Northcote with a second one opening in Byron Bay in mid-October. You can also shop the range online.
Such an inspiring story