Byron Bay Home - Sonya Marish of Jatana Interiors

The Byron Bay home of Sonya Marish and family

You know one of the biggest challenges I have in sourcing content for this site is finding fabulous Australian Homes to feature every single week! For this reason I must say always appreciate a reader tip-off (hint hint!), particularly for interstate homes which of course are a little trickier to find! Today's home is one such tip-off - the stunning NSW Coastal home of interior designer Sonya Marish was mentioned to me recently by Sydney-based Tina Clark, whose own Tamarama home I featured on the site many moons ago! (...Tina's home has since been featured by Real Living and I think in fact can be seen in their current issue!)

Anyway I am so grateful to Tina for this one... because it sure is a beauty!

Sonya Marish's house is more than just a vibrant happy home to her growing family - it's also the perfect showcase for the stunning tiles she sources through her company, Jatana Interiors. Sonya sells the most incredible rare antique floor and wall tiles sourced from across the globe. It is just the most exquisite hand-picked collection.. and Sonya is also able to custom design tiles for a truly bespoke service - and a bathroom unlike anyone else's! Many of Sonya's favourite finds have been put to good use in her own home - just looking at these shots, it's clear how passionate she is about these precious pieces!

Sonya has always been one to seek out unique pieces... she has spent years travelling the globe and picking up gorgeous items from far away places, and of course displaying them with pride at home to remind her of her travels. A while ago Sonya started to buy her special finds en masse with a plan to set up a little market stall at the local markets in Sydney and in the NSW North Coast.

It was her love of intricate and exotic patterns that first inspired Sonya's purchases - whether those patterns were found in silver jewelery, on cushions, throws, quilts or clothing, Sonya says she 'just loved the busyness, the detail, the life in the designs.' This love soon transferred to an obsession with finding intricately patterned tiles for her own bathroom renovation. She had recently completed Interior Design training when embarking on her bathroom project, and was very excited to put her new skills into practice at home. It soon became apparent that her passion was in antique and reproduction decorated tiles - just like all her decorated fabrics, only in tile form, or as she says, in 'hard copy!'

Sonya's obsession with these tiles grew and grew as she accumulated and sourced more and more designs - 'They are an artform within themselves and bring something special to a space, beyond their beautiful colour and patterns' says Sonya. It wasn't long before Jatana Interiors was born!

If you love her home, chances are you will also seriously love Sonya's stunning collection of tiles... Do pop over and see the gorgeousness for yourself!

ps. Sonya also has a great little blog!

LOVE Sonya's colourful sunroom

Bathroom - showcasing stunning Jatana Interiors tiles

Jatana Interiors tiles

Jatana Interiors tiles

Love the jewel-like doorknobs and those fabulous tiles framing the fireplace...

*please note - Blogger is having some issues with the comments system this week - please continue to leave your comments here... They are coming through, but there seems to be a delay with them displaying on the site... don't be alarmed if you comment does not pop up straight away! Thankyou for your patience guys! x

Loom Rugs

Loom Rugs in Melbourne

Have you ever seen a more incredible rug than this black/white/brown spotted number? Looks like a clear twinkling starry night...


I have been hearing about Loom Rugs for quite some time and have spotted their stunning rugs in some very special homes over the past few years, but it wasn't until last month that I finally popped in to their Prahran East store to check out their incredible collection for myself.

Oh my. Truly, it is such an incredibly beautiful little shop... you will be amazed. The colours are like nothing I've ever seen - vibrant and unexpected combinations, striking monochrome designs, muted tones brought about only by using aged vintage fibres... and the variety of designs is vast - from super traditional to very contemporary styles. Aggh. So so beautiful.

Also it must be said that Doan Bilgis (who owns Loom) is just seriously the nicest man I have ever encountered in a rug shop. Or in pretty much any other shop to be honest. Doan first moved to Australia in 2004 and says he was immediately taken with Melbourne’s design scene and local architecture. He saw an opportunity to introduce some different rugs to the market - rugs he had always loved and didn’t really see in Australia... and so he opened Loom in November 2006. He is an incredible person to chat to - so friendly and approachable and softly spoken, and truly passionate about his work.

Doan's family in Turkey have a nomadic background, and rugs are very much part of their culture. As a child, Doan's family and relatives were always making rugs, and he says he was fascinated by the different colours and patterns... Doan was seduced by the history and stories behind each rug, and the amazing diversity in design. 'Rugs almost became an addiction to me!' he says. Eventually Doan started his own business working with international designers, architects and antique rug dealers in Istanbul.

What is most interesting about Loom's rugs is that although they are made using traditional techniques, Doan has also introduced some really innovative contemporary ideas into his business. His 'Hepsi' rugs are formed using a patchwork technique which is not traditionally used for rugs, but when Doan discovered some artisans in Turkey playing with this idea in 1999, he fell in love with the concept and began working with them. Doan named this style 'Hepsi', meaning 'all' - as the technique uses everything and anything to create these unique rugs.

Top - Hepsi patchworked rug 275cm x 380cm, Bottom - Nepalese Rug 302cm x 423cm.

Top - Old Yarn Kilim 197cm x 283cm, Bottom - Old Yarn Rug, 243cm x 350cm.

Another special technique Loom has introduced is the recycling of vintage yarns. Their Old Yarn rugs and kilims are hand woven using yarn that has been unraveled from vintage kilims. This recycled yarn has a softness of colour and variation of tone that can only be achieved with age... it's an incredibly intricate process, and these Old Yarn rugs really do seem to have something extra special about them.

Next time you're in the area, do pop in to Loom and spy their stunning collection! A limited number of Loom rugs are also available through Mark Tuckey in Melbourne and Sydney, and at Koskela in Sydney.

Loom Rugs
575 - 577 High st
Prahran East

ph. 9510 3040

Open Mon- Sat, 10.00am - 6.00pm

Top - Old Yarn Rug, 398cm x 302cm. Bottom - Vintage Turkish Kilim, 315cm x 205cm.

Safari Fusion

African beaded handcraft from Safari Fusion

Safari Fusion also sells those amaaazing Bamileke Feather Headdress' - often seen hanging in contemporary interiors these days...


Oooh la la... just look at these fabulous vibrant pieces from Melbourne-based online store Safari Fusion! Safari Fusion was launched just last year by Melbournian Kellie Shearwood, whose many years in the travel industry finally inspired her to launch her own business specialising in contemporary African design pieces for the home.

Kellie has always had a passion for travel, and has spent 17 years working in various travel industry jobs. Much of this time was spent with the luxury safari company Abercrombie & Kent - where she eventually took on the role of Product Manager for Africa, designing safari itineraries, brochure writing, and regularly visiting Africa to research new destinations and experience stays in beautiful lodges and camps. Kellie's travels with A&K took her to some of the most amazing places in Africa - Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

These business trips inevitably inspired lots of shopping(!!), and of course Kellie would always return home with beautiful African pieces for her own home. During these trips, as well as doing what was required for her work, Kellie would often find herself asking the lodge manager ‘where is this piece from?’, or ‘do you know where I can buy this?’... she was nicknamed ‘shopper’ by African travel industry friends, as she had a habit of going home from work trips with bags and bags full of shopping! "It is amazing how some fast talking can get you out of excess luggage charges!" she says!

Gradually Kellie's love and appreciation for Africa grew in another direction - from travel to the beautiful world of arts and crafts. After years of shopping in Africa and building up a file full of scribbled notes on stores, studios and suppliers, in 2007 Kellie finally took the plunge, leaving her dream job at A&K to start her own business. After 18 months spent planning her business, Safari Fusion was launched in April 2009! Nice one!

Do pop over and check out Kellie's lovely things... such a gorgeous colourful collection!

Beaded bowls / boxes

Beaded dolls and animals for the kids!

Aww love the colourful beaded birds!

Interview - Tin & Ed

Fashion Bloggers illustration by Tin&Ed for Myer Emporium Magazine (spot Tavi!)

Tourism Victoria 'Lose Yourself' campaign - oversized 'wool' props by Tin&Ed!

Window installation for Incu

Tin&Ed do 'cute' too! Illustration for limited edition poster

Tin&Ed are Melbourne Famous.

They are so famous they don't even need surnames.

This prolific young graphic design duo are based in Melbourne's much-loved Nicholas Building... and their shared moniker seems to pop up on almost every kooky design project this city has to offer. Clients over the past couple of years have included Crumpler, The Royal Children's Hospital, Three Thousand, The Thousand Shop, as well as big name brands such as Nike and Visa. Tin&Ed are also partly responsible for that famous ball of wool campaign for Tourism Victoria a couple of years back.... (They made those giant 'wool' sculptures!) SO brilliant! And so versatile for a graphic design company!

It seems versatility is the name of the game over at Tin&Ed HQ - these days a typical day could include anything from props making to illustration, motion graphics to installation... no job seems too peculiar for this multi-talented pair. Aside from the incredible variety, I just love the sense of humour inherent in most of their work - they really seem to approach each new brief with a unique and very wacky sensibility... a Tin&Ed project just wouldn't be a Tin&Ed project if it took itself too seriously!

Huge thanks to these very busy boys for taking time out for this interview ...because it sure is hard work being Melbourne famous!

(for the record, Tin&Ed did start life with surnames. Tin's is Nguyen, and Ed's is Cutting.)

PS) Paul Barbera has taken some super brilliant shots of Tin &Ed's studio... here they are.

Tin&Ed was formed when Ed miraculously pulled Tin out of a hat in San Francisco - True or False?

Tell me a little about your backgrounds – how did you meet, and what path led you to setting you your business and doing what you’re doing now?

We both met during our first year of design school and have been working together ever since. We worked on a lot of outside projects together whilst we were at uni and when we finished we got a job to design the identity for the Next Wave Festival which is a youth arts festival here in Melbourne. They gave us a little corner of their office to work from and we got to meet a lot of interesting and creative people, we were very quickly immersed into the creative community in Melbourne and everything just happened from there.


The type of work that we do has definitely evolved a lot over years. Illustration and design will always be a large part of what we do because it's how we got our start, but recently we've been creating more sculptures and installations, we're also working a lot more with photography and motion which has been a lot of fun.

Where might we have seen your work? What have been some favourite clients / projects in recent years?

We’ve worked for lots of different types of clients, so I guess you can see our work in a lot of different places. We do a quite a bit of work for advertising agencies and in the past year we’ve worked for companies like Nike, MTV, Visa and American Express, a lot of our agency work goes through our very awesome illustration agent Jacky Winter.

Our first solo show last year at Lamington Drive was definitely one of the favourite things we’ve done in past few years as well as our collaboration with Amsterdam based Artist Lucy McRae. We’ve done some installation stuff with Vice recently which has also been really fun, what else... the fabric collaboration with Melbourne label TV... we've probably got too many favourite projects to name, let's say all of them :) We've just finished a project for the Melbourne International Arts Festival in collaboration with 'Supple Fox' which we are really excited about. You’ll be able to see that stuff in the festival guide, on posters around town and at the Forum theatre in October.

Collaboration with Amsterdam based artist Lucy McRae

TV Collaboration - Fabric Design (digital print onto Raw Silk)

How would you describe the Tin & Ed design aesthetic?

We get bored really easily and I guess our design aesthetic is dictated a lot by this. We like to work in a lot of different mediums, using different processes. We like to put ourselves into situations where we have no idea what we’re doing. Our style is very much a result of this process, we don't really make a conscious effort to cultivate a specific design aesthetic... i think it's something that just happens.

At the moment we are really interested in spontaneity and cultivating ideas that allow for accidents. It’s an interesting way of creating connections between seemingly unrelated things.

Our work tries to communicate with people on a more subconscious level, we don’t want people to understand everything right away, it’s more about multiple levels of meaning rather then a singular and direct message. Not sure if this answers the question at all :) we find it difficult to talk about the aesthetic of our work because for us the concept and the process is more important.

Stunning photos of Tin & Ed's city studio by Paul Barbera... pop over to see even more...

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

It really depends on what we are working on. We are usually juggling a few projects at any one time so generally we will work on whatever is most pressing. Most of our days are really different so it's hard to say, some days we'll spend drawing, other days we'll be on site or running around trying to find materials, we spend a lot of time in front of the computer as well, it's constantly changing.

Illustrations and design for the Royal Children's Hospital publication (2006)

How is your business structured..? Do you employ other designers or work regularly with collaborators? Who takes care of the boring ‘business’ side of things?

for the most part it's just the two of us, if we have a big job like the Visa - Go installation, we'll bring in freelancers or friends to help us out. We also like collaborating with people, so even though it's just the two of us, for some jobs we will be working with other people to complete the project. We have a financial and business adviser who has been helping us get the 'business' side of things in order :)

We also have a couple of agents, Jacky Winter for our illustration stuff and Grey Aviary for some of our other stuff.

Go Visa installation

Where do you turn for creative inspiration – travel, local and international design trends, magazines, books or the web etc?

All of the above, plus hanging out having conversations with our friends.

Which other designers or creative people do you admire?

Waaayy too many to name! lets see, Annette Messager, Alejandro Jodorowsky,Terence Koh, Olufur Eliasson, Bernhard Willhelm, Yayoi Kusama, Tibor & Maira Kalman, Jean-Paul Goude, Claes Oldenburg, Bruce Nauman, Alexander Calder, Rei Kawakubo, Jun Takahasi, Milton Glaser, Shigeo Fukuda, Peter Saville, Stefan Sagmeister, Mike Mills, Michel Gondry etc....

What would be your dream creative project?

We’d love to do an ongoing project where we regularly collaborate with different people to create objects and products, etc. something different every time. We’d really love to do some stationary or crockery or some sort of knit, anyone interested in collaborating should contact us!

Friendly typography for Crumpler

What are you looking forward to?

We’ve got a lot of exhibitions coming up later this year, one of which will be part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival in October which is really exciting. We’ve also got a couple of solo shows at the end of the year, one at ‘Somedays’ in Sydney and ‘Somewhere’ in Melbourne and a group show at Object Gallery in Sydney.

Also Barcelona Berlin and London in August!

Melbourne Questions –

Your favourite Melbourne neighbourhood and why?

Tin: Not sure if it’s even part of greater Melbourne, but sassafras in the Dandenongs - Devonshire tea and nature!

Ed: For a holiday – Footscray because it feels like another place
For the rest of the time - North Fitzroy because it’s green and relaxed and its where I live.

Your favourite bookshop in Melbourne for reference books / publications?

The Thousands Shop has an awesome selection of hard to find publications from around the world!

Metropolis and Magnation for other art and photography books and magazines!

Identity / signage for The Thousands Shop

What/where was the last great meal you ate in Melbourne?

Tin: Peking duck at Old Kingdom on Smith Street!

Ed: Osso Bucco at Gerald’s on Rathdowne street.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

Tin: Sleeping

Ed: Dench

Melbourne’s best kept secret?

Native American poncho stand at the vic markets! they have a selection of both the best and worst poncho's you've ever seen!

See? Bonkers.

'Shed 4' - David Bromley's Daylesford outpost!

David Bromley's 'Shed 4' in Daylesford - love his incredible detailed carved timber busts (top image)

An old fashioned army tent, completely decked out with seagrass matting, rugs, furniture and lighting... magic!

Classic Bromley paintings sit alongside his incredible furniture finds

I went to Daylesford on the weekend for a little research trip (there's a little regional guide in the works!)... And can I just say, the absolute BEST thing you can possibly do in Daylesford is visit Shed 4 - David Bromley's 'A Day on Earth' warehouse.

OMG. Seriously amazing. Alice in wonderland all over again. You really have to see to believe. This enormous warehouse is jam packed with so many of Bromley's signature pieces - vintage and industrial furniture, clocks, lighting and ephemera, striking Bromley paintings, sculptures and carvings, an enormous sand sculpture and an army tent pitched right in the centre of the space for no apparent reason. Really it's like some kind of magical museum, not a shop. They should charge an entry fee.

I am still on a Bromley high 5 days later. He truly is a visionary.... we are so lucky to have such incredible creative minds in Melbourne!

Totally worth the drive. Promise!

David Bromley's Shed (aka Shed 4!)
Shed 4, 39 East Street
Daylesford

Hours -
Friday 10.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 10.00am - 5.00pm

Giant sand sculpture! (as you do...)

A Day on Earth ceramics, and gorgeous vintage kids chairs