Canberra based designer Tom Skeehan of SKEEHAN studio specialises in commercial furniture, lighting and product design. It’s all designed by Tom and his small team, and manufactured by a network of local manufacturers who Tom works with closely.

Having been exposed to the world of furniture making from a young age through his father, Vince Skeehan, a cabinet maker, Tom fondly recalls childhood memories of learning to draw cubes and make his own wooden toys.

After studying Arts and design at Canberra Institute of Technology, Tom began working for furniture designer Craig Harris, who had completed his masters in Tasmania and was running a furniture studio in Fyshwick just outside of Canberra. Craig quickly became an influential mentor to Tom, and under his guidance, Tom was inspired to establish his own furniture design studio.

Amongst Tom’s greatest influences are Japanese Designer Naoto Fukasawa and Architect Tadao Ando. ‘They have a very honest design approach, and really consider the purpose of a project and the materials used’ Tom explains. In his own work, Tom aspires to a similar philosophy. ‘I want to design furniture that has a purpose and a strong material narrative’ he says.

Having recently taken on a massive new studio space, and with a number of projects currently in development, Tom is infectiously enthusiastic about the future. ‘I think it is a great time to be an Australian designer’ he says. ‘We have a very supportive local industry that is genuinely supporting Australian design’. He hopes 2017 will bring more opportunities to continue working his key national stockist, Stylecraft, to exhibit his work in Milan and New York later in the year, and to continue to build on his all important relationships with local manufacturers.

Launching a textiles brand wasn’t on the horizon for young Melbourne art curators Jessica Booth nor Laetitia Prunetti when they crossed paths in 2005, as University of Melbourne Masters of Art Curatorship candidates.

Laetitia first majored in art history and went on to freelance as an art writer and curator, co-directing the Melbourne Art Fair in 2012. Meanwhile, Jessica, with a background in fine art, specialised in Indigenous art, working as a curator, lecturer, researcher and advocate of the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists.

‘Our love of art and design has always been part of our decade-long friendship, and we always had a desire to shape flexible working lives for ourselves,’ explains Laetitia. ‘It seemed inevitable that we would one day develop a business together that combined these things.’

In 2015, this ambition materialised, and Willie Weston began connecting with Indigenous artists to develop commercial grade furnishing fabrics. ‘We saw this model as a way to continue working in the arts, albeit in a different guise, offering artists an additional income stream alongside their art practice, and bringing sophisticated Indigenous art to the interiors sector,’ Jessica says.

To develop a collection, Jessica and Laetitia first consult with artists and remote art centres across Australia to select artworks, leading to a varied array of motifs – from flora and fauna of the desert, to ceremonial body painting designs – that honour diverse regions. Next, they create design layouts for each artwork and collection colour schemes, before the sampling phase begins. As each textile design take shape, ‘artworks come alive in a whole new way,’ describes Laetitia.

Willie Weston recently branched out into beanbags, creating a limited run in collaboration with Sydney furniture brand Koskela, which feature the botanical artwork of Rosie Ngwarraye Ross. Offering outdoor canvas, indoor weave and natural linen, upcoming collections will also be available on velvet, Belgian linen, and soon-to-be wallpaper. The duo is also planning for larger-scale projects in public spaces.

Laetitia and Jessica are devoted to attracting more people to contemporary Indigenous textiles, at home and abroad. ‘We pay artists for every metre of fabric produced,’ says Jessica. ‘Our big hope is that Willie Weston will grow to a point where it can provide meaningful income streams to many more artists across Australia.’

See more from Wille Weston here. Designs from the label are on show as part of ‘AT HOME: Modern Australian Design’, an exhibition inserting the work of contemporary designers into the Georgian interior of the Old Government House in Parramatta, until January 22.

Film Credits

Director – Paris Thomson / SIRAP
Creative Direction – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files
Camera and post production – Jason Tseng
Styling – Nat Turnbull
Studio Sets – Gordon Johnson + Huw Smith
Graphic Design – Annie Portelli
Animation – Frank Souter
Sound Design – Lachlan Harris

Voiceover – Dierdre Rubenstein
Hand Model – Annie Portelli

Props kindly on loan from Cult, Third Drawer Down, Lucy Folk and Wink Optometrists.

Simone Haag is a talented and versatile creative who knows precisely how to make a house a home! A long time ago we featured her supremely photogenic Ringwood home, and today we follow up with this unique weekender – a rugged, relaxed beach cabin in Phillip Island on Victoria’s Southern Coast. As with any space Simone turns her hand to, the ‘Angler’s Shack’ is full of unexpected details, and the perfect combination of designer and vintage finds (plus, in this case, the best of IKEA!).

Though it’s been given Simone’s distinctive touch in recent times, this property previously belonged to Rhys’s parents, so Simone and Rhys have a strong personal connection to the place, and have been coming here for close to decade.

Over the years, as Simone and Rhys made regular trips here, Phillip Island became very close to their hearts. The pair even got married on ‘The Island’, and would often scout the area for a beach house they might one day put their own stamp on. SO, when the in-laws decided to upgrade to a house around the corner, Simone and Rhys jumped at the chance to purchase the property and keep their much loved beach shack in the family.

With a decade of ‘thinking’ behind them, the reno was, in Simone’s words, ‘swift and enjoyable’ – lucky, since she was heavily pregnant with her youngest, baby Clover, during the entire renovation process!

The pair kept the bones of the place ‘as is’, making primarily cheap and cheerful updates rather than big structural changes. Rhys worked with Greener Kitchens to re-do some internal cabinetry, choosing to stain plywood doors black for a bold, dramatic look. Kitchen benches were tiled with simple white square tiles, taken right up to the ceiling to maximise a sense of height. All the floors were painted white, and all lights replaced – Simone’s all-time favourite find is the Bumling pendant from Sweden, which hangs over her dining table.

Pine lining boards stained black were added for warmth and texture in the living room, whilst the hearth was re-tiled with a beautiful handmade tile from Anchor Ceramics. The guest rooms were also layered up with lining boards, sea grass matting and wall lights from School House Electric.

Simone shared the renovation journey with her Instagram friends and followers – ‘so many of the decisions were ‘design by committee’ which was really enjoyable!’ Simone says.

With a laid back ‘Californian cool’ vibe, this place has an entirely different  sensibility to Simone’s more Scandinavian inspired Melbourne home. ‘You really feel the shift in gears when you come here’ she says. ‘The place lacks in any form of amenity such as wifi, a dish washer or heating, microwave or air con – but we always make do!’

People often remark that Pip Spiro’s watercolour paintings are very ‘Australian’. ‘This is lovely to hear, although I’m never quite sure what it means!’ Pip says. ‘I think it comes down to my take on watercolour being quite bright and vibrant, and that I paint things that feel like home to me, so perhaps it feels this way for others too.’

The artist draws her inspiration from ideas of familiarity and nostalgia: ‘I’m drawn to painting from the world around me, for instance, breakfast about to be served, or blooms in nature. These are simple scenes, but it’s the memories they stir that make people connect with what I paint.’

Starting her career in advertising, following a Business Management degree, Pip couldn’t deny a stronger creative pull. Having studied art throughout school, she reconsidered her career possibilities and then made a slow transition, working part-time while she established an art practice. ‘I took the plunge to do it full-time about three years ago, and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,’ she explains.

Pip’s photorealistic watercolours are deftly rendered on thick, French cotton rag paper. ‘My style is quite realistic, so I work from life and lots of photos!’ she explains. Over the past couple of years, Pip has been involved in a number of group exhibitions. Outside of that, she’s worked largely on commissions, enjoying the challenge of working collaboratively with her clients on theme and subject matter.

The arrival of her first baby in June last year has marked a change in direction Pip, who isn’t taking on any new commissions just at the moment. ‘I’m really looking forward to letting the next phase of my work evolve on its own, and I’m aiming to have an exhibition this year,’ she says. Watch this space!

To see more of Pip’s work and see what is currently available in her stockroom, visit her website here.

Anna Ross’s routine resembles a well-oiled machine. From rising at 5:00am and answering emails in bed before scooting off to yoga, to twice-daily meditation and daily reading, the founder of local manicure and skincare brand Kester Black values a strict regime that ensures her time is purposefully spent.

‘It’s taken a while for me to find my rhythm, but it works so well. I have three hours in the morning completely to myself and I can do whatever I want.’

This morning routine is the glue that holds everything else together. ‘I find that if I don’t go to yoga or meditation, I can totally feel how behind I am in my day-to-day work’ she says.

Often we associate a strict routine with overwork, but Anna is an advocate for work-life balance. ‘There’s never going to be a point where somebody doesn’t want something from you, so you need to learn to manage your time so that it’s efficient for you.’

Such efficiency carries over to the daily operation of her business – Anna has a ‘no meeting’ policy, and Kester Black staff also benefit from having Fridays off, afternoon meditations, and a ‘morning cuddle’ ritual where everyone shares what they enjoyed the day before and how they are feeling.

‘I’ve worked at some bad businesses, so my goal with Kester Black was to make it an awesome place to work that people want to stay in.’

Creating a lovely environment for staff reflects Kester Black’s general ethos. Last year, Anna won the Telstra Australian Young Business Women’s Award, and it’s not hard to see why – the brand is sustainable, Australian-made, vegan, cruelty-free, inclusive, and gives back through initiatives such as YGAP’s ‘Polished Man’ to support ending violence against children.

‘I want my business to be successful, lovely and make money, but I also don’t want to work myself into the ground over it. I believe that you can have that.’

Daily Routine

5:00

My body clock is pretty on track to wake me up early – otherwise my cat King George Von Whiskers II will wake me up!

The first thing I do is I grab my phone and check the Sleep Cycle app. Then I’ll reach down for my laptop and start to check all my emails and pretty much do all of my accounting and invoicing in bed. It’s an actual addiction – but I have an hour before I go to yoga and I think it makes everything as easy as possible for when I finally get to work.

6:00

Then I get up and whip on some clothes like a mad woman, make a smoothie and ride my bike to yoga. I meditate for twenty minutes at the studio after class and then I ride my bike to my office.

8:00

I’ll shower at the office and get back to my emails. I get 100 emails a day, so it’s emails all the time. My inbox is super-systematic. Everything is left in my inbox until it’s answered and I file it into a folder when it’s done. At the moment, there’s a lot of stuff lingering in my inbox, which gives me panic attacks.

I use Google calendar for payments and that sort of stuff. My personal to-do list is in my email draft, and then we have a project management to-do list which is always in Asana (management software).

8:30

When Sophie arrives we have a short catch-up and for a while we would have a ‘morning cuddle’ where each of us would say five things they liked from the day before and how they are feeling today. It just helped us to be on the same page, but we’ve been bad at remembering to doing that lately!

Jacinta works remotely, so I’ll have a chat to her as well and then we all work on GChat and Asana.

My day consists of answering emails and liaising with Sophie and Jacinta. If I’m doing the product development, I’ll be speaking to our manufacturer first thing in the morning and seeing where we’re at with our orders.

10:00

I’ll also check in with Sophie and make sure the Instagram schedule is going okay. We schedule social media posts in advance, which takes such a long time because we have a strict colour theme, but I think it’s totally worth it.

13:00

Often I bring my own lunch, but lately I’ve been quite lazy, so I’ll walk up Smith Street and usually go to Smith Street Alimentari.

14:00

In the afternoon the list-ticking slows down, but I’ll get back to the computer and do the trickier things leftover from the morning.

Another thing to note is that I hate meetings – they are often so unproductive. I would do anything to avoid a meeting, and often ask someone to just call or email. If I do have to have a meeting, I try to make it a walking or standing meeting.

15:00

We co-share a space, and all of us meditate for twenty minutes in the afternoon. Well, if they’re not doing meditation, they’re napping. It doesn’t matter because naps are awesome, too.

15:20

I’ll wrap up all of the tasks that I didn’t get done and we finish by 5:30. I make sure nobody does overtime here – I don’t think it’s productive.

If there is a lull period where we don’t have much to do, often we will knock off early and either go for a drink or go plant shopping.

17:30

I usually ride home, make dinner and check my Instagram. I often go out for dinner with my boyfriend or friends, and in that case I ride from work to the restaurant.

If I’m doing a speaking gig, it is usually after hours too, and I’ll have spent the afternoon freaking out about how I haven’t written the speech and finally print off some notes and head straight to the talk.

21:00

Before bed I’ll read a book – usually business books like The E-Myth, Good to Great, or anything to do with communication styles.

21:30

I go to bed pretty early because I get up at five o’clock. The second my head hits the pillow, I am out. I don’t drink coffee because it can cause you to have disruptive sleep and it’s harder to get up in the morning. Then you need a coffee to get going, so I have never gotten myself into that trap.

No work Fridays.

I believe in three-day weekends so we don’t work on Fridays. I’m still available though, but I’m going to start going away camping or something and actually switch off my computer.

When people get an out-of-office response from us on a Friday, they can sometimes get a little upset, but I think more companies are going to adopt this approach to work soon enough. It’s so important to look after staff wellbeing and this is one way we manage this.

It’s important not to work yourself to the ground. I want to have a nice life where I spend lots of time with the people that I love, my cat and my boyfriend, but do meaningful things with the time that I do have – give back, continually learn and grow, and work really efficiently.

This story is part of our monthly collaboration with Madeleine Dore of Extraordinary Routines.

‘My mum cried when I bought this house,’ landscape architect and flower lover Natasha Morgan tells me. It was a derelict old building, complete with bats flying through open windows, an overgrown garden pruned only by horses nibbling on new growth, and lots of old trees.

‘I was elated, though, because I could see that everything I wanted to do with my life could take place here,’ she says.‘The first time I saw it I just stood under the big trees and thought “how can I make this happen?”’ And happen, it did. Natasha bought the five-acre property in 2013, and moved in a year later.

Whilst Natasha hadn’t originally intended to move to the country full-time, the move wasn’t without foundation. She tells me of her previous house in Melbourne – an old scout hall with blackboards lining the walls. She used these walls to write down the things she loved, and wanted to do.

Finding a weekend property was high on that list. ‘I wanted to find a place with high rainfall, good soil, proximity to Melbourne, and a strong artistic and cultural life,’ she says. ‘Soon after, I found it.’ All the things Natasha listed on the blackboards had found a home. She named the property Oak & Monkey Puzzle, in reference to the 150-year-old oak trees and monkey puzzle tree growing in the garden.

The property, located between Daylesford and Ballan, has a long history as a hub within the local community. It started off as the Spargo Creek post office in the 1860s, then when the pub across the road burnt down it became the temporary drinking hole, and at some point it also became the recreation reserve and the general store.

Interspersed with its periods of public life, the property was also a home. The wife of the previous owner was a great gardener, but after she died the garden was untended for many years. Natasha and her family moved in in winter, and the second day they were there it snowed. Then spring happened, and all of a sudden the garden was full of bulbs – Jonquils, bluebells, grape hyacinth, daffodils and more. ‘It was magical,’ Natasha says.

Being a landscape architect, Natasha got stuck into the garden immediately. ‘I always start with the garden because it grows while everything else is being built or fixed,’ she tells me.‘I began with a masterplan. It was very much about aspect – getting an idea of where it’s sunny or not, and pragmatic concerns like making sure I can fit wheelbarrows between beds etcetera.’

The resulting garden is a series of formally arranged long raised beds, overflowing with edibles and flowers, as well as an orchard and berry patch, surrounded by wild grasses Natasha cuts paths through on the mower, leaving whats left to do its thing. It’s beautiful and abundant, overflowing with enough vegetables and fruit to feed her family, workshop participants and lucky neighbours.‘I’m always giving veggies away,’ she says.

The garden is Natasha’s laboratory.‘I’m not precious about it,’ she says.‘I’ve invested a lot of time into building the formal bones of the garden, but it’s always changing,’ she says, as she tells me of the beans and peas growing up a sculptural elm frame built from foraged suckers she found growing on the side of the road.‘I don’t want the garden to be static. I want to be able to walk through it and feel and see the changes in movement, texture, and seasonality. Change keeps me fresh!’

The garden also forms a backdrop to the workshops Natasha runs at the property. Working with passionate local craftspeople and artists, she offers a range of hands-on workshops including edible gardening, dry-stone wall building, garden design, floral design and more. It’s a gorgeous, changeable, flowery feast.

Like a crisp autumn morning after a long hot summer, Natasha and her family are breathing fresh life into Oak and Monkey Puzzle. Fuelled by Natasha’s vision, passion and generosity, the property once again is becoming a community hub – a place to share the enjoyment of the best, and simplest, things – food, flowers, and connection.

We’ll be seeing inside Natasha’s very special home a little later this week! In the meantime, do check out Natasha’s website to learn more about the wonderful line up of workshops and events she hosts at her property.

First completing a science degree in botany (she really knows her raw materials), woodworker Emma Nasifa of Made by Northwood began making her distinctive timber artworks in late 2015. It wasn’t so much a lifestyle choice, as a matter of creative necessity. ‘I found that my creating hands couldn’t really commit to a laboratory lifestyle,’ she explains.

Woodwork wasn’t a completely new interest though. The artist has fond memories of visiting her uncle’s furniture shop in Tasmania, and working with hand tools as a child. The hobby grew from assembling artworks for friends, into a mentorship with respected Brunswick woodworkers, and a budding, occasionally-‘nomadic’ career.

Made by Northwood’s aesthetic is rooted in symmetry, and the fractal forms of nature; patterns within patterns. ‘Balance, repetition and contrast. These are the elements that I try and express,’ Emma explains.

A piece typically comes together organically with a little direction from the client, although, mock-ups are created on design software for large installations and those incorporating plants. ‘Once I get an outline of an idea, I’ll set aside workshop time to cut up timber and rearrange it, and rearrange it again… and probably seven times more until I can feel a pattern falling into place!’ admits the maker. Finally, each artwork is assembled and carefully hand finished.

Made by Northwood hopes to do more oversized projects, and move into furniture fabrication next. ‘I’d love develop the innovative aspect of my brand,’ says Emma. ‘…so many ideas, only two hands!’

She’s also invested in raising awareness and promoting respect for our ecosystems through her craft. ‘We need to incorporate more plant life into our daily work and living surrounds, shift our focus from consumerism to remind ourselves of the impermanence and fragility of the natural world.’

Persian nougat, also known as Gaz, is super sticky and famously originates from the city of Isfahan, where people flock from all over Iran to purchase the freshest Gaz. Hamed recalled times when he would travel to Isfahan, simply to buy the sweet sticky candy. The more pistachios, the more expensive and prized it would be. If you were trying to impress someone, you would come back from Isfahan with some Gaz, seriously loaded with pistachios.

While the most commonly found Gaz contains only pistachios, we’ve added barberries into the mixture to give a little hint of sourness. We’ve also made a batch with sour cherries, which are a little sweeter than the barberries, but work really well. Persian nougat is quite soft, so if it’s a warm day, keep it in the fridge to avoid it melting. The nougat isn’t too difficult to make, however, it’s so important to have everything ready as once the sugar syrup has reached temperature, you need to work fast.

Method

Line a 20cm deep square cake tin with one sheet of the edible rice paper, shiny side down. Alternatively, line the tray with baking paper. The mixture will be super sticky, so you want to do your best to prevent it sticking to the tin.

Preheat oven to the lowest temperature. Place the pistachios and barberries on a tray and keep warm in the oven until ready to use.

Place the sugar, liquid glucose, honey and 100ml water in a medium saucepan and over a medium flame heat to 135C on a candy thermometer. This should take around 10 minutes.

While the sugar is reaching 135C, place the egg whites in a very clean bowl of an electric mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. When the sugar syrup reaches approximately 130C, begin to whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once the sugar syrup reaches 135C, with the mixer on medium speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. Increase the speed and beat until thick and glossy (approximately two minutes).

Working quickly, fold in the warm pistachios and barberries, the rosewater and orange zest. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface, and top with the second piece of edible rice paper, shiny side up.

Allow to cool completely overnight or for at least 4 hours. Cut the Gaz into pieces using a very sharp knife and serve with sour cherry tea.

Breathtaking. That’s the first word that comes to mind when you pull off the seemingly endless Ballan-Daylesford Road and into Oak & Monkey Puzzle, a property renovated by Natasha Morgan. Set back from the bitumen, the stark, white weatherboard home stands out against a backdrop of soaring gums and age-old oaks. Acting not only as a home for Natasha and her two small children, Oak & Monkey Puzzle is also a buzzing place of business. In collaboration with other local creatives, Natasha hosts events, workshops, shoots and even weddings on the property, as well as utilising the spectacular garden to grow flowers for a local florist collective, and a host of produce for her popular  preserves.

‘I had dreamt about owning a place in the country since my early days at Uni, and had been passively looking for about eight years,’ says Natasha. Initially searching for a weekender, Natasha changed her mind when she and her partner stumbled upon an almost derelict property, housing what was originally the Spargo Creek Post Office, built in the 1860s by Swiss-Italian builder, Mr Spargo. ‘I stood there under those towering trees, and felt the dream had to happen somehow’ she says.

Utilising her skills as a landscape architect and urban designer, Natasha created all the drawings for the new home, with work carried out by herself, her partner, and various tradespeople. ‘It was so rundown… we had gaps in the walls where bats would fly in’ Natasha recalls. One of the renovation highlights was discovering the original post office walls. ‘You can actually see the builder’s fingerprints in the earth… I love to put my own hands on this and imagine it back then.’

Merging the best of a Gold Rush-era structure with a crisp palette of white, black and charcoal, the home brings together an endearingly ad-hoc edit of vintage collectables and contemporary details. ‘I like to think of the home as an experience you inhabit, rather than a collection of things’ says Natasha. 

At one end of the home is a master bedroom with new parquet flooring and artwork from Josh Bowes, alongside an all-white bathroom with a spectacular view to the garden via an oversized window. At the centre of the home is a dramatic dark dining room, featuring that original exposed earth wall from the original post office. An all-white kitchen leads onto Natasha’s mudroom, where she stores her preserves. At the front of the house is the lounge room, featuring a wall of vintage and contemporary art, as well as Natasha’s collection of vintage pewter and stoneware. Her children’s room is a mixture of vintage and new, bursting with colourful paintings and wooden toys.

‘I love it here,’ says Natasha. ‘What started as a dream has turned into more than I could imagine!’

Natasha hosts workshops and events at Oak & Monkey Puzzle throughout the year, click here to see upcoming dates and details. This year the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival’s Regional Longest Lunch – Daylesford will be held on the property, with proceeds going to the Daylesford Primary Kitchen Garden Program.