Belle

CHARLOTTE’S STYLE is sublime and sophisticated. There are not enough superlatives to capture the spectre of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended – longer and more lavish than ever before. Every finish is ultra-opulent, from the 850 stars which illumina

SO NICK, YOU'VE TAKEN ON A NEW ROLE AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART? Yes, over the past 15 years I’ve had various roles. Early on, I was involved in setting up the MCA’s Young Ambassadors program and was on the committee. About seven years ago, I j

Byron Bay is home to remarkable residences, and Fairway, the homestead designed by Sara Horvath of Studio George in the nearby village of Federal, fits right in. It feels like the middle of nowhere, near the middle of just about everything, if you’d

Kit Kemp, creative director and co-founder of Firmdale Hotels, along with husband Tim, has lived in the same London house for more than 20 years. The couple are shining stars in the design pantheon, having created hotels in London and New York, inclu

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Rationally, we know that life is relatively short and golden times don’t last forever, but on some level we simply expect certain figures who loom large in our world to be immortal. Carla Zampatti was one of those. Readers of a certain age will recal

1 CONTENTED WINTER Now is the time to give your indoor living areas some attention. Coco Republic has released its new winter collection with plenty to inspire layered spaces worth lingering in. “Less is definitely more this winter and I am proud to

WHO HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR ENDURING CREATIVE INFLUENCES? Edwina Forest, Aje co-founder and designer: Adrian (Norris) and I have been creative partners for more than 13 years and always found ourselves to be moved and grounded by art, especially in th

SUCH IS THE EFFECT of an interview with Tasmanian architects Poppy Taylor and Mat Hinds of Taylor + Hinds that after 90 minutes I am ready to throw caution to the wind and buy a dilapidated Georgian cottage. I would then give them a blank cheque with

BEMELMANS BAR Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle hotel in NYC is one of the most intensely memorable spaces. The hand-painted murals, originally created by Austria-born artist Ludwig Bemelmans in 1947, still adorn the walls with their soft ambient lighting

Bringing a century-old house into a new era to embrace the current way of life is no mean feat but it is something that architect Ben Vitale and interior designers Arent&Pyke do on a regular basis. To wit, this California bungalow in Sydney’s eastern

Lying nine miles or so southwest of London, between Richmond and Ham, Petersham is a place apart. There’s no high street as such and, though there are a good number of historic houses and a charming, if somewhat hidden, 18th-century village lock-up,

With its tree-lined boulevard location, traditional parquetry flooring and effortless European pieces, this home in East Melbourne has definite Parisian vibes. It’s an atmosphere owner Liz Hall was vying for at the newly renovated house that she shar

Any new build shortlisted for an architectural award in 2021 has, arguably, satisfied the most demanding criteria in many years, given how buildings have had to adapt in the COVID era and be far more than a roof over a family’s heads. Melbourne’s Arc

WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR EARLY CREATIVE INFLUENCES? Simone: Our home was filled with beautiful objects and original art. Though not high-end, they were colourful and stylish with a European aesthetic my parents brought from Germany. I studied at Sydney

WHAT INITIALLY APPEALED ABOUT YOUR HOME AND ITS ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN BY TOBIAS PARTNERS? I lived in Sydney in my early 20s, so when my husband and I moved back from Perth with a young family in 2004 we were keen to find somewhere close to the water.

Acemetery in northern Italy seems an unlikely source of inspiration for a Sydney harbourside home, especially one as dynamic and luminous as this. But its architect Daniel Boddam has drawn design cues from a monument to modernist architecture, Carlo

SYDNEY Before Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint’s exuberant works of abstraction marked a radical break from the figurative with their profusion of colour and enigmatic, diagrammatic shapes informed by her interest in sp

STYLIST’S ASSISTANTS JACOB OLSEN, GABRIELLE McCABE AND ARISTINE DOBSON ■

Lavishly endowed with glowing Australian timber and limestone, this home has a robust but luxe materials palette “from the earth”, says Abe McCarthy of Abe McCarthy Architects. Abe collaborated with interior designer Alice Villella of AV-ID, custom b

THE NAME ELSA PE RETTI is indelibly linked to Tiffany & Co. and the organic, sculptural pieces of jewellery she created for the brand. What you might not know, though, is that she was also a dedicated and steadfast humanitarian. Elsa’s sudden death i

IF YOU WANT a rural Australian country house that is warm and modern but also has a timeless classic quality, here is a quick lesson. Whatever your taste, the beauty of a country house is that the edges are softened by comfort and don’t need to be pe

For Tali Roth, 2020 was a year of milestones: returning to her home town of Melbourne after seven years in New York where she cultivated a thriving design business, and completing her first full-scope structural and interiors project smack bang in th

For Pia Francesca, a tree change certainly didn’t mean leaving city sophistication behind. The interior designer’s inimitable mix of sleek and soulful pieces with a collection of global treasures has translated perfectly from her former pied-à-terre

Yearly digital subscription for only $19.99 via auto renewal. Available on iOS and Android. SAVE 37% Perfectly COMPOSED ELEGANTLY ORDERED INTERIORS FROM MYKONOS TO MELBOURNE magshop.com.au/C/X212BED 136 116 and quote X212BED Terms & Conditions: Savin

One of a vanishing breed, this heritage cottage located in a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong in Victoria, has received a life-affirming restoration by Adam Kane of Adam Kane Architects of South Melbourne, Victoria. Now skilf

To some degree all house purchases are the result of a Sliding Doors moment but this acquisition had more than most. When architect Conrad Johnston, director of Fox Johnston, stumbled on this house in Balmain he knew nothing of its pedigree but had a