We’ve been big fans of Sydney-based brand ELLISON STUDIOS. since it launched in 2017.Now, it has a cult following after dominating the internet with retro-inspired designs like a coffee-coloured velvet sofa created in collaboration with Pantone, and the viral Huggy Armchair. In this episode, ELLISON STUDIOS. CEO and co-founder Leigh McKeown shares the origin story behind the brand, and how they found international success without ever opening a retail store. Read the article featuring the highli...
Oct 31, 2024•39 min•Ep. 82
Building a successful brand is no mean feat, but lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Alyce Tran knows a thing or two. After co-founding the wildly popular accessories brand The Daily Edited, she’s since gone on to work for influencer marketing platform LTK and you’ve probably heard of her side hustle, In The Roundhouse — the tableware brand known for its playful plates, cutlery and tablescaping accessories. In this episode, Alyce shares how In The Roundhouse began in 2018, how her products spark joy in p...
Oct 17, 2024•33 min•Ep. 81
Since launching in 2019, Baina has taken the humble towel from a utilitarian textile to a must-have design product with a cult following, including A-list celebrities like Cindy Crawford and Dakota Fanning. Even if you don’t know Baina by name, we bet you’ve spotted their checkerboard towels at your local beach, or in some of your favourite bathroom inspo photos. In this episode, founders and childhood best friends Bailey Meredith and Anna Fahey share how they used their backgrounds in the fashi...
Oct 03, 2024•45 min•Ep. 80
Have you ever lived in a house that just wouldn’t stay warm, or a place that felt like a perpetual sauna in summer? Passive Houses are all about solving these problems before the home is even built, and using as little energy as possible to do so. In today’s episode, we speak to certified passive house builder and MVH Constructions founder Mark van Haandel who talks us through everything you need to know about this voluntary building standard — which uses 90 per cent less energy than a typical h...
Sep 19, 2024•40 min•Ep. 79
Saul Griffith is a visionary engineer, scientist, author, and inventor with a plan to fight climate change. The Rewiring Australia founder says the key to urgently reducing Australia’s emissions is by turning everything electric — from our homes to our cars, and entire suburbs — and embracing renewable energy. We speak to Saul in this episode about how Australia could successfully get off fossil fuels and save the average household money. Read the article featuring the highlights from this episo...
Sep 05, 2024•35 min•Ep. 78
Voice actor Sarah Aubrey is a bit of an accidental expert in sustainability, who started posting educational videos on Instagram after being astonished by how much she saved when she got off the gas and turned her draughty old home all-electric. Now with more than 68k followers, she's on a mission to educate others to do the same! In this episode, Sarah shares how much she spent retrofitting her house, how she's already earning back the investment, and why she's so passionate about electric vehi...
Aug 22, 2024•45 min•Ep. 77
Tamara DiMattina is passionate about promoting low-waste, sustainable living. So much so, that she actually hasn’t bought anything new for more than 20 years — aside from food and the occasional personal hygiene essentials. Instead, she’s been shopping for her clothing, shoes, furniture, and (literally) everything else, second hand! In this episode, Tamara shares how she founded the annual Buy Nothing New Month, The New Joneses, and her journey to change people's attitudes about excessive consum...
Aug 08, 2024•48 min•Ep. 76
Interior designer and TV presenter Sibella Court is an expert at creating spaces that feel like they have a storied past, and her Bundeena family home is the perfect example. It took a five-year renovation to bring the interiors to life (designed around the character of an imagined sailor!), using salvaged materials and vintage treasures that fill the house with character! Hear how the project evolved into her own 'experimental design lab', along with her tips and tricks for creating eclectic in...
Jul 25, 2024•50 min•Ep. 75
Landscape architects Joel Barker and Hannah Pannell are the husband-and-wife team behind See Design Studio who built their beautiful Perth family home on the smallest possible footprint — in order to save most of their block for the garden of their dreams. The resulting house is just 110-square-metres, and it's one of the most energy-efficient properties we’ve ever featured! Hear why building small goes hand in hand with sustainability and affordability, and how they achieved an incredible NatHE...
Jul 11, 2024•40 min•Ep. 74
Courtney Adamo has renovated houses before, but nothing compared to the process of designing and building her family’s beach home. She shares the highs and lows of the design and build process — plus what she'd do differently if building a house again. See images of the home and read the interview highlights here. Follow Courtney at @ courtneyadamo Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Koala . Head to Koala to check out ...
Jun 27, 2024•57 min•Ep. 73
We’re back with a new renovating episode! Lucy Feagins sits down with Georgia Frances King and Mete Erdogan who are currently renovating a 1970s brick veneer home in Melbourne’s north. Despite having no renovating experience, they’ve been able to revive the home mostly through DIY updates and some advice from the original owner’s family! Georgia and Mete share what renovations they’ve done so far, what they’ve learned from YouTube tutorials alone, and how much it’s all cost. See images of the ho...
Jun 13, 2024•58 min•Ep. 72
In our final episode for 2023, we speak with lawyers-turned-renovators Julie and Vincent Fodera who are restoring one of Melbourne's oldest mansions, a historic homestead in Caulfield known as Heatherbrae . The private property dates back to 1854 and is bit of a local landmark, which the couple have been the proud custodians of since buying it last year. Hear how they're lovingly updating the property, why their renovation journey has gained them 16k Instagram followers, and the importance of pr...
Nov 16, 2023•57 min•Ep. 71
Melbourne interior designer Ruby Shields and her carpenter husband Patrick join us to talk about the five-year renovation of their first home in Mount Evelyn! The couple bought the house in 2018 (that had been left half-renovated by the previous owner) and have been working on it ever since. They share how this journey inspired Ruby’s to land her dream job at design studio WOWOWA, the struggles of renovating while working full time, and how they styled it with a mix of second-hand and designer f...
Nov 02, 2023•58 min•Ep. 70
When furniture makers Al and Imogen Roberts found themselves priced out of Torquay’s real estate market, they decided to buy a block of land and build their sustainable dream home. Al is a former carpenter and Imo is a designer with a background in digital marketing, and it’s taken them almost three years to create their timber-lined family home from the ground up! They reveal the challenges of this ambitious project, the hidden costs that come with new builds, and why they decided to start from...
Oct 19, 2023•53 min•Ep. 69
We're back with more renovating stories, and today's episode is all about how TDF Talks host Lucy Feagins and her husband Gordy Johnson transformed their family's Blairgowrie beach shack! Using Lucy's project management skills and Gordy's expertise as a cabinet maker, the couple took a hands-on approach to updating their circa-1970s property, which they ended up refurbishing inside and out. They speak to producer Christina Karras about the biggest costs, challenges, and how they navigated workin...
Oct 05, 2023•40 min•Ep. 68
In the final episode of our sustainability series, Momentum Energy’s managing director Lisa Chiba helps us understand how Australia will make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables! As the managing director of one of Australia’s ‘greenest’ energy retailers, Lisa breaks down some of the challenges facing our energy sector and shares how we can help make a difference — in addition to saving some money on your power bill. You can read the full story on this episode here , and visit Momentum...
Sep 21, 2023•35 min•Ep. 67
Could Melbourne become a self-sufficient city powered by its own energy by 2030? Environmental engineering consultancy Finding Infinity ’s ambitious project 'A New Normal' is hoping to turn this vision into a reality, and the organisation's Will Young joins us in this episode to share how! Will explains the innovative architectural and building projects that are already underway, how much it will cost, and how these 'pilot' projects could be applied across the city to electrify our buildings, re...
Sep 07, 2023•45 min•Ep. 66
Been wondering how you can save money on your energy bills? In this episode of our sustainability series, chemical engineer turned energy advisor Tim Forcey tells us everything we need to know about improving the efficiency of the average Australian home! Tim is the founder of the popular Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) that’s about to welcome its 100,000th member, and he reveals his practical tips for reducing your energy consumption for the benefit of your wallet, health, and ...
Aug 24, 2023•54 min•Ep. 65
We kick off our new mini-series on sustainability with this episode featuring Jeremy McLeod, founder of Breathe Architecture and one of the driving forces behind Nightingale Housing! He joins Lucy to speak about Australia's housing crisis and how sustainability and affordability can coexist, with the help of thoughtful design. Hear his expert tips for getting into the property market, the importance of designing houses for people instead of profit, and so much more. Take a look at one the amazin...
Aug 10, 2023•52 min•Ep. 64
In the final episode of our four-part renovating series, serial renovators and The Block favourites Josh and Jenna Densten talk about the incredible transformation of their 1800s heritage homestead in regional Victoria! They reveal the challenges of restoring a run-down property (which they found on Facebook Marketplace!), how their family has found living in a shed during the renovation, and the hidden costs they uncovered in the process. After almost two years it's finally coming together, and...
Jul 27, 2023•53 min•Ep. 63
Today we chat with Leigh Ellwood, an interior designer behind some of the most special homes we've ever featured on TDF. Having completed 10 personal renovation projects in the last 24 years, safe to say she knows a thing or two about renovating! But what we really love about Leigh is her magic creative touch that turns each property into a warm, perfectly styled home, with lived-in interiors. Leigh shares some words of wisdom on how she finds the right tradespeople, the right properties, and he...
Jul 13, 2023•47 min•Ep. 62
In this episode of our renovating series, we chat with Sydney-based interior designer Jono Fleming to hear about how he recently transformed a 1980s suburban home using budget-friendly hacks at every turn! With a decade-long career in magazines, styling and design, Jono shares how Bunnings engaged him to renovate every room of the dated house, working with ONLY products from the hardware store, and how you can elevate these off-the-shelf pieces with some creative solutions. The completed home is...
Jun 29, 2023•42 min•Ep. 61
Welcome back to The Design Files’s podcast TDF Talks, and our new 4-part series on renovating! We kick things off with a chat between our founder and host Lucy Feagins and art director, Annie Portelli — who’s taken on a massive DIY home renovation in the last two years. Annie shares how she and her husband Simon ‘accidentally’ fell into renovating their Melbourne home themselves, the budget mishaps, and what she would do differently if she had her time over again… They’ve finally moved into the ...
Jun 15, 2023•40 min•Ep. 60
See more about Ngarrimili here: https://www.ngarrimili.org.au/ . See more about Strong Brother Strong Sister here: https://www.strongbrotherstrongsister.com/ . Read our 'Family' story with Cormach, Coco, Waari and Winnie here: https://thedesignfiles.net/2020/08/family-cormache-evans-coco-eke/ This episode was brought to you by Nelson Alexander Real Estate. See more about them here: https://www.nelsonalexander.com.au/...
Nov 26, 2021•53 min•Ep. 59
Read more about Sarah Ellison studio and shop the collections here .
Nov 12, 2021•43 min•Ep. 58
Visit the BuildHer Collective website here . Book a free 20-minute consult here . Read our 2018 profile on Rebeka and Kribashini (when BuildHer Collective was just in her infancy!) here . This episode of TDF Talks is brought to you by Fujifilm instax, whose new Link WIDE instant printer allows you to print photos directly from your smartphone. Find out more here ....
Oct 29, 2021•36 min•Ep. 57
Find out more about YSG Studio here: https://ysg.studio/ See Yasmine's excellent Bondi apartment here: https://thedesignfiles.net/2021/09/homes-yasmine-ghoniem-bondi/
Oct 15, 2021•44 min•Ep. 56
Kelly Thompson has done it all - from fashion photography and artist management to commercial illustration and keynote event speaking, she’s been running her one-woman small business for pretty much her entire creative career. But in the last year, Kelly has settled into a part of the industry that really feels like home. Her online store of handcrafted treasures, Makers' Mrkt, has grown from a small but productive online store to a fully fledged marketplace in the last twelve months . Setting u...
Oct 01, 2021•45 min•Ep. 55
Louise Olsen is a true icon of the Australian design industry. Not only is she the daughter of legendary artist John Olsen, but she is also the co-founder of Dinosaur Designs and a formidable artist in her own right. In this conversation with host Lucy Feagins, Louise talks about her creative upbringing with two painter parents, the humble beginnings of Dinosaur Designs, and the ways she’s seen the industry shift in the last few decades.
Sep 17, 2021•36 min•Ep. 54
Lauren Li's approach to accessible interior design makes her trend guides and interiors pieces some of the most popular stories on The Design Files, so if you hang out for her monthly column you'll love this in-depth conversation between Lauren and host, Lucy Feagins! Before she was the founder of Sisällä Interior Design studio, Lauren worked in big commercial interior design firms locally and overseas, acquiring the skills and knowledge (and some deft software skills!) that formed the foundatio...
Sep 03, 2021•35 min•Ep. 53
