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Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
Award-winning Australian architecture, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top architects.
Studio visits with Australia’s top artists, and unmissable art exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and beyond.
In depth features on Australia’s most beautiful gardens and landscape design.
Studio visits with Australia’s most talented creatives, from artists to architects, ceramicists to stylists, furniture makers to lighting designers.
Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
Award-winning Australian architecture, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top architects.
Studio visits with Australia’s top artists, and unmissable art exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and beyond.
In depth features on Australia’s most beautiful gardens and landscape design.
Studio visits with Australia’s most talented creatives, from artists to architects, ceramicists to stylists, furniture makers to lighting designers.
An INCREDIBLY long time ago I first met Melbourne artist Rowena Martinich, at a trade fair in Melbourne. I think it was 2008. What struck me was Rowena's incredible way with vivid colour - she was the neon queen long before the fluoro trend found its way into seemingly every weekend magazine feature! Since that first meeting, I've watched from afar as Rowena has built an incredible following both here and abroad for her vibrant work, as she has staged exhibitions, created large scale wall murals and public commissions, and partnered with now husband Geoffrey Carran on a range of handcrafted homewares under the name Martinich&Carran. SO it's with great excitement that we share Rowena and Geoffrey's home with you today!
Rowena and Geoffrey split their time between this colourful little apartment in East Melbourne, and a house and studio space in Jan Juc on Victoria's surf coast. This arrangement seems to suit them both perfectly - they both love the surf, and enjoy the calm, uninterrupted time spent in their beachside home and studio spaces, but equally appreciate the flexibility afforded by their sweet and very central pied-à-terre.
Surrounded by leafy trees in a large apartment complex on the edges of Melbourne's CBD, Rowena and Geoffrey's apartment is surprisingly tranquil. 'We love how we are so close to the city but its really quiet and tucked away' says Rowena. The pair appreciate the lush foliage which envelope their second floor balcony - 'Geoffrey loves watching the seasonal change in the trees' Rowena says. The apartment is also drenched in incredible natural light thanks to the northern orientation of the space.
The splashes of vibrant colour throughout this apartment will probably come as no surprise to fans of Rowena or Geoffrey's artwork. However, this space wasn't always quite so bold! 'Originally this place was cream on cream' recalls Rowena - 'cream Carpet, skirtings, doors and walls'. Keen to freshen up the space and inject some much needed colour, Rowena jumped at the opportunity to offer her apartment as a location for the Dulux 2014 colour forecast - the perfect excuse to repaint! The apartment was used for one of the Dulux photoshoots which also featured Rowena's artwork, and gave Rowena and Geoffrey the perfect opportunity to repaint the whole space.
'After the photoshoot, we decided to keep the 'Dulux Tansy' colour block in the living room, as it creates another dimension within the space' says Rowena. 'It really complements the greys in the couch and carpet, and picks up on some of the multitude of colours in my paintings'. Alongside this bold featured hue, the pair used vivid white to capitalise on the natural light, and emphasise the lofty high ceilings of the apartment.
Aside from their own artwork which seems to embellish almost every surface, Geoffrey and Rowena have also designed and made a lot of the furniture and other homewares you see here from scratch. Both the sideboard/bookcase and dining table were purpose built by Geoffrey for the space, and the home is also peppered with beautiful pieces including cushions and hand painted ceramics from the pairs' homewares collaboration, Martinich&Carran.
Huge thanks to Rowena and Geoffrey for sharing their gorgeous city apartment with us today! If you love their home, please take a moment to visit each of their websites, and learn a little more about both their solo and collaborative creative endeavours!
The Design Files acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
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Gorgeous couple !! Well done Rowena & Geoffrey !!
Love their work and them! What Amazing vision and talent these two have!
Beautiful and Inspiring. Colours are gorgeous!
Love Rowena’s work! Thank you!
Do you know where Rowena’s couch is from? Looks super comfy!!
So sunny and cheery. Love the look of the ceramics!
Love, love, love it all! Anyone know where those couch cushions are from?
I bet that couch is from Jardan?
How terrific is that colour blocked wall behind the sofa? Gorgeous!
Oh my god love their artwork! Especially Major Mitchell, stunning!!!
What a beautiful home! Love the natural looking furniture with splashes of lively colors added with the art and accessories. They must love the cockatoos!
Hi there where are the spiral stairs from?
So colourful! So vibrant!
Love this! The apartment has a beautiful feel about it and the colour pallette is superb, and actually reflects Rowena’s own.