Inside Out August 2020

You can’t change everything, but I believe you can always change something that will make a situation better. And that is basically what Inside Out is about – making things better. Which is squarely in the territory of the gorgeous home-renovation projects we feature in this issue. Fixes can be small, like the joy of creating a fire pit in your backyard (page 128), or bigger, like finally getting the outdoor deck you’ve always wanted to serve that fabulous big, rowdy Christmas lunch on (page 122). Look, even hanging new shelves (page 20) and adding layers of personality to your kitchen with books and objects can bring a huge amount of satisfaction. All the little things do count. One story that’s making me feel especially positive this month is our profile…

boy from oz It’s official: Coco Republic has gone global. When its co-owner and creative director Anthony Spon-Smith was invited by cult US store Restoration Hardware (now known as RH) to design three outdoor furniture collections, Capri, Remy and Portofino, the luxury pieces in natural materials and organic shapes perfectly captured his easy brand of minimalist Australian style for the American market. But fear not, dear reader, there are plenty of great new outdoor pieces at Coco Republic for locals, too. cocorepublic.com.au…

ARTIST TO WATCH NICK OLSEN Brisbane-based painter Nick Olsen believes ordinary things are just as important to document as extraordinary ones, which explains his softly lit paintings of familiar-feeling streets and buildings. “Australians in the suburbs express themselves by how they present their homes, and I have always marvelled at the variety of these expressions. From country towns to suburbs outer and inner, I feel the energy of different eras by observing living spaces.” You can see more of Nick’s work at: MICHAELREIDSTUDIODIRECT.COM.AU BABY BONUS SWADDLE KITS These hand-dyed linen sheets and baby swaddles are ethical and beautiful because, for every swaddle blanket purchased, Wildflower & Oak donates one birth kit to Midwives For Haiti. Swaddles start from $38. WILDFLOWERANDOAK.COM MUST-HAVE AVIATOR SUNGLASSES These are the undisputed king (or queen!) of sunglasses. Both utililtarian and chic, the luxurious and lightweight…

“I love linen’s natural qualities – it’s light and breathable in summer and cosy and warm in winter”PIP VASSETT Why do you think slipping into fresh sheets is such a universally popular thing? It’s like jumping into a cloud – what’s not to love? Slipping into a freshly laundered and made bed makes me feel like a grown-up with my act together. That’s nice, too. How did In Bed begin? When the spark for In Bed was born in 2012, there really wasn’t anything like it in homewares, something that spoke to me the way a great fashion brand does. Homeware brands were either very high-end and slightly stuffy or mass-produced and overly trend-driven. I wanted to create a brand that represented my tastes: classic, utilitarian, simple and beautiful. Basically, thoughtful essentials…

You can’t change everything, but I believe you can always change something that will make a situation better. And that is basically what Inside Out is about – making things better. Which is squarely in the territory of the gorgeous home-renovation projects we feature in this issue. Fixes can be small, like the joy of creating a fire pit in your backyard (page 128), or bigger, like finally getting the outdoor deck you’ve always wanted to serve that fabulous big, rowdy Christmas lunch on (page 122). Look, even hanging new shelves (page 20) and adding layers of personality to your kitchen with books and objects can bring a huge amount of satisfaction. All the little things do count. One story that’s making me feel especially positive this month is our…

I first saw Professor Veena Sahajwalla at an industry event, where she spoke about the future and forever changed my views on waste. In her role as director of the Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre at UNSW, she leads a team in taking everyday waste and turning it into amazing new products for areas ranging from construction to interiors. Here, she explains her innovative work. What are you doing at SMaRT Centre? We are pioneering new ways to manage waste and recycling to not only deliver environmental benefits, but reform that material so it can be reused again. We invented what we called Green Steel technology, which uses old rubber tyres and converts them into an essential steel-making ingredient, saving them from landfill and offering an alternative to coal.…