Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från Belle

EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief Tanya Buchanan Creative director Shayne Burton Managing editor Matilda Ringrose Senior copy editor Janice Hogg Chief copy editor, Homes Peter Griffiths Art production Matus Kundrat Stylist, Homes Sophie Wilson Contributing editors Steve Cordony (Style director-at-large), Karen McCartney (Architecture), Kirstie Clements (Luxe Files) Judy Pascoe (Library), Carli Philips (Melbourne), Harry Roberts (Art), Jean Wright (Design) EDITORIAL OFFICE GPO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW 1028 Tel (02) 9282 8456, email: belle@aremedia.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Georgina Egan, Tom Ferguson, David Harrison, Benjamen Judd, Stephan Julliard, Timothy Kaye, Eugenie Kelly, Alana Landsberry, Rhiannon Lidbury, Chris Pearson, Anson Smart, Kristina Soljo, Rhiannon Taylor ADVERTISING Commercial manager, Homes Michelle O’Hanlon Brand executive Claire Ellis, (02) 9282 8038 Advertising production manager Kate Orsborn, (02) 9282 8364 NSW head of sales Blake Wright Head of direct sales, VIC, SA…

The arrival of the 1980s marked a distinctive visual shift when it came to interior design that reflected the “more is more” culture of the time. Big hair met with bigger shoulder pads as ‘Opium’ and ‘Kouros’ fragrances by Yves Saint Laurent fought for olfactive supremacy in CBD offices. Loraine Brown stepped up to the plate as Belle editor and Hayes’ unflappable eye had been joined by the inimitable talent of Jean Wright as interior design editor. “The 80s was such an amazing time to be working on Belle,” says Wright, “with its outstanding covers and stories. We went from working on Belle from a little cottage in Woollahra to being taken over by ACP. My favourite was the high-tech issue [Jan/Feb 1980] looking at how home technology would change…

It would be impossible to talk about 2010 onwards without bringing up two of the biggest cultural impacts of the time: Mad Men and Instagram. The first propelled a years-long obsession with mid-century design and the latter completely wiped away any line between the realms of private and public. Suddenly, every living, dining or bedroom was a set for an influencer to strike a pose. Neale Whitaker had joined the revived series of The Block as a judge, inspiring countless new homeowners to take stock and start investing in creating a more harmonious habitation. But first, the Mad Men effect… If you doubted the suave power of Don Draper and his fellow rakes, the sudden ubiquitousness of the ‘CH24 Wishbone’ chair by Hans Wegner speaks for the whiskeyloving character’s influence.…

THE LAUNCH OF BELLE IN 1974 came at time when Australia was full of momentous events, both politically and artistically. Gough Whitlam was PM and Don Dunstan was premier of South Australia. Decriminalisation of homosexuality was on the agenda, Evonne Goolagong defeated Chris Evert at Melbourne’s Kooyong tennis club and TV music show Countdown aired for the first time. Sydney Opera House had increased the awareness around the power of architecture and interior designers like Marion Hall Best, Neville Marsh and George Freedman were busy reshaping the way Australians thought about their homes. Modern furniture and lighting, imported and locally made, was in demand via companies like William Latchford & Sons, Danish De Luxe and Michael Hirst in Melbourne, and Russell Whitechurch, Artes Studios, John Duffecy and Framac in Sydney.…

STYLIST’S ASSISTANT OLGA LEWIS…

PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES (FILM STILL), GORUNWAY (GUCCI FALL).…

ALAMY (FILM STILL), GORUNWAY (TOM FORD RTW)…

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORKSPACE? SJB managing director interior design Andrew Parr: Our new studio in Richmond is a special space. The 6m-high double-height volume and pretty colour palette makes it feel enlightening and uplifting. The Victorian ornate details and original character are punctuated with a clean, contemporary floor plan flooded with natural light. WHAT APPEALED TO YOU ABOUT THE SPACE? SJB interior design director Ljiljana Gazevic: Initially, the character and original features. Built as a department store in 1856 during the gold rush it has been home to many retail ventures. It was a little ‘Italian palazzo’ with expansive ornate ceilings and high windows spilling natural light into the open space. AP: The back end required the removal of asbestos ceilings and insertion of a staircase to the…

FIFTY YEARS AGO WHEN THE BELLE TEAM was putting together the July 1974 issue, taking it in a new direction from an enlightened women’s interest magazine to a publication with a focus on homes and interior design, all the images were shot on old-school film. The text had to be typewritten, then typeset, laid out, cut to fit, made into bromides, plated for press and printed. There was no email or fax, no mobile phone and certainly no worldwide web on which to search or check details. It was labour-intensive. Now here we are, half a century on, and we thought why not harness some incredible tech to assemble this issue? AI tech has given us the tools to experiment with the creation of an ideal Belle cover drawn from…

Where to begin when it comes to what was meant to be the roaring 2020s? We may be only halfway through the decade but it feels as if several lifetimes have been packed into the last four years. This 20s started out not with a bang but with a cough. In an unprecedented scenario, people the world over were suddenly forced to stay indoors and bake a lot of bread. And if there was one positive thing to come out of the pandemic it was that a lot more people actually began to pay close attention to what was in the home. Suddenly, the questions of “why have I got this?” or “do I even like this chair?”. Or the fateful “does this spark joy?” The pandemic not only made…

PAINTING IS A GAME OF CHANCE for Sydney artist Kathy Liu. What might begin as an exercise in loose, tonal abstraction can take a delightfully unexpected turn as amorphous pools begin to coalesce and playfully enigmatic, inchoate figures emerge through diaphanous wafts of colour. “Sometimes it feels ... more as if I’m there to help the artworks find their own storylines,” says Kathy, whose highly intuitive, open-ended approach makes the canvas a conduit for fabulous adventures through imaginative worlds. “It reflects my subconscious mind, bringing up themes and narratives from my past life that I have almost forgotten. Lost memories of childhood, my love of mythology, some distant lines of poetry, all of these are unburied and rediscovered through my work.” Redolent of hazy memories, nocturnal musings or half-remembered dreams,…

Australian fashion has made a significant contribution to the country’s design world since Belle’s inaugural issue in 1974, our designers, photographers and retailers armed with a sense of home-grown confidence and vibrancy. While the calendar seasons may have said we were behind Europe, it could be argued we looked further ahead, with a refreshing attitude that reflected our unique landscape and lifestyle. While many designers made the crossover into homewares and interiors, and others into art galleries and museums, all have created some remarkable fashion moments that have shaped our creative sensibility and etched an authentic Australian style over the past five decades. Here, a selection of just some of the notable achievements over the last 50 years in the dynamic world of Australian fashion and beauty. A UNIQUE EYE…

PHOTOGRAPHY ALAMY (FILM STILL), GORUNWAY (LOEWE RTW FALL).…

ALAMY (FILM STILL), GORUNWAY (LOUIS VUITTON RESORT)…

Wishing to stamp their personality on a new build in an inner Melbourne suburb this family engaged interior designer Brahman Perera to bring some softness and direction to the fit-out. The three-level home built by IDB Developments is terraced down a steeply sloping block of land that leads to parklands and a creek. The site presented many challenges and the project was far from straightforward. However, the upside was that the gradient of the land provided many opportunities in the house as the design had to be considered in both a horizontal and vertical sense. And thanks to the prevalence of lightwells, voids and courtyards there is an abundance of light throughout. The clients are “young, vibrant and social”, says Brahman, “and they really gave me carte blanche with the…

In 1974, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s progressive politics were shaping Australia’s cultural landscape and the sounds of Helen Reddy’s hit, Keep On Singing, poured into living rooms via the radio mere months before Countdown would revolutionise the television industry. Amid these life-changing events Belle magazine emerged to chronicle and inspire the era’s bold interior design revolution. The mid-70s were a heady mix of flamboyant decor and political upheaval, and the heart of the home was not just the kitchen but the ever-iconic bar. Helmed by former Olympic swimmer Ilsa Konrads as editor and supported by the legendary Babette Hayes (OAM) as interior design consultant, Belle burst onto the scene when Australians were beginning to take stock of their place in the world at large, starting with their homes. “It was…

If the Le Corbusier chaise was the chair of the 90s, the Kartell ‘Ghost’ chair by Philippe Starck was the It seat of the 00s. Launched in 2002, its translucent silhouette could be found everywhere from barbeques on balconies in Brisbane to plush dining rooms in Paddington, probably alongside a variation of a Bali-esque Buddha statue. The 00s were nothing if not diverse. The 2000s saw our approach to interior design in Australia shift into a harmonious blend of 90s’ minimalism, international inspiration and investment in technology. With the dawn of a new millennium homes across the country shed their cluttered pasts, embracing sleek lines and open spaces that whispered modernity and sophistication. The first issue of this decade, dedicated to colour, hinted at the power of green and its…

THE YEAR BEFORE BELLE launched was a momentous one for Australia and its relat ionship with architecture. Queen Elizabeth II opened the JØrn Utzon-designed Sydney Opera House in 1973 and in doing so gave the country a new world icon that spoke of architectural bravado and engineering prowess. “It was the first time in our lifetime that such an epic piece of architecture gained a universal presence,” said architect Frank Gehry in 2008. Its influence on the Australian architecture community was less about stylistic impact and more of an absorption of Utzon’s philosophy. As a recently qualified architect Richard Leplastrier was taken on in the early stages of the Opera House construction and was impressed by Utzon’s ability to problem solve and consistently simplify complex issues. Leplastrier’s Palm House, in…

THE ART OF THE 70s has given us an enduring visual testament to the massive social upheaval and cultural explosion surrounding its creation. It was in the headlines when Belle was born, with debate over the purchase of Blue Poles, the Biennale of Sydney in its early years and celebrity artists in the public consciousness – embodied here by Brett Whiteley [1]. Photography and other forms of radically personal expression were emblematic of the social changes experienced by Australian women and the means by which feminist artists agitated for those changes in the art world and more broadly. A radical guard with a new spirit of internationalism was now pushing art off the canvas into conceptual, ephemeral, cross-disciplinary, text-based or materially driven terrain. But the most seismic shift was homegrown…

2022 INTERIORS BEYOND THE PRIMARY PALETTE Arent&Pyke have a flair for the unexpected, demonstrating here their expertise in sophisticated projects mixing eras, colours, elements and styles to great effect. Juliette Arent, Sarah-Jane Pyke, Thames & Hudson 1997 UNWRAPPED A delicious confection of inspiration from the British designer who parlayed her fashion ethos into interior design. As esoteric and refreshing as a sorbet. Carolyn Quartermaine, Conran Octopus 1979 DAVID HICKS: LIVING WITH DESIGN Supremely influential decorator David Hicks worked his magic with colour and pattern around the world from the 50s to the 80s. David Hicks, William Morrow 2014 ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL THINGS A precursor to A Life in Pattern this volume features Spiro’s maximalist layering of colourful ornamentation and fanciful features. Anna Spiro, Lantern 1976 BILLY BALDWIN DECORATES A legendary American…

PHOTOGRAPHY ALAMY (FILM STILL), GORUNWAY (MAX MARA RESORT)…

Words CHRIS PEARSON Spotting a solitary lighted window in the yawning darkness below the Southern Cross became a life-changing moment for architect Luke Moloney in 2014. It was his first acquaintance with this grand 1880s homestead in southern New South Wales and it would prove an epiphany for him, the owners and the house itself. Over the next 10 years, it became part of his life and, he says, even prompted him to set up his own practice. “I first saw the homestead after a long drive up lonely country roads,” he recalls. “I could see nothing past the dirt road illuminated by the headlights. Then a tiny square shone in the distance, so lonely it was spine-tingling.” He drove into the courtyard of “a vast, spooky house”. As it…

When property developers and agri-tourism entrepreneurs husband-and-wife team Emma and Tom Lane first laid eyes on this 20-hectare parcel of paradise, just outside the township of Bangalow in Northern NSW, they instantly felt as if they’d been transported to the hills of Tuscany. At the time it was a biodynamic stonefruit farm with a rambling old weatherboard house. But its lush rich volcanic soil, 10 flat hectares of pasture and pockets of rainforest that lined its long Narnia-like kilometre-long driveway piqued the couple’s interest. Here was the perfect place to indulge their family’s growing obsession with all things equine. As the original farmhouse didn’t make the most of the incredible views and was riddled with termites and wood rot, it was decided to build a new homestead, plus a barn-style…