Special Nonexistent Furniture
17 June 2013

Introducing . . . the Prop Shoppers



T&W's Head of Styling Jessica Bellef introduces a new occasional series on the thrill of the chase.

A container full of dinosaurs. Tarnished silver forks wrapped with twine. An orange retro TV. On any given day, the T&W prop desk overflows with an assortment of, dare we say it, "random" objects. Though our mission is to provide styling inspiration on things you can actually buy, the images we create depend on our ability to hunt and track down those elusive little finishing touches that are a little bit harder to find. Otherwise known as props.

We like to look at props as the windows into your homes. They're those little unique pieces personal to you, and only you. The holiday find you managed to haggle from an exotic marketplace. The heirloom handed down by your late great-grandmother. The hand-made invention put together by your kids one rainy crafternoon.

Like the stories throughout your home, we use props to create the stories behind our shoots, and for a stylist prop selection is everything. Too dowdy a prop and you'll devalue the beauty of the product. To ostentatious a prop and your hero piece will be overshadowed by the attention seeker at the edge of frame. Prop sourcing is both an art and a science, and for myself and T&W stylist Adam Powell, it's become more of an obsessive sport.

Our peepers are constantly peeled for interesting bits and bobs that capture our attention and imagination. Inspiration can come strolling past vintage shop windows, wandering weekend markets, gazing at our friends' bookshelves, or even spotting roadside treasures. "Will this old Bakelite phone work in next week's furniture shoot?" "Will this cute desk fan work for tomorrow's office shot?" "Oh my God, look at this porcelain unicorn... WE MUST HAVE HIM!"

With this in mind, we thought we'd take you on our journey as we track down treasured tchotchkes, and share our fevered love of the game. We'll give you a pictorial report of our travels and divulge the inside goss on where we like to go to get our prop on. On with the hunt...



Jess: I am pretty obsessed with pop culture and this coffee pot screams 'Twin Peaks', David Lynch's eerie TV series from the early 1990's. Plus, the pot has a pretty smart copper collar - copper is totes on trend at the moment. 



Jess: Cane clothes hangers. This op shop moment had to be captured. Some people stroll through museums to pass time and glimpse all that has been. I would rather fossick in an op shop or vintage store to lose myself and connect with the past. 



Jess: Sometimes the most suitable prop is something we have hand crafted. For a recent Urban Rituelle candle shoot, I froze frangipani flowers in my love heart shaped ice trays. It was a total experiment but it worked perfectly for the shoot and now I am keen to try it on a larger scale... the learning never stops.  



Jess: This recent shoot for Retrojan was a propping success. Timber hand and glassware from Mitchell Road Antique & Design Centre, babooshka dolls from Oxfam and a striking flower arrangement from florist/stylist Justine Rose, whose lovely studio is a stone's throw from the T&W studio. The hint of timber and the pops of yellow bought warmth to Retrojan's industrial range.

Follow the hunt on Instagram - Jess is @jessicabellef and Adam is @theboyfromthebush.

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