Blog
Updated 8 April 2021
Sonia Simpfendorfer is creative director at Melbourne design practice Nexus Designs, whose founders Janne Faulkner and Harley Anstee have recently released the third edition of Using Australian Colour, published by Hardie Grant. It's a valuable sourcebook for all lovers of colour (and those dreaming about taking a step in a colourful direction), and we asked Sonia to share some ideas about why colour is so important. Leave a comment here for your chance to win a copy - full details below.
Congratulations on the new edition of Using Australian Colour. What do you think has changed in the Australian approach to colour since the first and second editions in 2002 and 2007?
People are increasingly interested in using colour in all aspects of their lives and are particularly interested in colour palettes that are authentic and unique.
For Harley Anstee and Janne Faulkner, authors of Using Australian Colour, they have been passionate about integrating the colours of our unique landscape into our everyday life since 1984. When creating the original interiors for the Yulara tourist resort at Uluru they could only find building products including paints, tiles and fabrics that suited the English light, so they collaborated with manufacturers to produce product that worked with the Australian light and landscape.
Each colour palette relates to an element of the Australian landscape, from terracotta to ocean.
The palettes featured in the book have been drawn from interiors created by Nexus Designs. How do you work with your clients to develop a colour scheme for a project?
For us, it's all about context and the brief. Every house and client is unique, so is our response. We start with gathering information and images of the site, whether it's urban, beach or country – or even New York - as seen in the award winning Tribeca loft on the book cover. The architectural form, the interior space and light are also taken into consideration. Most importantly, we want our clients to have spaces that suit them, that just feel right and that have a great flow from the front door, all the way through to the outside living areas.
An inspiring landscape in the Flinders Ranges forms the basis of a scheme within the terracotta palette.
Your schemes are drawn from the colours of Australian landscapes, and their portrayals by Australian artists. Do you think a colour scheme must be linked to place to be successful?
From those early breakthroughs that Janne and Harley had at Yulara, that sense of place has been fundamental to our work. The Australian light is so different to that of Europe and it just feels right to embrace what makes a place unique.
An award-winning project, a NY loft with a colour scheme inspired by the purples, violets and sunlight of the Blue Mountains.
Are there any hard and fast rules you can share to help home decorators with colour?
Use colour because you love it, not because you think you should have it or because it's fashionable. It should make you feel good, not overwhelm you. Simple and timeless does not need to be dull. Sometimes it as easy as having a great warm white on the walls and then adding strength and punctuation into a space with fearless colour on furniture items and artwork.
A graphic depiction of the Eucalyptus palette (the background colour is Dulux Sedge Green).
Many of your interiors feature incredible art. Do you have any advice for those keen to begin a collection?
Janne, who was awarded an AM in 1988 for services to art and design, recommends visiting as many galleries as possible before and after starting a collection. She also encourages our clients to read everything they can lay their hands on about the history of art and leading artists worldwide, and suggests photography and lithographs as an economical starting point.
Take your time and buy good artworks that make you happy. I'd rather get the lighting right to create a great atmosphere than panic buy art just to fill a wall.
A Fred Williams landscape ('Werribee Gorge') and Milton Moon ceramic bowl add richness to a neutral interior.
Do you have a personal favourite amongst the featured colour schemes?
It's hard to go past the cover project with its adventurous purple and yellow palette inspired by the NSW Blue Mountains, but I will nominate the house on p058/059 where we took classic black, white and timber to a new level with acidic yellow in matt and gloss paint on furniture pieces. We completed this extensive renovation in 2005, and are clients haven't changed a thing. It could have been done yesterday
To win a copy of 'Using Australian Colour' by Janne Faulkner and Harley Anstee, leave a comment here on the blog before 5pm (AEST) on Tuesday 10 December 2013. You must be a member of Temple & Webster to enter, and you may only enter once. We will choose our favourite comment, and will notify the winner via their Facebook page or at the email address attached to their Temple & Webster account (if we are able to ascertain it) by Tuesday 17 December 2013. If we are unable to make contact with the winner via either of those methods within 30 days, we'll choose a replacement winner. Good luck!
Competition closed.
Using Australian Colour
Sonia Simpfendorfer is creative director at Melbourne design practice Nexus Designs, whose founders Janne Faulkner and Harley Anstee have recently released the third edition of Using Australian Colour, published by Hardie Grant. It's a valuable sourcebook for all lovers of colour (and those dreaming about taking a step in a colourful direction), and we asked Sonia to share some ideas about why colour is so important. Leave a comment here for your chance to win a copy - full details below.
Congratulations on the new edition of Using Australian Colour. What do you think has changed in the Australian approach to colour since the first and second editions in 2002 and 2007?
People are increasingly interested in using colour in all aspects of their lives and are particularly interested in colour palettes that are authentic and unique.
For Harley Anstee and Janne Faulkner, authors of Using Australian Colour, they have been passionate about integrating the colours of our unique landscape into our everyday life since 1984. When creating the original interiors for the Yulara tourist resort at Uluru they could only find building products including paints, tiles and fabrics that suited the English light, so they collaborated with manufacturers to produce product that worked with the Australian light and landscape.
Each colour palette relates to an element of the Australian landscape, from terracotta to ocean.
The palettes featured in the book have been drawn from interiors created by Nexus Designs. How do you work with your clients to develop a colour scheme for a project?
For us, it's all about context and the brief. Every house and client is unique, so is our response. We start with gathering information and images of the site, whether it's urban, beach or country – or even New York - as seen in the award winning Tribeca loft on the book cover. The architectural form, the interior space and light are also taken into consideration. Most importantly, we want our clients to have spaces that suit them, that just feel right and that have a great flow from the front door, all the way through to the outside living areas.
An inspiring landscape in the Flinders Ranges forms the basis of a scheme within the terracotta palette.
Your schemes are drawn from the colours of Australian landscapes, and their portrayals by Australian artists. Do you think a colour scheme must be linked to place to be successful?
From those early breakthroughs that Janne and Harley had at Yulara, that sense of place has been fundamental to our work. The Australian light is so different to that of Europe and it just feels right to embrace what makes a place unique.
An award-winning project, a NY loft with a colour scheme inspired by the purples, violets and sunlight of the Blue Mountains.
Are there any hard and fast rules you can share to help home decorators with colour?
Use colour because you love it, not because you think you should have it or because it's fashionable. It should make you feel good, not overwhelm you. Simple and timeless does not need to be dull. Sometimes it as easy as having a great warm white on the walls and then adding strength and punctuation into a space with fearless colour on furniture items and artwork.
A graphic depiction of the Eucalyptus palette (the background colour is Dulux Sedge Green).
Many of your interiors feature incredible art. Do you have any advice for those keen to begin a collection?
Janne, who was awarded an AM in 1988 for services to art and design, recommends visiting as many galleries as possible before and after starting a collection. She also encourages our clients to read everything they can lay their hands on about the history of art and leading artists worldwide, and suggests photography and lithographs as an economical starting point.
Take your time and buy good artworks that make you happy. I'd rather get the lighting right to create a great atmosphere than panic buy art just to fill a wall.
A Fred Williams landscape ('Werribee Gorge') and Milton Moon ceramic bowl add richness to a neutral interior.
Do you have a personal favourite amongst the featured colour schemes?
It's hard to go past the cover project with its adventurous purple and yellow palette inspired by the NSW Blue Mountains, but I will nominate the house on p058/059 where we took classic black, white and timber to a new level with acidic yellow in matt and gloss paint on furniture pieces. We completed this extensive renovation in 2005, and are clients haven't changed a thing. It could have been done yesterday
To win a copy of 'Using Australian Colour' by Janne Faulkner and Harley Anstee, leave a comment here on the blog before 5pm (AEST) on Tuesday 10 December 2013. You must be a member of Temple & Webster to enter, and you may only enter once. We will choose our favourite comment, and will notify the winner via their Facebook page or at the email address attached to their Temple & Webster account (if we are able to ascertain it) by Tuesday 17 December 2013. If we are unable to make contact with the winner via either of those methods within 30 days, we'll choose a replacement winner. Good luck!
Competition closed.
Explore More
Payment options
Head Office (No Showroom)
2/1-7 Unwins Bridge Rd, St Peters,
NSW 2044, Australia
Your customer reference #:
01-X-CSN
