Interior Designer Demi Barnes reveals what goes into creating the perfect custom piece and celebrates the power of creative collaboration.
It’s a part of our job, as designers, to know exactly what’s missing when we walk into a space; to imagine the perfect piece that will complete a room.
Sometimes these pieces can be sourced, but more often than not, the piece that will fill a space in perfect proportion or introduce a specific colour, texture or pattern to a room, exists only in our designer’s mind! We are constantly dreaming up the right solution for every inch of our clients’ homes and spaces. That is the true essence of design – to create, fashion, execute or construct something perfectly tailored to our clients’ needs.
We collaborate with artisans the world over to design and manufacture these custom pieces. Here, we warmly invite you inside our Lang Road project to discover the bespoke pieces that each tell a unique story and perfectly finish the spaces.
Custom rugs in collaboration with Robyn Cosgrove
A meeting of minds ignites creativity and this is never truer than when we get the pleasure of working with rug connoisseur Robyn Cosgrove, who brings a wealth (read: 40 years!) of industry knowledge to the equation.
The library at Lang Road, photographed by Brigid Arnott.
Robyn has a fantastic eye for colour and knows exactly how the right rug can completely transform a room. We wanted to bring some of that magic to the library space at Lang Road, where glazing on either side of the room was calling out for an injection of softness and warmth underfoot.
The home boasts some magnificent original details, and here in the library, the door is set with illustrated stained glass, featuring a hand-painted scene of camels and boats in turquoise hues. Original gems like these are always worth celebrating, so taking cues from the glass palette, we dreamt up a custom rug with Robyn to perfectly compliment the space.
The spatial planning directed the appropriate shape and size. With the sitting area at one end and the spiral stairs down to the study at the other, we wanted to unify the space and create an area to pause and curl up with a cup of tea (or glass of wine!).
We took Robyn’s ‘Snowdrift’ design and scaled it down to be even more delicate and whimsical. We selected a rectangular rug for the sitting area and overlaid the ‘Snowdrift’ design in shimmering gold silk on a bed of deep turquoise blended wool and silk.
The original stained-glass panelling, featuring a hand-painted illustration.
Robyn’s candy store-like colour pom samples!
To further enhance the circular architectural forms in the staircase area, and to encourage flow around the space, we opted for a round rug and twirled the same shimmering gold ‘Snowdrift’ design around the edge of the rug.
Production samples and the finished round rug for the staircase area.
My favourite part of the process is visiting Robyn’s showroom and looking through the pom boxes to select colours. Small tufts of pure silk in every colour of the rainbow, all perfectly arranged, like a candy store for interior designers! If the right shade isn’t already coded and labelled, then it is custom dyed.
Robyn then draws up ‘visualisations’ and arranges some small production samples to be handmade to ensure the colours are absolutely perfect. We then present the production samples to our clients for their final approval before the dream becomes a handmade reality in Nepal.
Custom bed in collaboration with Daniel Cester of Bober Furniture
Furniture making by hand is a dying art; there are very few traditional craftsmen around who still have a true passion for the trade. When our studio first met Daniel, it was clear the passion was well and truly alive. I knew he was the right ‘man for the job’ to tackle a very particular idea I had in mind for Lang Road.
The master bedroom at Lang Road, photographed by Brigid Arnott.
During our Concept Design presentation for Lang Road, our clients absolutely fell in love with a particular inspiration image that featured a 4-poster antique bed. Our clients’ Californian king-size mattress posed something of a challenge and I knew this was the opportunity to create something very special, to design our own ‘future antique’ in a way, a piece that could semlessly join our client’s already impressive antique collection and be appreciated for generations to come.
I imagined the original home (circa early 1900s) would have featured a 4-poster bed; the grand scale of the room demands it! With this in mind, I drew up some initial rough hand sketches, before bouncing ideas around with Daniel.
We played with the detailing, the inset linen panels, and the proportion of the hand-turned posts until we landed on a design that would be structural and practical as well as beautiful.
We explored different timbers and stain samples to achieve the look we were after. Daniel made up a sample post so we could see the scale of the engravings – it was near impossible to appreciate the intricate wood turning that Daniel would produce by looking only at a flat 2D drawing.
Once we approved the sample and shop drawings Daniel and his team got to work, he also sent a video of the work in action, all done by hand here in Sydney!
Custom re-upholstery
Our Lang Road clients also had a rather tired but much-beloved sofa, affectionately named the ‘Country Road’ sofa. Almost every client has one of these, a piece they have been holding onto for years, because they can’t bear to say goodbye to the happy memories created in it, even though it has seen better days.
The TV room at Lang Road, photographed by Brigid Arnott.
Usually, these pieces have (almost) withstood the unwavering force of young children, furry four-legged friends, red wine blunders or chocolate indulgences gone awry. Fear not, these pieces can be saved through the power of re-upholstery!
For the Country Road sofa, we endeavoured to honour the original upholstery rather than replicate it. We found the most decadent forest green crushed velvet, so cosy and inviting whilst also super chic. We also ordered new inserts for the seat cushions, to make it look and feel brand new.
The process of re-upholstery is quite straightforward, providing designers with instant gratification. It’s simply a matter of selecting a fabric to compliment or even inspire a whole new scheme.