Episodes
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We’ve been big fans of Sydney-based brand ELLISON STUDIOS. since it launched in 2017.Now, it has a cult following after dominating the internet with retro-inspired designs like a coffee-coloured velvet sofa created in collaboration with Pantone, and the viral Huggy Armchair.
In this episode, ELLISON STUDIOS. CEO and co-founder Leigh McKeown shares the origin story behind the brand, and how they found international success without ever opening a retail store.
Read the article featuring the highlights from this interview over at The Design Files here, and shop ELLISON STUDIOS. full collection online here.
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Building a successful brand is no mean feat, but lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Alyce Tran knows a thing or two.
After co-founding the wildly popular accessories brand The Daily Edited, she’s since gone on to work for influencer marketing platform LTK and you’ve probably heard of her side hustle, In The Roundhouse — the tableware brand known for its playful plates, cutlery and tablescaping accessories.
In this episode, Alyce shares how In The Roundhouse began in 2018, how her products spark joy in people's everyday lives, and he her best business advice for budding entrepreneurs!
Read the article featuring the highlights from this interview over at The Design Files here, and shop In The Roundhouse's online store here. You can follow Alyce on Instagram at @alyce_tran.
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Episodes manquant?
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Since launching in 2019, Baina has taken the humble towel from a utilitarian textile to a must-have design product with a cult following, including A-list celebrities like Cindy Crawford and Dakota Fanning.
Even if you don’t know Baina by name, we bet you’ve spotted their checkerboard towels at your local beach, or in some of your favourite bathroom inspo photos.
In this episode, founders and childhood best friends Bailey Meredith and Anna Fahey share how they used their backgrounds in the fashion industry to elevate the everyday ritual of bathing in their bestselling designs!
Read the article on this interview over at The Design Files here, and visit Baina's website to shop their collections.
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Have you ever lived in a house that just wouldn’t stay warm, or a place that felt like a perpetual sauna in summer? Passive Houses are all about solving these problems before the home is even built, and using as little energy as possible to do so.
In today’s episode, we speak to certified passive house builder and MVH Constructions founder Mark van Haandel who talks us through everything you need to know about this voluntary building standard — which uses 90 per cent less energy than a typical home!
Read the article featuring the highlights from this episode here, and find out more about MVH Constructions here, and explore the resources on the Passivhaus Association here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Momentum Energy.
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Saul Griffith is a visionary engineer, scientist, author, and inventor with a plan to fight climate change. The Rewiring Australia founder says the key to urgently reducing Australia’s emissions is by turning everything electric — from our homes to our cars, and entire suburbs — and embracing renewable energy.
We speak to Saul in this episode about how Australia could successfully get off fossil fuels and save the average household money.
Read the article featuring the highlights from this episode here, and follow Saul's personal Instagram here. Plus, find out more about his project Electrify 2515 here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Momentum Energy.
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Voice actor Sarah Aubrey is a bit of an accidental expert in sustainability, who started posting educational videos on Instagram after being astonished by how much she saved when she got off the gas and turned her draughty old home all-electric. Now with more than 68k followers, she's on a mission to educate others to do the same!
In this episode, Sarah shares how much she spent retrofitting her house, how she's already earning back the investment, and why she's so passionate about electric vehicles.
Read the article featuring the highlights from this episode here, and follow Sarah at @electrify_this.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Momentum Energy.
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Tamara DiMattina is passionate about promoting low-waste, sustainable living. So much so, that she actually hasn’t bought anything new for more than 20 years — aside from food and the occasional personal hygiene essentials. Instead, she’s been shopping for her clothing, shoes, furniture, and (literally) everything else, second hand!
In this episode, Tamara shares how she founded the annual Buy Nothing New Month, The New Joneses, and her journey to change people's attitudes about excessive consumerism.
Learn more about Tamara's work in the full story on The Design Files here, and head to The New Jones website to watch their free episodes on sustainability.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Momentum Energy.
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Interior designer and TV presenter Sibella Court is an expert at creating spaces that feel like they have a storied past, and her Bundeena family home is the perfect example. It took a five-year renovation to bring the interiors to life (designed around the character of an imagined sailor!), using salvaged materials and vintage treasures that fill the house with character!
Hear how the project evolved into her own 'experimental design lab', along with her tips and tricks for creating eclectic interiors. See photos of this unique abode in the full story on The Design Files here, and follow Sibella for more on Instagram here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Koala. Head to Koala to check out their full range of Australian-designed furniture at down-to-earth prices.
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Landscape architects Joel Barker and Hannah Pannell are the husband-and-wife team behind See Design Studio who built their beautiful Perth family home on the smallest possible footprint — in order to save most of their block for the garden of their dreams. The resulting house is just 110-square-metres, and it's one of the most energy-efficient properties we’ve ever featured!
Hear why building small goes hand in hand with sustainability and affordability, and how they achieved an incredible NatHERS rating of 9.3 out of 10. See images of the home and highlights from the interview here. Follow Joel and Hannah's landscape design practice here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don't miss a thing.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Koala. Head to Koala to check out their full range of Australian-designed furniture at down-to-earth prices!
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Courtney Adamo has renovated houses before, but nothing compared to the process of designing and building her family’s beach home. She shares the highs and lows of the design and build process — plus what she'd do differently if building a house again.
See images of the home and read the interview highlights here.Follow Courtney at @courtneyadamo
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Koala. Head to Koala to check out their full range of Australian-designed furniture at down-to-earth prices!
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We’re back with a new renovating episode! Lucy Feagins sits down with Georgia Frances King and Mete Erdogan who are currently renovating a 1970s brick veneer home in Melbourne’s north. Despite having no renovating experience, they’ve been able to revive the home mostly through DIY updates and some advice from the original owner’s family!
Georgia and Mete share what renovations they’ve done so far, what they’ve learned from YouTube tutorials alone, and how much it’s all cost. See images of the home and read the interview highlights here. Follow their renovation journey at @shagmanor.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
This episode of TDF talks is brought to you by Koala. Head to Koala to check out their full range of Australian-designed furniture at down-to-earth prices!
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In our final episode for 2023, we speak with lawyers-turned-renovators Julie and Vincent Fodera who are restoring one of Melbourne's oldest mansions, a historic homestead in Caulfield known as Heatherbrae. The private property dates back to 1854 and is bit of a local landmark, which the couple have been the proud custodians of since buying it last year.
Hear how they're lovingly updating the property, why their renovation journey has gained them 16k Instagram followers, and the importance of preserving magical heritage builds like this one.
Take a look inside the remarkable abode here, and follow them at @heatherbrae1854 to see their progress!
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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Melbourne interior designer Ruby Shields and her carpenter husband Patrick join us to talk about the five-year renovation of their first home in Mount Evelyn!
The couple bought the house in 2018 (that had been left half-renovated by the previous owner) and have been working on it ever since. They share how this journey inspired Ruby’s to land her dream job at design studio WOWOWA, the struggles of renovating while working full time, and how they styled it with a mix of second-hand and designer furniture.
Take a look inside their wonderful creative house and here, and follow Ruby on Instagram @rubyshields_designs.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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When furniture makers Al and Imogen Roberts found themselves priced out of Torquay’s real estate market, they decided to buy a block of land and build their sustainable dream home.
Al is a former carpenter and Imo is a designer with a background in digital marketing, and it’s taken them almost three years to create their timber-lined family home from the ground up! They reveal the challenges of this ambitious project, the hidden costs that come with new builds, and why they decided to start from scratch rather than renovate.
See their (almost) finished home in the full story here, and follow them on Instagram at @al_and_imo or @the_good_day_house for more updates.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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We're back with more renovating stories, and today's episode is all about how TDF Talks host Lucy Feagins and her husband Gordy Johnson transformed their family's Blairgowrie beach shack!
Using Lucy's project management skills and Gordy's expertise as a cabinet maker, the couple took a hands-on approach to updating their circa-1970s property, which they ended up refurbishing inside and out. They speak to producer Christina Karras about the biggest costs, challenges, and how they navigated working together as a married couple to create their idyllic coastal retreat.
See the before and after photos of their charming blue beach house in this article here! You can also book a stay to visit their holiday home here, and follow Lucy on Instagram at @lucy.feagins.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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In the final episode of our sustainability series, Momentum Energy’s managing director Lisa Chiba helps us understand how Australia will make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables!
As the managing director of one of Australia’s ‘greenest’ energy retailers, Lisa breaks down some of the challenges facing our energy sector and shares how we can help make a difference — in addition to saving some money on your power bill.
You can read the full story on this episode here, and visit Momentum Energy's website here to learn more.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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Could Melbourne become a self-sufficient city powered by its own energy by 2030? Environmental engineering consultancy Finding Infinity’s ambitious project 'A New Normal' is hoping to turn this vision into a reality, and the organisation's Will Young joins us in this episode to share how!
Will explains the innovative architectural and building projects that are already underway, how much it will cost, and how these 'pilot' projects could be applied across the city to electrify our buildings, reuse water, and transition to renewable energy.
You can find a written recap of this episode on our website here and you can find out more about A New Normal here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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Been wondering how you can save money on your energy bills? In this episode of our sustainability series, chemical engineer turned energy advisor Tim Forcey tells us everything we need to know about improving the efficiency of the average Australian home!
Tim is the founder of the popular Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) that’s about to welcome its 100,000th member, and he reveals his practical tips for reducing your energy consumption for the benefit of your wallet, health, and the environment.
You can find a written recap of this episode on our website here and you can find out more about Tim's services here.
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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We kick off our new mini-series on sustainability with this episode featuring Jeremy McLeod, founder of Breathe Architecture and one of the driving forces behind Nightingale Housing! He joins Lucy to speak about Australia's housing crisis and how sustainability and affordability can coexist, with the help of thoughtful design.
Hear his expert tips for getting into the property market, the importance of designing houses for people instead of profit, and so much more.
Take a look at one the amazing Nightingale apartments here, and in our recap of this episode here. You can also find out more Goodbye Gas, who Jeremy recommends for electrifying your home here!
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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In the final episode of our four-part renovating series, serial renovators and The Block favourites Josh and Jenna Densten talk about the incredible transformation of their 1800s heritage homestead in regional Victoria! They reveal the challenges of restoring a run-down property (which they found on Facebook Marketplace!), how their family has found living in a shed during the renovation, and the hidden costs they uncovered in the process.
After almost two years it's finally coming together, and you can take a look inside their finished rooms of their charming country home in this article here!
Keep up with Josh and Jenna on Instagram at @joshandjenna, and find more on their business Plan Proofing here!
Follow us at @thedesignfiles and subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Thank you so much for listening!
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