We'll start by trying to reconcile your anti-capitalist record collection with this gleaming (1) Brutalist faceted armoire, stuffed full of posh punk goodies like this (9) Alexander McQueen ensemble. If sitting on your (2) plaid armchair and pondering about the mother country has you shaking your head, hold off on the painkillers and channel the painstaking work on your (3) androgynous metallic sculpture.  Your (4) Reinaldo Sanguino mixed media crown is as glorious and conflicted as the zine collection (5) resting on your gold tone resin Brutalist coffee table.  It’s enough to make you feel sick.  Maybe it’s time to leave the (10) Tom Greene Brutalist chandelier behind and join all the authentic suburban kids rocking out in their garages.  While you’re there you might as well exploit the hardware. Knock up something like this  (6) Rinaldo Frattolillo bronze sculpture , “Two Hearts Held Together by a Good Screw” or get nailed on the (7) Dada-style chair.  Hmm.  Very conceptual.  All that’s left to do is go record hunting like Patti Smith in this (8) Danny Clinch photograph, and mosh the night away on a (11) Edward Wormley plaid sofa.

We have been very busy over here at our studio, and finally the fruits of our labour have paid off!  We're happy to announce that our design for epoc abodes' new development at 86 Cope Street, Waterloo, Sydney, is complete.

This eco-friendly medium density residential apartment building consists of 21 boutique apartments. It's designed with love and finished in all that is good for the environment.

If you're interested in fresh and light living then head over to epoc's newly launched website.

Thanks to our friends at Doug and Wolf for their fabulous renders...

Here's to you Louis.

We've had that super fresh feeling for so long..it's time for smokey bars and fast cars.  Our olfactory senses are creating hallucinations of wood and musk....

Stare into the inky depths of a (1) Stangl art deco vase, chase shadows over an (3) antique Indian Lahore rug, and sink into the abyss of a (4) 60s Italian club chair, cos you're a (2) Black Magic Woman, and you got me so blind I can't see.  Outstretch the elegant, spidery arms on your (5) Italian mid-century floor lamp while glossy teardrops stream down from a (6) Venini murano chandelier.  Disappear behind that luminous printed (7) Pedro Friedeberg folding screen and shroud yourself in the magic of your (8) French art deco perfumes.  Catch your reflection in that glossy blackberry (9) console by Boca Do Logo.  Renoir said "black is the queen of colours".  We say black is back.

It's hard to imagine Marilyn Monroe living in sparse surrounds, but the first and only home Marilyn bought for herself in 1962, following the breakup of her marriage to Arthur Miller, was a modest, personal refuge.  Though her furnishings were somewhat scattered - her phonograph remained on the floor - they were all chosen by Marilyn herself and provided great comfort to her.  It reminds us of the importance of the home to the heart.

Marilyn often showed visitors around her Brentwood home, which she described as a “fortress where I can feel safe from the world”.  A slave to love must sometimes also face solitude.  And, even now, as I pen this, I too need some solitude to reflect.....We've put together the essentials of a Monroe-worthy fortress.

Most of the photos we have of Marilyn in her Brentwood home feature her in (1) some recumbent position with a book in hand, so your first investment will have to be something solid like this (2) mid-century Swedish teak bookcase.  Litter the place with reading material.  Marilyn's personal copy of (3) Some Like It Hot, and her (6) own dog-eared books, long ago snapped up at auction, fit the bill.  The major focal point should be a generous sofa designed for comfort. This (4) classic Milo Baughman Thayer-Coggin rosewood piece will do very nicely to crawl over when the photographers visit.  Also handy to have those (5) iconic white bedsheets to cocoon yourself in.  Add some womanly touches with the simple, restrained glamour of this (7) mirrored 40s French night stand, or (8) a mid-century American club chair that's as creamy and fleshy as you are.  Finally, there's a diminutive (9) Argentine sculpted writing desk from which you can pen cheeky letters to producers, a (10) 50s brass Carl Auboeck lamp that recalls your silhouette, and a (11) vintage bottle of your favourite Chanel No. 5.

This week I visited one of my wonderful, kind and generous Italian friends, Signora Gina, at her country property. We picked fresh herbs from her garden, popped down to the organic chicken supplier and grabbed some very fresh meat. While Gina made the soup, I basted the chicken in Dijon mustard and lightly browned it.  An assortment of fresh herbs, garlic, lemon rind, and chilli were chopped and thrown together with olive oil and a cup of white wine, pitted green olives and rough chopped blanched almonds.  We piled it high upon the browned chicken and sliced potatoes and onions.  It was finished with a few good pinches of salt and pepper and baked it for just over an hour.  We sat in the garden with a glass of vino, saluting the gorgeous afternoon.

Keep your eyes peeled as I have been invited to an afternoon of cooking a whole baby lamb at Nonna Joyce's house in the outdoor forno.  I am SO excited. Shame I missed the summer passata bottling afternoon...

Eat your heart out (and look closely for Nonna Joyce's seersucker table cloth).

This morning I was back there for a site meeting and the project is really taking shape.  With the owners moving in next week we have lots to do but it all is going to plan.

Floor sanders, joiners and painters are all there.  It's all hands on deck to meet our deadline...

 A window box, drenched in luscious green..

Lautner was trained by Frank Lloyd Wright and came of age during key mid-century movements, but is being increasingly recognised for his own distinctive body of work.  His buildings have been regularly hit up by Hollywood filmmakers (Lautner homes also feature prominently in A Single Man and The Big Lebowski).  Aside from being remarkably photogenic, they seem to embody a man’s relationship - triumphs, struggles - with his environment.  

Click the screenshot below to watch Bambi and Thumper perform gymnastics in Lautner’s supremely cast Elrod House:

Acido Dorado (which means 'golden acid') is the best kind of embellishment: stunning, uncompromising, and yet utterly compatible with its surroundings.  With its endless mirrored and tinted glass surfaces, motifs dripping in gold automotive paint (roses, hearts...), and sliding doors opening up 78% of the building to the outdoors, this project was certainly a leap of faith. Boy, does it work.

I get the feeling Bambi and Thumper are going to ride out and bowl over 007.  Baby, when you’re stuck in the Californian desert, you’ve got to shimmer like a mirage.  Click below for more precious gold.

How deep is your love?  Crimson? Scarlet? Carmine? If you collect conquests like a modern-day Marquise de Merteuil your love nest is probably littered with (1) heart-shattering platinum diamond pendants.  Sometimes it's best to be selective and begin subjecting your lovers to close scrutiny before (2) a panel of mirrors.  If they’re lucky you’ll whisper those three little words: oil on canvas. (3) Balcomb Greene’s “Embrace” should inspire action, and there’s something very suggestive about sliding back the black tinted glass of your (4) Willy Rizzo coffee table bar with hidden cocktail compartment (my oh my the Italians do it well).  Hearts will race over the crushingly gorgeous blood red velvet pulled taut on this (5) brazen three-seater.  You can’t bottle that kind of heat, but the heady perfume wafting out of this (6) exquisite Art Nouveau glass perfume bottle should help keep the senses rattled.  Finish things off with these (7) vintage Versace black leather platforms, patently meant for lying around, as is this fiery (8) Filikli rug.  It’s called a shag for a reason.