The Wombat State Forest, with its preternaturally lush and fertile soil and dense woodlands, could lay claim to the most perfect use of the phrase ‘tree change’. At its edge lies Blackwood, and in Blackwood, two creatives met, formed a friendship and designed a home. The results speak to their love of the country they call home and the warmth and tactile beauty of Japanese craftsmanship and mid-century architecture.
In a town like Blackwood, where word travels fast, the arrival of a new citizen doesn’t go unnoticed and when Caitlin Perry - of interior design firm Setsquare Studio - made the move, it wouldn’t take long for her path to cross with fellow creative Miriam McWilliam.
In a moment of fortuitousness, Caitlin would call on Studio Mimi Moon - Miriam’s graphic and branding studio - for some rebranding advice. Miriam’s first response, "funny you should mention it, we're thinking of renovating our house,” and, in that moment, a relationship was formed. “Our home wasn’t making the most of its surrounds,” remembers Miriam, “and the kitchen was really awkward. It had this clunky, weird diagonal bench that made it feel smaller,” she explains.
Designed in the 90s, the house missed its opportunity to connect to the landscape and made, if not mistakes, the classic missteps of the time, like a low ceiling with a dark and cramped layout. Caitlin’s recommendation was to rework the floorplan and remove the 90s touches. “So, we opened to the landscape, we put in skylights and while we were not able to actually change the space structurally, we have given the perception that it is a lot bigger than it is,” finishes Caitlin.
Responding to Miriam’s desire for warmth and connection, Caitlin designed a home that is an ode to her travels, her work and time overseas, but as much as it is a story of experience, it is a love letter to her new location and geography. The Blackwood home connects to its surrounds by letting Miriam and her family connect to their home via a complementary bushland palette and beautifully selected materials.
The home feels like it has always been this way, with the mid-century aesthetic going a long way to establishing a feeling of longevity and peace. The framed doors and panels of the kitchen assert a design signature immediately and in Laminex Black AbsoluteMatte - paired with the timber veneer of the opposite wall - the Japanese connections are now evident, demonstrating the unique warmth Black AbsoluteMatte can bring to
a room.
“It allows a real play between shine and different levels of light,” explains Caitlin, “there’s a vibrancy to it [AbsoluteMatte], so you can have the deepness of black without it being gloomy.”
In the laundry, entered from the kitchen through a set of noren curtains, Laminex Porcelain Blush on the benchtop works seamlessly with the Laminex Burnt Ochre of the cabinets. It’s an earthy, arts and crafts dream, like living inside a ceramic kintsugi peach, pops of gold holding all the parts together. It’s an apt metaphor and descriptor of the Blackwood home; an old space that needed repair, using gold to fill cracks and breaks, and in the process, becoming more beautiful as a result.
Like gems in a mine, the laundry and bathrooms pop with colour - and Caitlin and Miriam’s acute design sensibilities. The bathroom features handmade green, mosaic tiles from Nagoya, Japan all over. They allow Miriam’s now familiar metallic touch to shine and glow, like the basin (and tapware) in brushed brass, just as they are in the kitchen and laundry, a demonstration of the design duo’s constant play with warmth and luxe, managing to strike the balance with every decision.
Back in the kitchen the small rectangular mosaic tiles of the splashback dance and play with the light, retaining that lovely earthy association, tempered by the black and timber cabinetry, emboldened by the gold veins of the porcelain benchtops. They remind Miriam of her travels to Japan and the crafts and skills the country is famous for. Maybe, by using gold, a theme was found that’s speaks to the Blackwood’s goldrush past, but more likely, is the lovely way the home includes Miriam’s proclivity to collect shiny things and lifelong connections.
Explore Caitlin’s work for Setsquare Studio here, and learn more about Miriam’s portfolio for Studio Mimi Moon here.
Credits:
Designers: Caitlin Perry (Setsquare Studio) & Miriam McWilliam (Studio Mimi Moon)
Photographer: Martina Gemmola
Builder: Patrick Rogers of PR Carpentry
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