Design Anatomy

Embracing Maximalism: Evie Kemp on Colourful Home Design and Personal Style

• Bree Banfield and Lauren Li • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Ever wondered how colour can transform your living space into a vibrant reflection of your personality? Discover the secrets with the incredibly talented Evie Kemp, as she shares her journey from childhood inspirations to embracing maximalism in home design. Evie’s new book MUCH, is a radiant celebration of colour and bold choices, guiding you to break free from the confines of minimalism. Together, we explore how colour can evoke joy and how personal experiences shape our design preferences, creating homes that truly resonate with who we are.

Join us for a lively conversation about the emotional power of colour and the courage to step away from neutral tones. Evie reveals how even a simple change, like painting a room yellow, can bring unexpected happiness. We question the longevity of white interiors and champion the idea of choosing colours that make you feel good. This episode is filled with humour, personal anecdotes, and invaluable insights that encourage you to experiment with your space and find what truly sparks joy.

From creative mishaps to secondhand shopping adventures, Evie’s passion for interior design shines through as she discusses the evolving nature of home decor. Learn about transforming spaces to suit different life stages and the connection between personal fashion and interior style. With insights into building confidence in your own unique style, this episode is a treasure trove of inspiration for anyone looking to craft a home that tells their own story. Tune in and let Evie inspire you to embrace maximalism and create your own colourful sanctuary.

Be inspired by gorgeous colours on Evie's Socials:

Insta @eviekemp
Evie Kemp's New Book, Much available here & at all great bookshops
https://www.eviekemp.com


Want the low-down on the good stuff? Sign up for the launch of Design Edit by Bree Banfield - curated pre-selected decor collections, workshops, design tours and trends. Learn more: BREE BANFIELD

Need an expert to guide you on how to create your DREAM home? Join the Style Studies Essentials course, learn more: STYLE STUDIES ESSENTIALS

Hey designers, let's get you working on amazing projects, increase your fees and straighten out your process. Lauren Li helps interior designers at all stages of their career inside THE DESIGN SOCIETY

YouTube launching very soon subscribe for the visual experience DESIGN ANATOMY PODCAST

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers. Me, lauren Li.

Speaker 2:

And me, Bree Banfield, with some amazing guests along the way.

Speaker 1:

We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style.

Speaker 2:

With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled and lived-in spaces. We're excited to share our insights and inspiration with you.

Speaker 1:

In this engaging conversation, brie and I chat with Evie Kemp about her journey as a multifaceted creative, her new book on maximalism and the importance of colour and personal expression in interior design. Evie has such a vibrant personality and she is so fun to talk to, isn't she, brie?

Speaker 2:

Yes, she is absolutely fabulous. We explore that shift from minimalism to maximalism and the impact of our childhood experiences on design preferences and the confidence needed to embrace one's unique style. Evie shares insights on the function of spaces, learning from design mistakes and the transformative power of colour in creating joyful environments. She also delves into her mental health strategies and the significance of setting boundaries in life and work, and I love that she was so open and sharing about that too. It's so important.

Speaker 1:

It really is.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate her a lot and we just have some really good laughs too, always, and while we're here, just a quick reminder to have a look in the show notes for links to our other work. I've got a link there to sign up for our newsletter so you can be across upcoming design courses and trendy information. So jump in and sign up for that.

Speaker 1:

So cool Bree, so cool Bree. And whilst I've got you, just before we start, this year in the Design Society, we are having a mastermind group for emerging designers and one for more established designers. So if you wanted to share and just learn things with a really small group of like-minded designers, it's going to be fantastic. So we're working on Instagram things as well. So, again, have a look in the show notes. Enough about that, let's dive in, shall we Brie? Let's do it.

Speaker 2:

So hi, evie, I know Evie. I can't even think how long ago it would have been that we met, but Evie does a lot of work with Dulux in New Zealand and I've been very fortunate to be able to go over to New Zealand and that's when I met Evie and obviously we had some similarities in terms of the fact that we really love colour and pattern and all of that sort of thing, so we connected quite easily.

Speaker 3:

Well, you were my design. That's for the colour forecast.

Speaker 1:

So that was like.

Speaker 3:

I was going to say say, was that the first time we met? Fangirl moment for me, I was so excited to meet you. And then you were wearing um, the fabric I designed for micah, who are a new zealand clothing label who sadly closed now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I wanted to. I wanted to wear something that um was a new ze Zealand brand for that, so it was for the launch of the dulex forecast over there and, yeah, and it was your design as well, and then you were wearing the same design in it.

Speaker 3:

I think, yes, that's right of course I'm pretty shameless.

Speaker 1:

I'm kind of always wearing it as you should as you should.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I love all of them. I actually really love that brand. I need to. I've got. I did end up buying, so that one I loaned. I did end up buying a couple of pieces that, um, kind of you know, stay in the in the wardrobe, because they're just those pieces that you kind of keep forever, like they're really classic sort of cuts as well, like they're not sort of things that go out of date.

Speaker 3:

No, they're quite unique kind of cuts, aren't they? So I'm kind of hoping I'll keep mine forever, but we'll see how well they last when I thrash them. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that's how I know, Evie. And when Lauren and I were talking about some topics for the podcast and maximalism came up, I went wow, there's only one person I would want to talk about that.

Speaker 3:

What an honour. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

And Lauren's really just met you before Just by Instagram, yeah just yeah, all of your cool videos and reels and beautiful imagery, it's like so immersive. And I have just been flipping through your book and I absolutely love it and the words. I love what you're saying, so I'm really excited for this chat.

Speaker 3:

Oh well, thank you. It's so much fun to be here I'm very excited about the whole Design Anatomy podcast and just getting more in my ears yeah, sorry, hang on a minute.

Speaker 2:

Um, I've got one child jumping in and interrupting me. Just sorry, two seconds, miller. I don't know what that was.

Speaker 3:

Now I'm getting that life. That's real life.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, I just need to go close my jaw. Absolutely, we'll have to edit that out. True sex. You're right to see me trying to get out of my Do you have kids, Lauren?

Speaker 1:

I do.

Speaker 3:

It's school holidays here.

Speaker 1:

So they're yeah, 11, 10 and 2. Oh, cute.

Speaker 3:

No, I just have pets. I have dogs and cats. They don't have school holidays.

Speaker 1:

Cute. I could hear some birds chirping in the background. Is that just nature? It's just nature. It's not my birds, no, it's just New Zealand.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm actually. I'm at my studio, in my studio space, and it's quite nice. There's lots of trees outside, so, yeah, there's a bit of bird twittering, but hopefully.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, isn't it, it's a lovely sunny day here.

Speaker 3:

It really feels like spring, so hopefully it sticks around.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Sorry about that so yeah, I have loved being immersed in your Instagram world, so I guess I'm kind of curious, like what do you do, like, what do you get up to?

Speaker 3:

That's a very good question and one I always find really hard to answer. I pretty much go with that. I'm a multi-faceted creative, so everything I do comes back to color and pattern, and so obviously that ties in a lot with home and interiors. But I do textile design, graphic design, I do a lot of DIY and craft kind of content. So I do a lot of content creation. That's a big part of my kind of paid work and yeah, and then I do other work for brands, kind of in the sort of textile design or, um, as a dulex ambassador, uh, so it it kind of covers everything. But everything I do comes back to that color, that pattern, maximalism, um, and expressing yourself through those things and now you know.

Speaker 3:

I know.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for the prompt there because I did forget that and I guess it's worth telling us about the book and how that's come about and all of that stuff that you've been up to creating a book this year has been pretty much taken up with creating my book Much.

Speaker 3:

It's called Much, a Maximus Guide to a Creative Home, and it's being. It's officially out on the 17th of October and it's so soon. And I've actually just got all my pre-ordered copies have just turned up today. How exciting.

Speaker 1:

That cover looks so exciting that is just going to pop on the shelves, isn't it? It's gorgeous.

Speaker 3:

I love that.

Speaker 1:

It's beautiful, that red metallic font. Yeah, it's just going to pop on the shelves, isn't it?

Speaker 3:

it's gorgeous, I love that beautiful that red metallic font and yeah, it's very extra going with the foil font, but it felt, you know, it just had to kind of, why not just like everything? Lean into it much, yeah, so.

Speaker 1:

I think, much the whole idea behind.

Speaker 3:

Much is kind of my whole philosophy of that you've got a design for you and that, no matter how or where you live, you can express yourself through your home and bring confidence and joy to your life through those things. So that's really what much is all about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that about?

Speaker 3:

yeah, so it's the story of my home and my journey in interiors, but I really want to inspire people to do it their own way. So, yeah, it's really exciting to have it out in the world nearly, yes, so close? Yeah, it'll be out possibly when this is out. So yeah, I love how you've got um.

Speaker 1:

there is a bit of an encouragement for people to do it yourself, do it themselves, and there are great tips on how to mix color and pattern. And I was just having a flip through it and it said maximalists are born, not made. Can you just talk on that?

Speaker 3:

I thought that was really interesting, that all of us as kids we're kind of drawn to things. You know, it's collecting rocks, it's having a favorite color and being really outspoken and passionate about it. And I think if you're always drawn to kind of the magic and objects and the meaning objects, then then there'll always be something that holds, you know, importance for you and can be a source of energy for you. So I think that's what I mean by that. Yeah, I love that so much, very clever.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and if you think about you know, as a child, you know, when you're sitting at your little craft table or whatever, at child care or at home, you've got a whole rainbow of crayons and you're grabbing the colors that just you know. There's no thought behind it, it's just whatever you're grabbing it, the the colors available. They're not shades of gray and black and white. So what happens there?

Speaker 3:

there, some of it's mummies are probably trying Replace the grey and white.

Speaker 1:

That's right, it's a neutral palette.

Speaker 3:

The beige brigade Aesthetic mums, I think they're called.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Aesthetic mums yeah.

Speaker 1:

But it feels like a whole movement about it, doesn't it? At least in Western culture, it is somehow that love of colour. To be an adult, you feel like you have to put that aside. What happens there? Like who said, and I think that you know there's such a gap in the market, at least in books, for your book, because it just embraces that colour and it is something that we feel is kind of can be instinctive, can't it? But we feel like there are these rules somehow, that to be an adult and I think you put it in your book.

Speaker 1:

It's well. We need to buy the white flat pack entertainment unit and the gray sofa. That's what it looks like to be an adult. I thought that was really funny, but it actually is quite true.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think there's an idea with everything that we do isn't there Like, oh, but I'm a grown up, so therefore this is a choice I'm going to make about what haircut I get and what clothes I wear and what things I buy for the house, and then I think, with decorating, it's seen as such a big investment. All people must see it as an unchangeable thing that they think I've got to buy a couch. What will, what will I still feel okay about in 10 years?

Speaker 2:

it might be this gray couch yeah, it kind of brings up all um, I think it's a fear thing. So when you're younger, you're a bit fearless, right, and so you and also your confidence comes from being a bit fearless. And then, as you get older, you get scared about things. So there might not be, you know, really scared things that could literally be. This is an investment. I have to spend this much money on it. It needs to be.

Speaker 3:

I need to like it for this long so it becomes sort of fear-based decisions, rather than if we've got something we've spent a few thousand dollars on and someone comes around our house and says, oh, oh, you know, expresses that they don't love it, that then it impacts how we feel about that thing, and then we think, well, I'm stuck with it now, so let's just play it safe, and it's. It's the marmite theory of you know, nobody loves it, then nobody hates it.

Speaker 2:

Instead, for those of, for those listening that don't know oh, yeah, sorry, like vegemite it's Vegemite. It's kind of the NZ slash UK Vegemite. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's more of a.

Speaker 3:

UK saying to say like it's good to be Marmite and that's kind of to be divisive, so it's better to be sort of strongly loved or hated, rather than to always be sort of in the middle and nobody has strong feelings about you either way. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1:

I'm on the pro-mite thing, oh yeah, I like pro-mite, so I'm just marching to the beat of my own drum, I love it. It's so much better than Vegemite. What's?

Speaker 3:

pro-mite made from though Controversial.

Speaker 1:

I know, I know I'm going to get cancelled for that. What's Pro-Mite made from you?

Speaker 3:

might. I mean honestly, they all kind of taste the same to me Same stuff. It's salty with a bit of butter. Same but different it's so much better, but yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm marching to the beat of my own drum on that one and I think that's you know I love the point.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, I love. I love what you say, what you're saying, because you know when you're thinking about being an adult and you know making those big investment choices on the sofa that you're literally going to sit on every single day. I understand why so many people choose grey, but how does that make you feel? It just makes you feel depressed. Well, maybe that's a bit it would make me feel depressed too. It makes me feel nothing.

Speaker 3:

Versus coming home to like a yellow couch and being like. I love this. Oh my gosh, Every time I see it, I love it, and you know, and you probably won't tire of it like you think you will. I think we kind of fed that idea. It'll be interesting to hear your thoughts on that. Brie, with trend forecasting that it's people sort of got it in their head that they're going to go off things like that. But if you truly love something, you'll kind of adapt it with the trends.

Speaker 2:

That's what I think too. I mean, obviously our tastes still change, but I think choosing something that you are really, I guess, attracted to, that you love, that gives you a good feeling, like no matter what that good feeling is, is always going to be better than choosing something that sort of ticks a box, that, yeah, that you feel nothing about. Because even the feeling nothing about something to me is sort of a little bit negative in a way, like that's not, it's not positive to feel nothing. Surely, I don't think it is.

Speaker 2:

I think the trend thing is, like you know, we always talk about how your trends exist, whether we want them to or not, or whether you believe in them or not, whether they're a real thing, um, or whether you follow them. But what I always say when I talk about, um, why I love working on trends, is I want to inspire people just to think outside of the box and actually find the stuff that they love, that they hadn't realized they love sometimes until they see it. Or that particular combination, or that example of you know I thought I loved, you know, green. Wow, now I've seen that green room, I realize how much I love it and it looks amazing and I think I could do that. So it's kind of about like giving more confidence to people to do what makes them happy.

Speaker 3:

I love that, I love that. I love that so much. And that just made me think of there was one year in the colour forecast and, in New Zealand at least, used a colour called Manaya I'm not sure what the Australian equivalent would be and it was a really kind of golden yellow and I painted the wall. Was it a dining room?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, that's actually one of my favourite shots actually, yes, yeah. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Did it have a red dining chair?

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we will put that up on the YouTube.

Speaker 3:

If you're watching on YouTube, you'll see it.

Speaker 1:

But that is in my brain too. That's funny, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's one of my favorites over the years, and I'd always been really not a yellow person until that point.

Speaker 3:

And I used that color in my own. It was in my kind of lounge at the time, and then living with yellow changed me. I just realized every time I walked into that room and how the sun kind of bounced off it and the glow I just realized it was genuinely making me happier.

Speaker 3:

And if it hadn't kind of come up in in that colorful class, I probably just would never have tried it based on just a swatch. I kind of had to sort of be a bit persuaded and, like you say, it's kind of discovering what you actually love and from then I've kind of never looked back on yellow. Yellow is definitely like right up there on my top colors to live with. I love that.

Speaker 2:

That's such a great story, because that's exactly what I want to happen. Exactly that. To show people, yeah, they don't have to be frightened of even just trying it out. Like you could have done it and gone. I loved it for a little while but I'm over it now. Whatever it is, but that transformative feeling of um I mean you know we're talking about paint specifically, but adding color to a space so that it then, when you walk in it actually gives you some kind of energy. Whatever that energy is hopefully positive is like.

Speaker 3:

It's like it changes the way you live because you feel happier but you just generally feel happier and sometimes you've just got to try it out and I've definitely had colours where I'm like oh, this isn't quite giving me what. I wanted, but you know it's only paint. So yeah, exactly, I think people totally overestimate paint.

Speaker 1:

It's not actually that in terms of, you know, compared to a sofa, compared to a rug, you know it's a couple of hundred dollars on a weekend, so that's sort of underestimating it a bit, but it is so transformative and I think it's so interesting, in this kind of theme of you know trends and expressing yourself, that a lot of people I've heard say that they don't follow trends, they just leave everything white. And the way I see it, white is its own trend, the biggest trend?

Speaker 1:

I believe it was right, it sort of still is. But yeah, and your yellow iconic room, even though it was part of a trend forecast, is quite uncommon. It's not really a wide trend to paint a room yellow. Yeah, actually it's an interesting way to put it, isn't it yeah?

Speaker 2:

Do you think that still so? I find why, and I guess so, if we talk about minimalism as the opposite to maximalism. For a second, and how popular it has been to have really homogenized interiors that were predominantly white. I mean, the white kitchen dominated and hopefully is starting to change a lot more now, but do you think that's shifting or do we think that white is just always going to rule? Like what do you think I?

Speaker 3:

think it. I think it's shifting. I think the white kitchen thing's really interesting. I've just been helping a friend with a renovation and she really wanted a sage green kitchen and it's really interesting actually seeing how many otherwise white houses actually do have these kind of the timbers and the sage green and it's kind of creeping in and it's just not looking stark anymore, which I love. I think it's when it's sterile and cold I just can't stand it. But I'm I'm still quite a fan of the, the soft, you know, a bit of soft beige and beautiful stone. I can definitely get behind that.

Speaker 3:

If it's, if there's kind of some personality behind it, then I enjoy it yes yeah, but I I was, um I said this to lauren before about how, um I feel like new zealand's further behind on things like that than australia.

Speaker 1:

We just don't they tend to be a little more conservative.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like I think so, and I think possibly just the options we have available to us over here more limited um yeah, you know it really is a case of um. You know you can have it. You can have any color so long as it's gray in almost every in almost everything I'm finding colorful things is really a bit more of a challenge, whereas I I don't know, it's always the grass, always green yeah, I was on instagram going oh, I wish we could going.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I wish we could get that over here. I wish we could get that over here. So maybe you don't think it's quite as true, but that's how it seems to me anyway. Yeah, that smaller market.

Speaker 2:

I guess Australia does have that happening to an extent as well. Particularly, I guess, I'm always keen to support local, and that's always tricky if it's in a let's not say mass produced, but they're trying to obviously sell something and make some money, then it makes it trickier because it's a smaller market, to have a bigger range of colors and finishes, doesn't it, which is always disappointing for us over here and for you yeah, I just want all the colors at least I mean.

Speaker 2:

And then, yes, why aren't there more color options? We need them all, which is why paint is so good.

Speaker 3:

I guess that's true, paint is the one thing we can do all the cut. That might be why I'm so obsessive about it. I can get the paint, but it does make it trickier, I guess.

Speaker 2:

To be sorry, lauren, um, I was just gonna say it just makes it trickier to be more individual and um I guess, curate your interior.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it does make for yourself, but the challenge can be good also because it kind of makes you, makes you be more creative.

Speaker 1:

Think outside the box, if you, if you want to, um, yeah, um, I liked what you were saying evie um in the book and we sort of just touched on minimalism a little bit there, and I think that people that enjoy minimalism they sort of striving for that timeless look and they are wanting something that is not trendy, they don't want trends, they don't like trends. But then when sometimes I look at some minimalist spaces and it is a little bit harder to express yourself and I don't know. I'm so curious to know what people think, because sometimes you see minimalist spaces and it's almost you see these iconic pieces of furniture. You know, and we all enjoy the iconic pieces, there's no doubt about it. But sometimes it can be a little bit predictable and I feel like and in your book you talk about, you know, these maximalist spaces. There's just more opportunities to express yourself, yeah. So how do you? Yeah, how do you sort of unpack that in your book?

Speaker 3:

I don't think there's a problem with minimalism per se, apart from when it's the limitations that come with minimalism. So then, therefore, you might see a painting by an artist, but it wouldn't work because of the colours or because it doesn't it fit, and then everything becomes does it fit? And then nothing in that space is then expressing your, your likes, your dislikes, your interests. Who lives there?

Speaker 1:

your history, the history of the house yeah, and I think it's just that it gets so restricted.

Speaker 3:

If you then want to label yourself as a minimalist, because I think you can enjoy all those things and still think I don't want many things in my space, I'm not one of those people. I want lots of things in my space, or I just can't stop myself. But I think it's when you're pairing it back to such an extent that then it's just you're, you're kind of just, you've just put yourself in a box. Um, literally, it's kind of in a white box yeah, um box, and then you see, it's funny.

Speaker 3:

I sometimes see things when people are selling a piece of furniture online like a marketplace or whatever and they're selling like a bookshelf and it's styled. It's styled so beautifully but it has absolutely zero personality.

Speaker 3:

When you start looking at it you think, oh, this could be, this could be straight out of a showroom um, and there's not even a book on here that this person has read or wants to read, and there's nothing here that is more than two years old and you kind of think then what are you getting from these things? Like it makes for maybe a nice little instagram post where people think you've got great taste, um, and I think maybe that's a lot of what we think we want to aspire to. But then the rest of the time when you're at home on your own watching TV or you've got friends over, is it giving you anything back? And I suppose that's probably what I think about it, but I might be wrong. Obviously, I'm not a minimalist, so I can't speak to us. The joy they get from the space?

Speaker 1:

Well, I think there's different ways to do minimalism and I believe that it and you know you just mentioned marketplace it's bringing in something old and something that has some meaning to you. You know, it's not about having an empty space, it's about having the right things in the space. But you know, if I see that Tom Ford book on another coffee table, like I don't even know if there's any words in that book.

Speaker 2:

That was a book. I had pictures in my mind. Has anybody?

Speaker 1:

ever opened it? No, never, I don't know Never.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you're totally right, I'm picturing, and I'm picturing the exact same shape of like of a sort of handmade-y candelabra type thing in a sort of organicky shape and a sort of rustic finish and a you know everything. You'd see, you've seen it before and you'll see it again, and but if you could just bring in even just some something of interest in, that can change the whole thing. You put one little painting propped up on the back and it's interesting, um, and I think it's funny, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

how people think, like when you said before, um, it may have sort of zero character, but it's beautifully styled, and someone's thinking, oh, because they're going to post that and be appreciated for that, I still think that actually those things get lost, they don't really get appreciated, because I think what people actually appreciate, whether they know it or not, is that individual touch or a person's point of view that they're sort of, I guess, showing or expressing in an interior, and those are the things that people actually are more attracted to than the more homogenous kind of, you know, catalogue looking or yeah, everything was bought from the same showroom but styled beautifully I agree and I think that comes.

Speaker 3:

So I think people kind of get when people are sort of trying to emulate a look and they sort of go for, like the bones of, okay, so the white walls and the this, this bookshelf, this chair, this iconic chair, this iconic rug, um, but what they don't really get from what they were probably loving in the original image or home is, like you say, those pieces that have just brought, brought in that kind of that quirkiness and that interest, and that's what makes that difference and you can't, actually you can't just copy that, because you've got to find those bits for yourself, and maybe that's where people get a bit again comes back to fear again, so true that you feel like, well, I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know, but you know what you like, and that should kind of be enough and I wonder do you think that, um, that confidence is like almost like the key, like the basis to being able to do something that's maximalist, like how do you do that if you don't have the confidence to express yourself, like it kind of is the at the root of it?

Speaker 3:

would you say yeah, I do, but I think gain I'm still gaining confidence through discovering my own interior style and sort of through maximalism. I think the more I see myself reflected in my home and my surroundings, the more confident I am in myself as a person. And it's not that I do it intentionally. But you can't help but have little reminders of you know, if there's things that make you happy or things that remind you of where and who you came from or what makes you an interesting person, you can't help but kind of be walk a little taller with that knowledge. I think you know if you feel that you belong, that's a wonderful thing to come home to and a wonderful thing to go out into the world from as well. I think that's it.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, in your book you've got this quote. The single biggest piece of advice I can give to unleashing your style is just that yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So it's kind of just what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

You've just got to try it. If you like it, great. If you don't change it, um, but you've got, you know, these great sort of great guides here, these style basics. So we're talking about, I think, with minimalism, there are these rules and you stick quite closely within them. And I still think that, even if you enjoy maximalism, you still need to know what the rules are so that you can push the boundaries and, I guess, break the rules to a certain extent. And you've sort of really broken them down in the book and I love the way that you know it's a bit of a guide that people can go through and fill out their you know, their inspirations and things. So you know you're talking about mood boards and how to find your people. So, yeah, I love the way that somebody can pick up that book and they can take out different elements and really just learn how to unleash, which is really helpful.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, oh, I hope so. Thank you, lauren, because. I think, that's the thing is. I don't want it to the book. Yeah, covers my own journey and my own home, but what I really want people to get from it is not what I've done, but how I've done it. Um, and all the different ways.

Speaker 3:

I get inspiration and different ways I sort of think and change, and a lot of it is, yeah, just kind of like you say, just trying things out. Failing sometimes and being prepared to fail is a big thing. I think, um, and yeah you know and just know. Sometimes you just have to have a laugh about it. You know, I've done things and they've looked absolutely awful and I just, you know, and it's like, oh well, that was an experiment, everything is content oh, I need an example of that.

Speaker 2:

What's the worst thing you've done? That you sort of went oh my God, this is a disaster.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I've got a few. I'm just trying to think. One of the best ones actually would be um, I actually painted my father-in-law's house. I'd bought some paint cheap. Um, this was before I worked with dulex.

Speaker 2:

Um, I like where this is going by cheap paint and he was a bit of a minimalist.

Speaker 3:

But he wasn't living in his house at the time and I was like giving it a makeover for him. Um, and I slapped the stuff on the walls and it was actually like wood stain, it wasn't paint, oh so it was like streaky, like dried blood color, um, and it looks just. I know that was a big mistake, um, and I, but I did paint over it and it was, and it was fine. It was fine, um, but he did, he did then get professional painters in to paint the whole thing white. But I was, I was much younger then, um, but I was just. You know, try trying things out and always experimenting like wood stain on.

Speaker 1:

I love it that it wasn't. I love it that it wasn't your house as well. No, no.

Speaker 3:

That's funny. Yeah, that's a good spot to make mistakes somewhere else, maybe With myself, it would more just be things like I'm. You know I'm an avid secondhand shopper and I'm pretty much always willing to take a risk if the price is right. So you know, I've had some real doozies come through and I've had I've had multiple couches that I've bought, picked up, put them in the lounge and just immediately taken photos and sold them on straight away I, yeah, I had one, I thought I wanted to sit like an l-shaped sectional thing, and this one looked like a unique shape and I thought this was going to be cool.

Speaker 3:

It was dark like charcoal gray, um, anyway, I just didn't really think about the fact that it was weirdly. This, this sort of L part, was shaped like a giant coffin. Um, so it was. It was really weird. It was so weird and when it was in the house, you all you could see was coffin um, oh, that's so, that was immediately like no, like no, this can't even stay a day.

Speaker 3:

And I did, I did just, I bought it for quite cheap and I just sold it to someone else who maybe didn't, maybe liked that about it, I don't know. But, um, things like that, yeah, but also I'm quite good at kind of putting a few new cushions on it and making it better. So I can usually make like a hundred bucks off what I paid, and you know. So then then my losses is minimized. So that would be another tip just style it better than when you bought it and you'll be fine.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that so smart. I'm just having such a good flip through your book, so I'd love to know about you, know how you put together those spaces and how that's like an expression of you Well.

Speaker 3:

I'm a real homebody. So I live with my husband, sam, and our two dogs and two cats and I've always just home has always been my thing, and as a kid, you know, my doll's house was my favorite thing and now I just have like a giant doll's house kind of feels like.

Speaker 1:

So I've always.

Speaker 3:

I love moving rooms around and setting them up, but I'm really always super focused on how we actually use the space, rather than what perhaps you think it should be. Um, rather than what perhaps I you think it should be. So a kind of example I use in the book is that I kind of dismantled our dining room and turned it into a little tv snug.

Speaker 3:

That was during covid, I remember oh yeah, and we just, we just got so much more use out of it and really enjoyed it, and then later I dismantled the snug and I turned it into my home studio and actually now it's just going back to a dining room. So it's come full circle. But it's sort of how we're living at that time, and always being comfortable is always really important to me. That you know that you've got to have enough places to sit, they've got to be comfortable places to sit, and to prioritize the things that I love the most so that they both get used or seen. So you know, artworks, furniture, rugs, lamps I always just try and make space for those things and design around them. I suppose how I kind of do it.

Speaker 1:

And it's interesting because you know at first glance you know your book is just, it's such a visual, there's just so much good stuff to look at. But actually you're talking about the function as well, and the fact is that the way we live changes. So you know, you just threw in COVID then everyone changed the way they lived in their home.

Speaker 1:

You know we we got to sometimes think about the function as well, so that's really interesting. I'd love to know about your um like. You've got a beautiful image here of you painting. You're one of your paintings. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Speaker 3:

yes, so I studied graphic design after I dropped out of law and art history, um, so that that was a second thing. Actually. Brie Bree, I was listening to you on a podcast episode and you were talking about when you dropped out of uni or didn't finish your uni degree. Is that right, did you not?

Speaker 1:

Oh, you did oh sorry.

Speaker 3:

I'm like yeah, no, mine's pretty linear, that's all right, I just made that up then.

Speaker 2:

But I might have been talking about that. I thought I did actually think I wanted to do law at one stage, or psychiatry, but I realised that I never went into that course.

Speaker 2:

But you know when you're coming to the end of your secondary education and trying to make that definite decision, and I did law Like so we actually had legal studies at school, so I did that, um, and I loved it. But I kind of also knew that the amount of study and, um, you know, in book head, in a book, compared to, say, creative, I just knew that wasn't going to be. I knew I wouldn't end up being happy and I would have done what you did, which is probably started something and then changed it.

Speaker 1:

Did you do law as well, lauren? Yeah, I did. I did work in a law practice, but it was more. Yeah, I could say I've been a lawyer, but it was really making coffee.

Speaker 3:

Well, actually I think you've got classier than all of us, so you can get the reward there. Sorry, you were actually in the audience. On my resume when I was a lawyer, you could watch suits and completely relate totally and yeah, you're an order, you're there, definitely, pretty much I'm a lawyer um, yeah, so I'd from school, I'd gone to do law, um, and I did that for about a year and a half at university and struggled a lot.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I just wasn't really made for having my head in a book. And then I changed and studied graphic design and I majored in illustration, which was just kind of by chance, the graphic design thing. I'd always been interested in art and creative studies, but I hadn't been encouraged to do that at school, so I hadn't done art at school for a few years, so it didn't really feel like an option. When I left school and that was only kind of when I discovered what I didn't want to do that I thought let's give this a go, give this a go, um, and then during my graphic design degree, I just had a really excellent couple of illustration tutors who that's kind of what set me on that path. And, um, and, and it was kind of while I was at university, I designed my first textiles and I started making art prints and selling them and I illustrated my first children's book, so that was kind of what kind of started me down.

Speaker 3:

The creative track was that I was making these colourful animal prints that I was selling that were selling quite well through shops here in Australia as well.

Speaker 3:

You know it was a good time to be on Etsy and you know and that kind of yeah, I know it's not hard now and then also because I was then I was styling them at home and taking, you know, heavily filtered Instagram photos of them, and then that kind of is what led me into the interior side of things and it's kind of just sort of snowballed from there and I just always share what I do online and I share more of what I want to do, more of, and less of what I don't want to do, and I just kind of let that guide me and I've kind of gone through different phases of some. You know, some years it's been more sort of like events and event styling, some years more design or textile design, or some years more interiors and yeah, so it's a little mixed bag.

Speaker 2:

I love that, though I think that's that's the great thing about um being in a creative field is that usually I mean not everyone, but I find that for myself that I can kind of shift into different areas and um find something else that I love about that particular direction. I mean, I've always been sort of interiors, but you know, I've done events and all of those things, and it offers you something slightly different. So it's such a nice feel to be in when you want everything kind of not to be the same all the time.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah, Variety is so good and you just kind of, you just need to if you just kind of share this, you know it's just kind of you just need to. If you just kind of share this, you know it's just kind of your online portfolio, you can somewhat control what you get. You know the jobs that come to you. Well, that's what I find anyway.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because you're putting out there what you want, more of exactly what you said. It's a really good point actually.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, make sure you just really push the stuff you want to do more of. Yeah, completely, it just makes sense. I guess you're sort of um attracting what you're putting out there. Hmm, I feel like um one of the things that, um, like you said, you sort of ended up sort of in interiors because you were styling those shots. What was it like before that? Like you, were you always quite expressive in your interior style anyway, or did that just like really evolve from when you sort of went into that um more?

Speaker 3:

my mom has always been super creative with interiors, um, so our house never looked like anyone else's house, um, and it was always changing and it was always, um, colorful and pattern-filled. So I think I've got that in me and I would have gone through. I went through my kind of more teenage phase of kind of rejecting that and then coming back to it. Yeah being a bit like no, I don't want to do it.

Speaker 2:

Yes, we do.

Speaker 3:

But no, I've always been. I've always decorated my rooms and been a bit obsessed with that and always watched Changing Rooms my whole life.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that was hilarious that show, wasn't it Just so good In the 90s? I still like the some just as like.

Speaker 3:

What am I? If I really need cheering up, I'll watch, like the Changing Rooms kind of bloopers where they've had a disastrous reveal. There's one where a shelf falls down with this woman's collection of valuable teapots. Have you seen that it's a? I'll send it to you because it's so worth.

Speaker 1:

Everyone needs to see it. Please do. I will have to do a link for that. That's shocking, heartbreaking. Oh no, so was that the new zealand edition?

Speaker 3:

no, the changing rooms in the uk because I grew up in the uk until I was a teenager yeah yeah, so lots of terrible makeover shows over there I think the uk ones were even worse. So bad and 60 minute makeover as well, yeah thinking you could like just run in someone's house and do the whole thing in 60 minutes. I think um, I have a feeling that they put that back and Peter Andre is the presenter.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, that's so funny. We're all going to have to watch that. I need to go find out.

Speaker 2:

I haven't watched any of those shows for a really long time it's worth it.

Speaker 3:

Well, I watch it's been off my radar.

Speaker 1:

I watch Antiques Roadshow. That's like my Sunday afternoon. It's like so comforting and it's so daggy. I love Antiques Roadshow.

Speaker 3:

We always watch it with my family and we play the game. Do you play the game where you like? All try and guess what the value will be. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then you can tell someone's bought something random in and they're hoping it's like worth, you know, 50,000 pounds or something but it's like worth you know 50 000 pounds or something, but it's worth, and their face is just pounds and they're like oh well, I still love it, yeah, but I would never sell it.

Speaker 3:

I'm like you would just always tell they're terrible at that. They're like, oh, I would never sell. And you just see, they're just so gusset and they're absolutely gonna sell it yeah yeah, yeah they'll still see if they can get something else for it.

Speaker 2:

Someone else might not know that it's not worth this much.

Speaker 3:

I kind of remember how we got onto the TV show. Sorry, I led us astray, oh no, it's all right.

Speaker 1:

No, you were talking about growing up and your mum.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yes, and your teenage.

Speaker 1:

So how did you rebel as a teenager? I?

Speaker 3:

don't know that I really did. I mean it wasn't to my mum. My mum's taste was quite, or still is quite, english country and my teenage bedroom I had the walls painted magenta, with purple and black and white Dalmatian spot accents.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 3:

I know, and I have no photos of it, which is such a shame.

Speaker 2:

I know, oh, imagine, if you did.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't have, why would we have taken photos of?

Speaker 2:

it, which is such a shame, I know. Oh, imagine if you did. Yeah, I guess it wouldn't have. Why would we have taken photos about room.

Speaker 1:

I guess we weren't really.

Speaker 3:

No, I think back then right yeah exactly, exactly, yeah, so I guess I've always always just had lifted a creative home and thought to express myself through my home. And then I love always go around the markets and the art shops and things with my mum and my sisters um, so always buying weird things.

Speaker 2:

I think that plays a really big part in maximum maximalism as well. Get my um tongue around that, because I feel like you know what we were talking about before. It's how how you make a space more unique is often those things that you've just kind of found along the way or that are secondhand or vintage or even DIY, which I know you do a lot of as well. I guess if, like, you're kind of adding that extra layer of personality to a space, that's your personality, so it makes it way more unique.

Speaker 3:

Right, there's two sides to that. One is a budget side as well, if you know that you want, you want a certain look, um, and I I know I'm a grown-up now but I never quite feel like it. So I'm always I feel like I'm still that teenager looking for stuff. I'm like, oh, how can I make this work? Um, one side is the budget thing and the other thing is just the availability again, and the New Zealand market of how many. There aren't as many different things as you maybe would want, and so how do you make it your own, or um, so, yeah, I love, I love a good upcycle.

Speaker 2:

I love um reupholstering things or painting things um yeah, I'm just, I'm looking over here because I've got a couch over here.

Speaker 3:

That's just because I just got delivered today. That's my next project, so I'm like oh, you're next.

Speaker 1:

That's exciting, and will we see that happening on Instagram in?

Speaker 3:

real time. How do you do it? I'm actually terrible at just getting stuck in and not sitting up my camera, but I've got to be better at it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I like in the book, how you've got some sort of then and now you know images, and I think that sort of goes back to that ever changing. You know, the spaces evolve, the spaces change, which is, yeah, which is part of, I guess, that maximalist aesthetic where you are layering and you're taking out and you're swapping in, like I love that, it's not like a showroom, that that's how it is, it's done, it's finished. You know, I love that spaces evolve and change Beautiful.

Speaker 3:

There is a limit on how much stuff I can have in my house. My husband would totally disagree. He probably thinks I don't know that limit. But so if I find something I really love, then that that's what kind of gets me changing things around or swapping things out and then looking at things afresh.

Speaker 1:

Yeah make that work.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, it is always evolving but there's also the nice thing about your own style and thinking. Things can change and you. Nothing has to be forever unless you want it to be, and sometimes just one little thing can be what sets me off on changing everything around. Um, you know, like a, something like a cushion, love a cushion yeah, yeah, I love a cushion too. I'm a little color. I'm the same with the little side tables thing, but it's getting a bit out I'm just distracted because I'm reading your book here.

Speaker 3:

You're so good. You must be the most amazing speed reader I've ever met in my life.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I'm not literally reading it, I'm just scrolling through it. Still, I'm very impressed. And what else did I want to say? Oh, what about your inspiration? Like, do you look at other?

Speaker 3:

interior designers for inspiration, or how do you sort of, how do you evolve your look? Yeah, I love. I love being inspired by others. I love. I love nothing more than reading magazines. Reading magazines, a bit of pinterest and um, bookmarking things that. And instagram, obviously, um, just bookmarking things that really excite me or interest me, and sometimes I'm using them as like a DIY inspo. So I do some work for Bunnings and so I kind of am looking for things. You know how I can make my own version of something, and other times it's just a feeling, or a vibe and it makes me think, yeah, I'm into that, like going back to the colour forecast.

Speaker 3:

I always know every year it's going to make me, it's going to give me this kind of boost and injection of looking at things with fresh eyes. So I love being inspired by others so much and it doesn't and I'm really always inspired by really wide range of different styles as well. I don't really gravitate towards homes or people that design like I do, um, because I I find it just really inspiring to get it from all all over.

Speaker 2:

You just never know where, where it's gonna hit yeah, yeah, and you, I think that um, one of the things that um, I see from you as well, and I think I guess I feel the same. I don't know about you, lauren, but how your personal style with fashion kind of often can kind of been a thing like with your personal style and your interior being, I guess, similar, or is that something that's evolved over time?

Speaker 3:

as well. Over time, my confidence with how I dress has definitely been maybe a slower burn than with the other aspects of design. Um, but I enjoyed getting dressed up so much and I love. I love color and pattern and design and I'm excited by in all the different ways. So I that's why I can never choose something. Yeah, fashion is definitely up there with things and I love, you know, I love. I've made my. My house has this round brick turret room. That was this originally built as a study, but I got curved rails made for it and it's just. My wardrobe is so indulgent because it's it's quite massive and it's very cool.

Speaker 3:

But I just go in there and I'm just like I love this, this makes me so happy and um yeah, and that this sort of freedom and joy in self-expression is a powerful thing, and I think I just find that more and more. I just enjoy it and I love shopping.

Speaker 1:

Let's just be honest you know you actually just nailed it because it is a powerful thing our environment is so impactful to the way that we feel.

Speaker 1:

And you know, creating those environments that really make you feel good, make you feel joyful, make you feel relaxed, make you feel calm or whatever it is that you're needing at that point in time, you know it is worth taking the time and the effort to figure it out for yourself. And, yeah, I think that's it is. We do underestimate it, but you know I think that's it is. We do underestimate it, but you know, I think it comes back to your yellow room and how a lick of paint can just be so transformative and you walk in and you just you do have that great feeling. It is uplifting. So I think that's a really yeah. And I think you know the guides in book. They are really empowering for people to learn how they can do it in their way. There's some guides there how to mix pattern. You know you've got that great diagram with the sofas and again, if you're watching on YouTube, these will come up.

Speaker 3:

Hopefully, if you don't mind, we can show.

Speaker 1:

We can show yeah, just a great, great diagram mix these cushions together, or you can mix those cushions together. You know here, here's how you can mix different patterns and fabrics, and you know it's just opening up a world of possibilities for people so that they can create that little corner in their home as well.

Speaker 3:

I, that's really really beautiful and actually important. It's that thing about taking up space. Yeah, and about taking up space, and if there's anywhere that you feel you should take up space, surely it's in your own home and you know, maybe that's the start of then how?

Speaker 3:

you go out into the world and and you take that, take those good vibes, and you take that, you that you know yourself and you trust yourself. I think trusting yourself actually might be the big thing. I love that, oh, definitely, I think that comes back to that confidence thing right, Totally the trust.

Speaker 1:

So good Evie.

Speaker 2:

I feel like that's a good place for us to wrap our chat, because I feel like we've covered so much, thank you. What about our questions? We'll jump onto that in a second. So if you're if you're listening on on the podcast, you'll need to jump over to YouTube for the bonus content. But I thought I'd just finish with like we'll tell us, you know you, you've got the book coming out. Do you think you'll write another book like what's next for?

Speaker 3:

you I I feel like this book is really the culmination of, kind of the last 10 years of my life and my work. So I don't I feel like this is a big, big deal for me right now and I'm really excited to have it out in the world and like give it that space. For me personally, I've recently which is why I've got a white wall behind me, which I know is really off brand.

Speaker 2:

Yeah what's going on there.

Speaker 3:

I've just recently taken over a studio space where I want to be able to do kind of bigger projects and also, yeah, hire it out for cool events and have a moving wall with different colours on either side and do lots more furniture upcycling and, um, yeah, just stuff like that. So that's that's kind of my focus hopefully, if I just can, just I can just get enough time to keep, keep doing it. But yeah, yeah. So my studio, studio evie, is my, is my new thing. Yeah, that in the book that book?

Speaker 1:

That is exciting.

Speaker 2:

Amazing. Well, we're going to wrap it for the podcast now, but if you want to hear some interesting personal things from Evie, you'll need to jump over onto YouTube and catch the bonus content there.

Speaker 3:

Thanks so much, Evie.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 3:

It was so much fun.

Speaker 1:

So thank you guys for listening in and just a quick reminder if you would like some help with the interiors for your own home, I can help you in a course called the style studies essentials, or um, for designers out there.

Speaker 2:

Come into the design society for business and marketing and all of the things yeah, and in the same show you'll find a link to sign up for my soon-to-be-released furniture collections, pre-selected furniture collections and cool trend information, and then, in the future, some short courses on styling and trends as well.

Speaker 1:

So good Bree. We've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters, where we set up shop, create and call home and come to you. From this podcast today, a big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.