Spoil mum with gifts she really wants this Mother's Day
Forget about toast and tea… show Mum the love with an irresistible breakfast in bed.
The Correspondent (Michael Joseph) by Virginia Evans, $35.
Barbour '09' glasses, from $299 for two pairs, from Specsavers.
Leif 'Buddha Wood' scented candle, $79.
Tissot 'Desir' watch, $650.
Country Road silk eye mask, $50.
I Love Linen 'Ruby' French flax linen shirt, $129
Mulberry 'Small Darley' bag, $1395.
Merit 'Signature Lip' lipstick in '1990″, $42.
Puebco brass serving tray, $185.
'Tillandsia' living air plant, $10.
Coucou Suzette 'Tortorsell Cat' and 'Yorkshire' hair clips, $12 each.
Bonnie and Neil 'Watercolour' coupe, $99 (set of two).
Temple of the Sun 'Pompeii' necklace, $349.
Marimekko 'Oiva / Piirto Unikko' plate, $34.
Bethany Linz semi-precious stone ring, $119, and enamel bangle, $45.
Hay 'MVS' cutlery, $109 (set of four).
Instax Mini 'LiPlay' hybrid instant camera, $249, from Harvey Norman.
Marc Jacobs 'Daisy Wild Eau So Intense' EDP 50ml, $160.
Kip & Co 'Supper Club' embroidered napkin, $85 (set of four).
Venchi 'Baroque' assorted chocolates, $90 (giftbox 360g).
Maison Balzac 'The Good Egg' incense holder, $69.
Le Labo 'Hinoki' hand pomade, $68.
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The Age
36 minutes ago
- The Age
‘Tactful disharmony': An interior designer's offbeat path to success
This story is part of the June 7 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories. Tamsin Johnson is perched on a white sofa, sipping ginger and lemongrass tea beneath a 19th-century French crystal chandelier in her Darling Point home in Sydney's east. Before her, roses nestle in a vase on a marble coffee table next to a pair of oak armchairs by Frank Lloyd Wright. Looming behind, a large religious icon, painted by the Indigenous-Australian artist Dan Boyd, is half obscured by an antique console laden with coffee-table books with titles like Equestrian Life in the Hamptons and Haute Bohemians: Greece. Every detail in the room is a quiet signifier of cultural erudition and taste. Indeed, there's so much to admire, the harbour view feels like a distraction. At 40, Johnson has become one of Australia's most sought-after interior designers. Locally, her work ranges from the Byron Bay hotel, Raes on Wategos, to the Bondi store of jewellery designer Lucy Folk, while international jobs include a Dubai members club and Frank Sinatra's former Hollywood office. In 2021, publisher Rizzoli New York released her first book, Tamsin Johnson: Spaces for Living, while a second is now in the works. 'Tamsin is a true artist,' says Nick Smart, the fragrance entrepreneur behind the Libertine Parfumerie boutiques. He enlisted her to design his Paddington flagship store, which includes parquetry flooring and antique marble basins from France. The cost of decorating the 200-square-metre space exceeded $1 million, but Smart is keen to use Johnson again. 'People emulate Tamsin's style, but they don't make it look good,' he says. 'She puts together pieces from different eras in a breathtaking way.' 'Tactful disharmony' is how Johnson describes her mix-and-match approach. 'It's about finding the balance of elements that might not have necessarily worked together – the old and the new, the pristine and the slightly messy, the weird and the super polished.' She points above her fireplace to a contemporary mirror whose jagged edges counter the curves of an antique bronze nude. Similarly, offbeat notes pepper Johnson's own look. Tall and slender in a floaty, pinstripe shirt and cream slacks, she sports a jumble of accessories, including a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso watch in burgundy, a diamond tennis bracelet, and a mishmash of rings that includes vintage sapphires and a dark-green bloodstone. Her husband, Patrick Johnson, is also a tastemaker. In 2009, the 44-year-old launched his P. Johnson tailoring brand that today also encompasses womenswear, and has expanded to 10 shops as far afield as London and New York. The couple have two children, Arthur, 8, and Bunny, 7, but parenthood hasn't curbed their panache. Damien Woolnough, fashion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, believes the pair's aspirational image – the holidays in Tuscany, the artworks, the clothes – feeds into P. Johnson's appeal. 'You so want to be them, and that lifestyle justifies the price as much as the cut and fabrics.' In one showroom, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of André the Giant. Johnson decorates her husband's showrooms to evoke a refined but playful mood of relaxed hospitality. In the Windsor location in Melbourne, for example, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of the late pro wrestler, André the Giant. 'I never wanted spaces that were all old wood and leather, like a traditional English tailoring shop,' Patrick says. 'I wanted the interiors to be an extension of our lives and the things we found beautiful. I wanted people to feel like they're coming into our home.' Johnson's eye for an art-deco sideboard also started at home. Her parents, Edward and Peta Clark, were successful antique dealers, and she grew up in Melbourne playing beneath Louis XV sofas and Venetian gilt mirrors. Her father's big break had come in 1974, when he negotiated a huge sale from the Maharajah of Mysore that included a lavish collection of royal carriages. 'I made a few bob and I've lived on that ever since, really,' Clark admits. The proceeds bought the family's former home, the converted Golden Crust bakery in Armadale, that Domain describes as one of 'Melbourne's truly great homes'. From a young age, Johnson and her sister Tess accompanied their parents on buying trips to Paris markets and Rome galleries. 'Subconsciously, I was learning, not just about furniture and antiques, but about selling as well,' Johnson reflects. She instinctively mastered the latter. When she was eight, her father recalls taking her to Camberwell market, where Johnson bought a gold bracelet for $5. 'An hour later, she resold it from my stall to a lady for $15.' Lauren Kozica, a high-school friend from Wesley College, remembers Johnson constantly hurling herself into extracurricular projects. 'Tamsin's always had the energy and stamina most people search for in a tablet.' As a teen, Johnson took sewing classes and began tie-dying petticoats and making her own clothes. By 18, she'd sold a line of beaded necklaces to Scanlan Theodore. That early win encouraged her to study fashion at RMIT; she then clinched an internship in London at Stella McCartney. After-wards, Johnson got a job with a London PR firm and during that period, she met her future husband in a pub. 'She just radiated this energy, this brightness,' Patrick says of his first impression. Raised on a 4000-hectare farm north of Adelaide, Patrick had already been in London for six years and was working for Robert Emmett, a high-end shirtmaker on Jermyn Street. Tamsin, meanwhile, was turning away from fashion. Recognising her sartorial taste would never be sufficiently edgy to stand out, she enrolled in a course at Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea: 'The minute I walked in, I was like: 'This is absolutely my field.' ' In 2009, the pair returned to Australia. While Patrick set up his tailoring business, Johnson got an interior design job at Sydney practice, Meacham Nockles McQualter. 'When Tam arrived she was well-travelled, with a broad knowledge of the history of art, design and architecture, which enabled her to develop designs with a distinctive language,' says her former boss, Don McQualter. Johnson credits her four-year stint with teaching her the fundamentals of her profession. But in 2013, she resigned to go out on her own. 'It wasn't a surprise,' says McQualter. Loading Her first job as a sole practitioner was with one of Patrick's tailoring clients, and in a business where social cachet matters, it proved to be heaven-sent. The Bondi home belonged to James Packer. Johnson turned the opportunity into a springboard. Her three-women team currently has 20 jobs on the go that range from overhauling a seven-bedroom home in Vaucluse to fitting new wardrobes in a child's bedroom. Johnson also runs a Paddington antiques shop that she opened in 2015. Each year she trawls the antique fairs in France, Italy and Spain for stock, shipping back five 12-metre-long containers laden with new (old) treasures. Sitting with her, I get the same pang of unease you get from too much Instagram, when you inadvertently compare your own reality to glimpses of the unattainable. It's not just her jet-set lifestyle. My kids are the same age as Johnson's, and we've twice had to get our sofa reupholstered due to peanut-butter stains and worse. How is her white sofa so pristine? 'We've always made sure the covers can be slipped off and cleaned,' she shrugs. What about the juggle of raising two children while running an internationally successful business? The family has help on Mondays and Tuesdays, when a nanny collects the kids from school, but Johnson admits to being pathologically efficient: 'If I've got something on my to-do list, I need to get it done. On holidays, I'll write an itinerary that Patch [Patrick] jokes is down to the minute.' As if to validate her working-mum credentials, Johnson's phone rings. It's her daughter's school: Bunny has a tummy-ache and needs collecting. Apologising, Johnson dashes out, urging me to finish my tea and try a piece of shortbread. Cut into heart shapes, even her biscuits are charmingly photogenic. Loading A week later, we chat on the phone. Johnson is driving to Melbourne Airport after seeing clients in the Otways who want an American ranch-style interior. I'm curious to know what her next chapter holds. She's already living the dream: where does she go from here? 'I've got a small, personal business and that's the way I like it,' she insists. 'I'm not trying to set up an office in London or New York. I like that we can still deliver amazing outcomes for clients that are super personal. Also, I want to raise my own kids.' She mentions how her signet ring, a gift from Patrick, is engraved with a turtle. 'I think it was to remind me to slow down.' Suddenly, I'm reminded of a recurring detail from her house. Beside the Bill Henson in the hallway, on the antique Spanish dining table, by the custom-made sofa, there were vases of mixed roses everywhere. Are they a visual cue, like that ring – a literal reminder to stop and smell the roses? 'Well, they are my favourites,' Johnson laughs. 'But maybe subconsciously, yeah.'
Sydney Morning Herald
39 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Tactful disharmony': An interior designer's offbeat path to success
This story is part of the June 7 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories. Tamsin Johnson is perched on a white sofa, sipping ginger and lemongrass tea beneath a 19th-century French crystal chandelier in her Darling Point home in Sydney's east. Before her, roses nestle in a vase on a marble coffee table next to a pair of oak armchairs by Frank Lloyd Wright. Looming behind, a large religious icon, painted by the Indigenous-Australian artist Dan Boyd, is half obscured by an antique console laden with coffee-table books with titles like Equestrian Life in the Hamptons and Haute Bohemians: Greece. Every detail in the room is a quiet signifier of cultural erudition and taste. Indeed, there's so much to admire, the harbour view feels like a distraction. At 40, Johnson has become one of Australia's most sought-after interior designers. Locally, her work ranges from the Byron Bay hotel, Raes on Wategos, to the Bondi store of jewellery designer Lucy Folk, while international jobs include a Dubai members club and Frank Sinatra's former Hollywood office. In 2021, publisher Rizzoli New York released her first book, Tamsin Johnson: Spaces for Living, while a second is now in the works. 'Tamsin is a true artist,' says Nick Smart, the fragrance entrepreneur behind the Libertine Parfumerie boutiques. He enlisted her to design his Paddington flagship store, which includes parquetry flooring and antique marble basins from France. The cost of decorating the 200-square-metre space exceeded $1 million, but Smart is keen to use Johnson again. 'People emulate Tamsin's style, but they don't make it look good,' he says. 'She puts together pieces from different eras in a breathtaking way.' 'Tactful disharmony' is how Johnson describes her mix-and-match approach. 'It's about finding the balance of elements that might not have necessarily worked together – the old and the new, the pristine and the slightly messy, the weird and the super polished.' She points above her fireplace to a contemporary mirror whose jagged edges counter the curves of an antique bronze nude. Similarly, offbeat notes pepper Johnson's own look. Tall and slender in a floaty, pinstripe shirt and cream slacks, she sports a jumble of accessories, including a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso watch in burgundy, a diamond tennis bracelet, and a mishmash of rings that includes vintage sapphires and a dark-green bloodstone. Her husband, Patrick Johnson, is also a tastemaker. In 2009, the 44-year-old launched his P. Johnson tailoring brand that today also encompasses womenswear, and has expanded to 10 shops as far afield as London and New York. The couple have two children, Arthur, 8, and Bunny, 7, but parenthood hasn't curbed their panache. Damien Woolnough, fashion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, believes the pair's aspirational image – the holidays in Tuscany, the artworks, the clothes – feeds into P. Johnson's appeal. 'You so want to be them, and that lifestyle justifies the price as much as the cut and fabrics.' In one showroom, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of André the Giant. Johnson decorates her husband's showrooms to evoke a refined but playful mood of relaxed hospitality. In the Windsor location in Melbourne, for example, an antique chandelier beams onto a portrait of the late pro wrestler, André the Giant. 'I never wanted spaces that were all old wood and leather, like a traditional English tailoring shop,' Patrick says. 'I wanted the interiors to be an extension of our lives and the things we found beautiful. I wanted people to feel like they're coming into our home.' Johnson's eye for an art-deco sideboard also started at home. Her parents, Edward and Peta Clark, were successful antique dealers, and she grew up in Melbourne playing beneath Louis XV sofas and Venetian gilt mirrors. Her father's big break had come in 1974, when he negotiated a huge sale from the Maharajah of Mysore that included a lavish collection of royal carriages. 'I made a few bob and I've lived on that ever since, really,' Clark admits. The proceeds bought the family's former home, the converted Golden Crust bakery in Armadale, that Domain describes as one of 'Melbourne's truly great homes'. From a young age, Johnson and her sister Tess accompanied their parents on buying trips to Paris markets and Rome galleries. 'Subconsciously, I was learning, not just about furniture and antiques, but about selling as well,' Johnson reflects. She instinctively mastered the latter. When she was eight, her father recalls taking her to Camberwell market, where Johnson bought a gold bracelet for $5. 'An hour later, she resold it from my stall to a lady for $15.' Lauren Kozica, a high-school friend from Wesley College, remembers Johnson constantly hurling herself into extracurricular projects. 'Tamsin's always had the energy and stamina most people search for in a tablet.' As a teen, Johnson took sewing classes and began tie-dying petticoats and making her own clothes. By 18, she'd sold a line of beaded necklaces to Scanlan Theodore. That early win encouraged her to study fashion at RMIT; she then clinched an internship in London at Stella McCartney. After-wards, Johnson got a job with a London PR firm and during that period, she met her future husband in a pub. 'She just radiated this energy, this brightness,' Patrick says of his first impression. Raised on a 4000-hectare farm north of Adelaide, Patrick had already been in London for six years and was working for Robert Emmett, a high-end shirtmaker on Jermyn Street. Tamsin, meanwhile, was turning away from fashion. Recognising her sartorial taste would never be sufficiently edgy to stand out, she enrolled in a course at Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea: 'The minute I walked in, I was like: 'This is absolutely my field.' ' In 2009, the pair returned to Australia. While Patrick set up his tailoring business, Johnson got an interior design job at Sydney practice, Meacham Nockles McQualter. 'When Tam arrived she was well-travelled, with a broad knowledge of the history of art, design and architecture, which enabled her to develop designs with a distinctive language,' says her former boss, Don McQualter. Johnson credits her four-year stint with teaching her the fundamentals of her profession. But in 2013, she resigned to go out on her own. 'It wasn't a surprise,' says McQualter. Loading Her first job as a sole practitioner was with one of Patrick's tailoring clients, and in a business where social cachet matters, it proved to be heaven-sent. The Bondi home belonged to James Packer. Johnson turned the opportunity into a springboard. Her three-women team currently has 20 jobs on the go that range from overhauling a seven-bedroom home in Vaucluse to fitting new wardrobes in a child's bedroom. Johnson also runs a Paddington antiques shop that she opened in 2015. Each year she trawls the antique fairs in France, Italy and Spain for stock, shipping back five 12-metre-long containers laden with new (old) treasures. Sitting with her, I get the same pang of unease you get from too much Instagram, when you inadvertently compare your own reality to glimpses of the unattainable. It's not just her jet-set lifestyle. My kids are the same age as Johnson's, and we've twice had to get our sofa reupholstered due to peanut-butter stains and worse. How is her white sofa so pristine? 'We've always made sure the covers can be slipped off and cleaned,' she shrugs. What about the juggle of raising two children while running an internationally successful business? The family has help on Mondays and Tuesdays, when a nanny collects the kids from school, but Johnson admits to being pathologically efficient: 'If I've got something on my to-do list, I need to get it done. On holidays, I'll write an itinerary that Patch [Patrick] jokes is down to the minute.' As if to validate her working-mum credentials, Johnson's phone rings. It's her daughter's school: Bunny has a tummy-ache and needs collecting. Apologising, Johnson dashes out, urging me to finish my tea and try a piece of shortbread. Cut into heart shapes, even her biscuits are charmingly photogenic. Loading A week later, we chat on the phone. Johnson is driving to Melbourne Airport after seeing clients in the Otways who want an American ranch-style interior. I'm curious to know what her next chapter holds. She's already living the dream: where does she go from here? 'I've got a small, personal business and that's the way I like it,' she insists. 'I'm not trying to set up an office in London or New York. I like that we can still deliver amazing outcomes for clients that are super personal. Also, I want to raise my own kids.' She mentions how her signet ring, a gift from Patrick, is engraved with a turtle. 'I think it was to remind me to slow down.' Suddenly, I'm reminded of a recurring detail from her house. Beside the Bill Henson in the hallway, on the antique Spanish dining table, by the custom-made sofa, there were vases of mixed roses everywhere. Are they a visual cue, like that ring – a literal reminder to stop and smell the roses? 'Well, they are my favourites,' Johnson laughs. 'But maybe subconsciously, yeah.'
Courier-Mail
19 hours ago
- Courier-Mail
Grand character home boasts a ‘five-star resort' glow up
An immaculately renovated art deco home is at the centre of a rare real estate opportunity to purchase two adjoining properties and create an exclusive private estate in sought after Clayfield. For sale by expression of interest, the properties comprise a stunning, three-level residence on a 1259sq m block at 88 Oriel Dr, along with the neighbouring 715sq m lot at 1 Stafford St. Currently the site of a three-bedroom post-war home, the Stafford St lot has development approval for a tennis court and eight-car basement. Owners Greg and Tamra Josephson purchased the Oriel Rd residence back in 2017 after being drawn to its position and potential. 'We were looking for a big family home and this was in very original condition,' Mr Josephson said. 'It was perched on a peak with vistas to the Gateway Bridge and mountains, and the house had character, a solid structure, and was on a big block.' MORE: Motocross mansion named Australia's hottest property Why luxury home dream could be out of reach for millions Bonza bargain: Entire Aussie camp with water park for sale Over a series of stages, the Josephsons transformed the period property into a stately six- bedroom home that rivals a five-star resort. Initially they built in beneath the residence, adding a rumpus area, guest bedroom and office. Attention then turned to cosmetic upgrades of the original house before a major renovation in 2022 that tapped into the talents of architect Ivan Gastaldon and interior design experts Highgate House. 'The brief was to give it a five-star hotel feel,' Mr Josephson said. 'And with a bit of a minor tweak they also came up with the idea of a parents retreat.' Spanning three luxurious levels, the property now boasts six bedrooms, six bathrooms, multiple formal and informal living spaces, an open plan kitchen and dining area, alfresco terraces and a pavilion. Inside, luxury finishes include parquetry French oak flooring, hand-painted wallpaper, Ralph Lauren lighting, Wyer + Craw cabinetry, and imported marble, set against immaculately restored period elements, such as coffered ceilings, and leadlight and sash windows. The interior effortlessly connects to the exterior where covered patios and elegant porches lead to manicured gardens, grassed terraces, and a magnesium pool with spa. The property has served as the Josephson's family home, offering ample space for everyone to retreat to and enjoy together. 'Our three children are all teens and each has their own big bedroom,' Mr Josephson said. 'We love the fact it's six bedroom and there's just so much space, with all these breakout areas that you can enjoy. 'My wife and I can go and sit by our fireplace in the parents retreat and the kids can head to the casual downstairs area on the ground floor.' The acquisition of the block next door was part of the Josephson's long-term vision for the property. 'We planned to integrate a driveway off Oriel Rd and create a huge garage with a tennis court above it,' Mr Josephson said. 'There was going to be a lift from the garage to a garden atrium above and from there you could walk into the house.' Alternatively, he said the new owners could retain the existing property on the Stafford St lot and enjoy rental income or utilise it for extended family. 'That next stage is for someone else to do,' Mr Josephson said. 'We're sad to sell but we're relocating to Noosa where we have a house and business interests. 'But we're proud that we went all out to create a once in a lifetime forever home, and that's what's on offer for someone now.' The property is listed with Matt Lancashire of Ray White New Farm.
