In early 2022, Melbourne-based developers ANGLE, interior design firm Flack Studio, architecture firm Edition Office and landscape design firm Eckersley Garden Architecture completed their award-winning multi-residential project in Melbourne’s Kew, ‘Fenwick’. Situated on a steep slope in one of the city’s most in-tact modernist precincts, with views over the Yarra River, Yarra Bend Golf Course and out to Mount Macedon, the building’s site and legacy warrant celebration.

Recently, interior stylist Simone Haag was engaged by a family to expand on not one, but two of the Fenwick homes. Being a family of seven demanded the consolidation of two homes, by adding a fresh layer of furniture, lighting, artwork, textiles and decorative objects to the interiors. For the commission, Simone drew on a number of contextual factors, including the homes’ natural surroundings, modernist origins, sophisticated owners and existing architecture, interiors and landscaping.

Spanning four levels – two above ground and two below ground – the scope of the interior refurbishment was substantial. Simone’s response was to craft a warm and refined interior, characterised by a neutral palette interspersed with surprising moments of texture and pattern, sculptural furniture pieces that bring character and originality to spaces, and artworks and objects that subtly reference nature through colour and form.

The home also supports the family as they transition into a new chapter of their lives – having just returned from living overseas, now with three teenage children living at home and two adult children moved out. The family were ready for a slower pace of life and a more sophisticated home to live in, but they wanted all the hallmarks of their family story still woven into the design. “While the furnishings are informed by the clients’ personalities and the way they would like to experience the home, they also consider future experiences of the home as the three remaining children grow and fly the nest,” Simone says.

“This was the ultimate project to furnish, combining a long-standing client relationship with a dream design team,” Simone says. “The clients were extremely trusting and decisive from the original concept meeting. Knowing their personalities and family created an understanding that meant we could have lots of fun sourcing pieces that echoed the curves of the architecture and the constant panorama of the native landscape.”