Continental Eclectic

by Dylan Farrell Design in collaboration with members of Thomas Hamel and Associates

Dylan Farrell’s team foraged the globe to curate a whimsical collection of masterpieces while working with specialised artisans to create the perfect canvas for display. An unexpected and shameless blending of styles and sensibilities defines this large scale renovation along with overtly Australian colours and textures borrowed from NSW landscapes. The clients at the time were a family of four who had lived in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. As they extended their bases to include Sydney, they wanted to bring with them a sense of global eclecticism and a focus on contemporary classicism. The challenge was to refract this opulence through the prism of Australian history and culture. We, therefore, played with deconstructed glamour, casually and confidently piecing together finds from all over the world and styling them into a narrative that is intentionally hard to pin down, as would be akin to a remote import culture.

Architectural elements and finishes were procured and shipped from global resources visited on sourcing trips, and they were then seamlessly woven into the structural gut renovation of the 1970’s structure. No surface was left untouched. The decor was then curated in the same fashion, combining museum-level acquisitions with contemporary artisan masterpieces and casual reclaimed finds. The colourwork, tones and textures are overtly “Aussie” — sage greens, weathered whited, sandy timbers and saturated-to-washed pinks nod to the Australian landscape, seaside weatherboard, sandstone rock formations, and painted sunsets, respectively. The sum of the parts is unexpectedly welcoming, and though it is steeped in neoclassical reference and prescribed grandeur, it feels uniquely fresh and comfortably playful.