Reinstating Purpose– Hecker Residence by Paul Hecker

Immersive and brooding, Hecker Residence sees the instilling of lost craft through its owner’s impassioned dedication to continuing narratives. The latest of his own private retreats, Paul Hecker reimagines the remains of an Edwardian beauty, bringing his inimitable muted appreciation for interior layering together with collected treasures.

A designer’s own home is a very personal expression – for those fortunate enough to take a peek, it is the revealing of self, musings and curiosities. One half of Melbourne-based studio Hecker Guthrie, Paul Hecker shares his own home; the results speak plentifully to the lengthened and measured journey it has taken to come into fruition. Nestled amongst other established family homes in St Kilda, the existing heritage structure had been acquired many years prior with the intent to recalibrate its charm when the time was right. Crafted over multiple years, coupled with a carefully curated process, each room tells its own story, emboldened by a rich saturation of meaning and technique. In its own intriguing and wonderful way, everything has its place.

Crafted over multiple years, coupled with a carefully curated process, each room tells its own story, emboldened by a rich saturation of meaning and technique.

Unfolding as a journey from the entryway, the Edwardian-era home is restored in its entirety, with its many parts given a matched due care as originally imagined. Replacing the floors with a light-coloured iteration lightens and lifts the otherwise dark series of spaces and allows the orchestration of saturated colour to become an offer of balance. Intentionally transitional, each room becomes lighter towards the rear of the home, moving from formal and retreating personal spaces to more open entertaining areas. Drawing on the intricately laced stain glass-coloured windows, each room is dotted with a collected assortment of ceramics, antiques, artworks and personalised and custom furniture – an extension of Paul’s love of the hand made.

The close collaboration between Paul Hecker and joiner Guy Phelan, garnered by years of working together within industry, ensures an unwavering resolve and refinement is brought to each of the inserted elements. Underpinning an agreed approach was that every new element could be removed and the home would sit as its own crafted object, separate. The kitchen and bathroom were conceived from this same philosophy, elevating and containing each bench, cupboard and counter as if it were its own piece of collected furniture. While the new reflects a freshness that comes from something newly carved, a respectful reinterpretation of the home’s previous chapters is considered in the resulting design.

While the new reflects a freshness that comes from something newly carved, a respectful reinterpretation of the home’s previous chapters is considered in the resulting design.

Respectful and restrained, Hecker Residence becomes an extension of its owner, as an open door into the designer’s current chapter, as an evolution of time and design, bringing the many varied and layered pasts of each collected item along for the ride.