Anna Trefely of Esoteriko
As a child, Anna Trefely of interior design practice Esoteriko would create murals in her friend’s bedrooms and spend her time creating little environments before trying to rope her friends into her activities.
“I didn’t know that it was something you could do as a career until I was almost finishing high school and a friend’s house was being redesigned by BKH [Burley Katon Halliday] in the early 2000s,” she explains. “That was the first time I’d seen something that had been thought through very cleverly and it made such an impact.” She also adds that “interior design and architecture wouldn’t have been something I thought of at the time, but it was something that I was pretty obsessed with.” Upon finishing her studies and building the foundation of her knowledge, Trefely went on to further her skills across residential and commercial design.
After starting a family, however, Trefely found that the demands of working for others was unsustainable, which led her towards creating a life that permitted her more autonomy. “It’s almost like something in your brain just snaps and you just have to take control of it and create something as well because you almost feel that you can’t just be defined as just a mother: you have to be a mother and something else,” she says. Trefely was also driven by the desire to bring together her design experiences and push further than she ever could at past companies. “In the beginning, it was less business focused and much more about really driving outcomes,” says the designer. “It was also a little bit of a leap of faith because it could have just all collapsed on itself and not been sustainable as a business. But I think people responded well to the authenticity.”
As Esoteriko’s seventh year approaches, Trefely has begun to galvanise the company’s design principles. “What we want to do is create useful beauty – that’s the central principle which everything is based around.” The problem-solving aspect of design is also inherent to the company’s ethos. “That’s my obsession and also pushing a little bit further to get more out of less.”
No matter the space or the client, Esoteriko doesn’t discriminate, she believes. “We’re thinking about beauty and what makes a person feel good. It’s the same if it was for one lucky human in their beautiful, private residence or hundreds of people who come to a public space.”
With years of handling different briefs and clients such as Hue House, Coco & Lola in Manly, Bunker in the Treetops and, most recently, The Rubenstein Group’s new workspace, Trefely has always looked inwardly when considering her next project. “It’s essentially asking, ‘Are you a good person with a good intention?’,” she says. “I think that most people are good with good intentions, and I think that’s always the basis for developing a relationship and getting the best outcome.”
Looking towards the future, the Esoteriko founder has discovered an interest in adaptive reuse.
Looking towards the future, the Esoteriko founder has discovered an interest in adaptive reuse. “It’s particularly exciting for me because we have more control. We’re in control of that whole interior environment, but we’re also responding to something that has come before us.” She also finds that future environmental impacts – to discover what can be reused and rejuvenated – also drive her and the team at Esoteriko. “I think that you can make beautiful things out of something by transferring the energy. Working with something that was created 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago, it just has so many connotations, and working around that and reinterpreting it, seeing it in a new light – that excites me.”