Melinda
ROWE
"There's an INNATE KNOWING in us about what is needed IN OUR SPACES"
the colour of her nails, to her shoes and whatever dress she is wearing that day, the richness of the environment she has created around her and right down to the design of her dog, Violet’s harness. Melinda is a remarkable woman with an emanating warmth, wisdom, depth and a mystery about her that is uncommon – it is as if she comes from another era that you can’t quite put your finger on but nevertheless can be palpably felt when you sit with her. Likewise, her apartment, once you are inside the front door you are transported to another place and time, the noises of the city and the brash, bright light of a hot Australian summer’s day are left far behind.
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I
have known Melinda for quite a few years and she has supported me on several building projects with her unique and very acute design skills. She is remarkably thorough in her work with an extraordinary precision to detail which you can notice in everything about her, from
I knew I had to interview Melinda for this site not only because of her wonderful insights into all things design but also because she epitomises ageless living due to the qualities I describe above. This interview turned out to be more than I imagined, because I was accompanied by Iris Pohl, the photographer and designer who had designed much of this site and also taken most of the spectacular photos. Whilst Iris was taking the photos for this shoot, she was so engaged by what Melinda was saying that she ended up contributing herself – so I could sit back and listen to the discussion these two designers sparked in each other – some of which we capture in the following.
ON
BEING ARTY
"​My love is of FORM, LIGHT, SPACE and ANGLES and how all that comes together IN THE WHOLE. "
So, I just want to start at the beginning . . . it seems to me that you have an extraordinary sense of space, angles, harmony, beauty, all those things that make up an amazing interior space and what goes on in that space. And tell me where did it begin for you or when did you first become aware of your sensitivity to it? - JB
It's an interesting question Josephine. A sensitivity to ‘all things design’ was definitely reflected in my family, both my mum and dad had a sense of style, my mum with a love of interior design, renovation and restoration, and my dad was largely enamored by the beauty of form and function in relation to objects such as designer coffee machines, the lines of a car, the texture and weave of quality fabric. However, the qualities you mentioned are by design and in essence, within us all from birth. So, the environment we are brought up in, our family home, parents, either reflects the inner wealth or it doesn’t. We either respond or we refute.
Looking back at my childhood there were clues of the love of colour, design, form, light, texture, and quality. I loved the small box of my Granny’s collection of antique, coloured buttons and jewelry, as they appeared to me a treasure box of precious rubys, emeralds, and pearls, or the way light shone through glass marbles and their design within and building grand block homes and towns with my Gramps. I loved feeling the quality of the European soft furnishing fabrics at our family business with my dad, the exquisite red of my corduroy mini skirt designed with a side zip (age 6yrs), or the feel, the delicacy, of cashmere against my tiny hand . . . the quality, the attention to detail . . .
– MR
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Yes . - JB
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And this was not nurtured or developed by my parents, I knew from the beginning it was an innate and precious love within me. – MR
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So as a child then, did you have little projects and things? Were you arty? – JB
Yes. Always painting, drawing, sticking leaves and feathers for extra depth, texture, colour . . . I recall receiving my first boxed set of coloured English Derwent pencils, what a joy that was to just look at them . . . the rainbow of colours, it wasn’t even about using them! – MR
Okay. So, it was something that you always had and then you went on and studied it and developed it. – JB
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Yes, I competed a Degree in Interior Design at university. There's a big difference between interior design and interior decorating though the two obviously have a relationship. As I've written about in my book [yet to be published], the confusion is understandable because often interior decorators call themselves interior designers, because they both relate to the interior of a space. However, Interior design (as the name suggests) is all about the actual design of the interior space. The form, the structure, the layout, the flow, the angles, the lighting, the fixtures, the fittings, and the finishes selections. As a student I received extensive training in all the areas of study required to build or renovate a home (with the support of an engineer for structural detailing). Whereas interior decorating, comes after the form is built/complete (non-structural). Interior decorating is inclusive of furniture, throws, cushions, artwork, lamps, wallpaper, etc. There is a real art to interior decorating that enhances the existing form and harmonious flow of the space.
My love is a combination of the two, of form, light, space, angles, and how all that comes together in the whole for the purpose and function of the client’s brief, coupled with the decoration that expands the foundation of what is already there.– MR
ON
DESIGNING
SPACE ...
"And once you’ve GOT the FUNCTION and the FLOW you’ve
GOT IT ALL."
Right, so creating a space. What creates a great space – if you're given a space to design from scratch? - JB
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MR: If I’m offered a space to design from scratch, I generally find creating a space is not a lineal process at all, I find in fact, it to be totally spherical. It is as though all the elements appear from the initiation of the project in a loose sense, and then it is simply about working out the detail or allowing the detail of what is needed to come forth.
So, you've received the client's brief, inclusive of the function, the purpose, their budget and style sensibilities – I say ‘their’ sensibilities because I feel a responsibly to guide, not impose.
Questions will have been asked – How will the space be used, who will use the space, how often, how many people will use the space, how much light is required for the task, questions about fixtures and appliances if required, finishes, and what is most important in this space for the client? For example, for some it’s a provision for natural stone benchtops in a kitchen or bathroom, for others it may be 2700mm high ceilings, for others solid timber flooring. So then as the designer you are holding all this information at the same time while suggesting to the client possibilities of how the project can come together that will meet both form, function, flow, and enrichment to the home.
Let's say I’m offered a bathroom renovation project. I attend a site meeting I instantly feel the stagnation of the space that the clients themselves have clocked on some level too (or they would not have contacted me), and I suggest we demolish the whole space and redesign from scratch and create a new foundation for what is next. Full demolition is not always necessary, other bathrooms may simply require a refurbishment. I love the feeling when an existing space is demolished or partly demolished and re-formed in a harmonious flow. Everyone feels the whole place expanding, not just the bathroom!
I may then tweak the design a little, but essentially the whole download is there from the start. That is why it is then super speedy for me to execute the plan. One minute you are in front of a blank page, and you begin drawing and what is next and next and next appears, and I’m done. Package complete.
As a design manager there is a responsibility to hold the project at a foundational level from start to finish. And because I hold a project at this level, everyone associated with the project is also held. This comes from a lifetime of being in the trade and being responsive to what is required. From there, it's really a simple process. The building design and decorating process does not need to be complicated. I often find myself responding to clients – ‘Yes, it is this simple!’
– MR
ON
DESIGN,
ANGLES,
LIGHT
I LOVE DESIGN
If there's A BEAUTY and attention to DETAIL IN ALL that, that's what I love.
Now the question I want to ask is about angles. I don't hear a lot of people talk about angles.
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So, angles what does that mean? If you go into a space and you feel angles, what is that sensitivity to, what is it that you are feeling? - JB
The sensitivity is to the objects within space. My thesis at university was actually titled ‘A Study in Light and Space’. For there is space and then there is form. So-called solid objects such as walls, floors, ceilings, and objects such a vases, tables and couches . . . and each has its true alignment to the whole, to the flow of the space. For example, you can move a couch a few millimeters to the left and know for sure that in that moment, that is the couch’s true location in the space, the room, the home, and it is not a calculation, it is an inner knowing, it is felt.
Or, if you look at the glass bottles over there, I sometimes adjust their placement just a little bit, and then I know that they're back in the next level of flow in my apartment. But if I just place a bottle down and I'm not present, not connected, then the location of the bottle will be out of harmony with the other objects, angles, flow of the whole space. There is a responsibility to that level of detail. If there is presence when items are located, there is a resonance and a settlement with the whole. – MR
You feel that, whereas a lot of people might not feel it, although they do connect when they come into a place like in your apartment, you can feel that everything has been placed in a certain way. So, when you are talking about angles, they are not necessarily the angles of the building. That said, I find you can feel if you go into a building if the angles are wrong – it feels unsettling, doesn't it?
– JB
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It does, yes. The same with the house. A hundred percent. And if it is not possible to change the form of the home, then you add other detail.
A huge part of this sensitivity is to do with that innate beauty in form. So that's what comes through me. I love design, I love everything about design. I love the design of cars. I love the design of buildings, clothes, I love my dog's harness. If there's a true beauty, attention to detail, a quality of craftmanship that can be felt and observed, I’m in love with what is presented.
I particularly love going to the natural stone yards . . . seeing the polished slabs of heavenly design and colours is an absolute joy!! And so the sensitivity to angles is simply a further expression of everything designing spaces incorporates. – MR
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I can give you an example from my point of view about angles. When I take a portrait of a person, sometimes I ask them to move their head a few millimetres to the side and then the light comes into their eyes at a different angle. Bang. And suddenly you have access to a different depth in the eyes, to the person.– IP
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Exactly. That's exactly it. – MR
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So, what is it about the relationship between angles and light in interior design? – IP
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It's the same thing because we've got the light reflecting back into our eyes from the objects and angles within the space. So, if I place an object in the space, under whatever light source there will be refracted light emanating from the object. The more reflective the surfaces, the additional light that is bounced around as you know. Hence the use of mirrors in my apartment, creating angles and depth and surfaces from which to reflect light. So, on some level it’s as though the whole space is vibrating with all these little angles of light going everywhere. – MR
I just love what you said then, about the angles of light which I'd never thought about before. And also, that you just love good design, basically. – JB
I do, it is all in the form, the detail and then felt as the whole.
For example, I had a vintage 1960’s Mercedes with red interior upholstery, white sterling wheel, woodgrain look on the dash and chrome detailing everywhere . . . the attention to detail, the finishes, they had me at ‘tail fins with the chrome trim’!! . . . No detail is too small. – MR
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So, you are always looking at detail. – JB
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Yes, I receive the whole thing, then I receive at the detail, or sometimes visa-versa.– MR
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And so, then something will stand out if it’s not right. I did this interview with Steven Anderson recently and he had this great quote and what he said was, there's no such thing as bad design, there's only poorly executed design. Which I thought was interesting. – JB
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It's that everything that is produced is actually coming first from an idea, from an impulse. And then it's about how do you bring this into the material? How do you bring this into a design? And I guess that the original idea that gets impulsed is actually beautiful, but how it's then executed is actually the thing that can be really badly done.
And there's one more thing which is that is actually everybody now has access to luxury and very good design. And this is actually is quite new. – IP
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Yes definitely. So interior design as an actual profession is just over a hundred years old but we've all been designing and decorating our homes for as long as we've been in places with four walls and a roof. In the past architects designed and built the more lavish homes and civic buildings with artisan craftspeople providing both trades and decoration.
The less wealthy, let's say, may only have had whitewashed walls in their small abode, but they still would have made it lovely with whatever was hunted, farmed, purchased or traded. It wasn't the same level of opulence, but they were still adding furs, handmade objects and so on . . .
And this is my point, that there's an innate knowing in us about what is needed in our spaces, but we often give our power away to people who supposedly know (and not the true sense of knowing) more than us. However, once we stop and re-connect within, we all have access to what is required next. – MR
ON
STAGNATION ...
"It's the NEED FOR SECURITY to HOLDonto THE PAST in the form of objects"
You mention stagnation above. What’s an example of stagnation? - JB
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I observe a lot of energetic stagnation in peoples’ homes, simply where they have moved on, yet are holding onto items such as gifts, clothes, household goods, family heirlooms, that no longer serve. This is for everybody to assess regularly.
It's the need for security to hold onto the past in the form of objects rather than realising what they are and what purpose they served (or did not) at that time. And then letting go and making room for what's next, and there's always what's next. Does that make sense? – MR
Yes, absolutely. Because people often don’t do that, I know houses that still have piles of stuff in them from years and years ago . . .and there's really very little, I suppose you would say, clarity or clear space and of course, that affects what you're actually doing in your life. But you are spot on when you talk about the stagnancy of people holding onto things for security instead of just moving them on. I have seen that in myself.
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So, you notice stagnation and obviously you don't live in stagnation. Is this something that you constantly review? - JB
Yes, I do constantly review it, but it's not a chore to do so. It's not held as a to-do or a checklist. For example, I may have loved something in my home when I purchased it and for many years I’ve loved it, loved it, loved it, and then it's not that the item gets old or boring or that it's been around too long, because there has more likely at some point been the thought of . . . ‘Oh, I so love this, I'll have it forever’. And then one day I wake up and I look at it and I know that it's time for the item to move on. It has to go. Sometimes it has to go that day, other times the acceptance takes a little longer. I often don't sell the items because that takes too long for me.
So, this rhythm keeps a really beautiful flow in the space when you're able respond in this way. Some items I may have for a lifetime, others will be moved on. And to be clear, it is not about just getting rid of things, or responding to changing trends – it has zero to do with any thought process – it is known.
– MR
ON
HER
APARTMENT
"I call this THEME
in here JUNGLE LUXE"
Okay, so then let's look this amazing apartment that we are going to have photos of. What happened with this for you? Because when you came here it was completely white. - JB
White, yes. It was very different. – MR
Did you live in it as it was at the beginning in the stark whiteness of it? - JB
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Yes. – MR
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And then how did it happen that it came to be such an amazing and unusual space? - JB
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So just being in, moving in the space, I'll receive the impulse of what it needs. This apartment is all about a black and gold colour palette with pops of other colours. This was not a calculated decision. The black and gold wallpaper behind us (gold palm fronds and black background) came first.
It was so funny to observe people’s responses when I shared that black and gold wallpaper would be going up in this smallish space, with every single person saying ‘Oh, black, that's going make your space look smaller’!! . . . But that's just a way we’ve been taught to think.
I’d respond with ‘you’ll be surprised, I can’t wait to share with you when it’s up, it will give it depth’. I then invited them back and they're like, ‘Wow, that is amazing! It looks incredible!’. A consciousness breaking experience for people to break the idea that black would make a space look small.
So once that first wall was done, and it looked spectacular, I was ready for what was to come next. And that was the black and gold peacocks opposite (I just adore the movement in the peacocks’ tails and the way the light forms on the gold metallic detail), the black and white with gold animals on the feature wall behind my gold velvet bedhead, and the black palatial flocked wallpaper to the remaining wall surfaces . . . The gold animals on the wallpaper behind my bedhead appear and disappear depending on the light.
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I called the theme or style in my apartment ‘Jungle Luxe’
– MR
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I love the way you put it together and so you started with the wallpaper? – JB
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Well, I already had the round nest of gold and antique glass coffee tables, and the large gilded decorative Victorian mirror and carved pedestal dining table, before I moved in. The movement had already begun. For example, before I’d even purchased this apartment, I knew I needed to locate an antique restorer and have the mirror repaired and the mahogany-coloured table stripped back and stained ebony (black) with a high gloss finish, which may I add looks spectacular in the apartment. When only weeks earlier I was considering letting go of the table because it had made a couple of moves with me and I was yet to utilise it (more on this later). And in answer to your question Josephine, all the other objects and wall finishes happened at the same time. I received the full download, then I just respond to the impulses to make it happen.
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For example, the download was I need a shelving unit for a particular wall, I just didn’t yet know where from? . . . So, I just have to share with you the precision of the shelving unit that now stands before you, in confirmation that all is complete before we start.
I felt to go into a store in Australia called Coco Republic, I just held loosely that I required said shelving unit, I had the dimensions of my wall and a rough idea of the light switch and
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A/C display panels’ location. I still can hardly believe it, but if you look at that shelf now, it fits to the millimeter on the wall and the line of the shelves do not obstruct access to the A/C panel or the light switches – PLUS it is a magnificent dark brushed gold with antique mirror on each shelf that matches the existing nest of coffee tables . . . not to mention that with the exquisite attention to detail the designers put the mirror on the bottom side of the top shelves for extra dimensional reflection.
I had the same experience with the glorious cabinet in my bedroom. Not custom made and fits to the millimeter. Both these items ready and waiting for me to make the moves to locate them.
Nothing was custom designed and manufactured specifically for the space. It was already complete before I started. I just had to be responsive to the impulse to go into this shop, look up that website, and be ready . . . It shows us all, there is no intensity required. – MR
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No, but you have to be tuned in to find them. Don't you? – JB
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Yes. That's a responsibility. – MR
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Say more about that's a responsibility. – JB
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Responsibility means living in a way in which we can be responsive to what is known, felt, ready to take action with the immediacy in which it is given. – MR
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And don't have your own ideas about it. This is what you mean? – IP
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Well, if I had my own ideas about how this apartment was to look, and this is a great example – it may have ended up ‘Coastal Scandi’ instead of ‘Jungle Luxe’ following on from my previous apartment. However, as I mentioned, the movement to Jungle Luxe and what was next had already started while I was living elsewhere, however I could have rejected the impulse and stubbornly demanded ‘my’ Coastal Scandi theme. But instead, I followed the impulse to sell everything except my bed, antique mirror and dining table, before I relocated to this current apartment.. – MR
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I've got what you mean with responsibility. You have the impulse and you just do it irrespective of what you think about it. – IP
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Yes, what you ‘think’ you like, or you what you ‘think’ is on trend. Or you think that that's what your friends will like. You think it's all you. It's not you. What we can access is so much grander than the singular you. – MR
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We were talking about responsibility… – IP
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Yes, there’s a responsibility to not impose your ideals on a space. Be responsive to impulse, rather than what you think. – MR
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You are saying don't interfere with what the space needs to be. – IP
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Yes. I understand. It's an amazing energy and space you're living in, Melinda. It's making me feel very, very at rest. I'm just sitting here enjoying the space.
You were saying then how, when you go shopping for items – because you were talking about the precision of this cabinet you have here and how it fits precisely into that area – you didn't have to do anything except recognise it when you saw it in the shop. So that was what was required. – JB
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Yes. When designing or decorating a space you loosely know what is required, the purpose, the flow, the furniture, the fittings . . . just an outline of sorts.. – MR
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So you might go, I need to have some kind of shelving. – JB
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Yes, such as, this space requires shelving, a mirror, feature lighting for example.
So, you're loosely holding as discussed what is required for your home and if we move with the flow without thinking, ‘I have to get this shape, or that style, or this colour’, we will be moved where we need to go. We are part of a grand unseen movement and flow.
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For example, you might be driving along the street and have the realisation that you need to stop the car and go into that shop. You don't know why. You don't even know what's in this shop. And then you find the mirror that you are looking for, or in my case the shelving unit.
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So, everything is given. It's just a matter of, as we said before, not imposing and just holding all that loosely so that when the impulse or the movement's there, you are responsive to it. And it's honestly as simple as that. Even though you think you're choosing, you're not actually choosing. – MR
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No. It's appearing to you.
Okay. I've seen that myself with doing interiors or homes, that it really has a life of its own. – JB
Absolutely Josephine. – MR
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You kind of put things together, but in the end, it has to be that tile or it has to be that colour of cushion or whatever. Like you say, it looks like it's your choice, but it's not really your choice at all. – JB
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It's not our choice and if I'd imposed Coastal Scandi, I wouldn't have received the riches that this space now offers me and all who enter. So that's simply how it happens. – MR
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Are the riches you mention the joy of just being here in the environment that's been given to you and you've brought it all together beautifully and therefore when you look around you that's coming back into you as an enrichment, or is it something else? – JB
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Yes, every single detail and object in this apartment has been received initially with absolute joy and that is what reflects back. All the elements as a whole and independently, simply make me smile. I was going to get a lamp with a gold giraffe poking its head out above a burnt orange velvet shade because in itself the
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exquisite detail, the richness of the velvet, but also because it is funny – I love a bit of playfulness in design. It's the same sentiment with the painted carved parrots on perches you see in my apartment, or the gilded elephant and the giraffe resting on the shelves, they offer so much joy in both their design and finish. There’s always space for joy!
I hadn’t pre-determined that the apartment requires six birds, two gold elephants, and one giraffe, for example, it’s simply what the space called for at the time.
And because I've been present with each purchase, and not entertained thoughts of what's on trend, what's happening, what’s, blah, blah, blah, the selections are true for the space.
And yes, it is true, there's the energy of deep repose in this apartment. – MR
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And if you walked in, you'd go, ‘Oh, wow’. Because it's full of things. You go, ‘Well, how is there rest in that?’ That's a lesson I'm learning.
Is it that if you choose the right things, there's a settlement in a place… you feel settled? Because I feel very settled here. – JB
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Yes, a celestial or other worldly quality. – MR
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I always tell people too, YOU CAN'T make a MISTAKE
ON
LIGHT, REFLECTION,
COLOUR
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Going through your apartment and even though it’s not huge, the first thing I get here is that there's a huge space. I was asking myself how it is that there’s a feeling of so much space. – IP
Yes. Absolutely the floor space per m2 that you see with your eyes, doesn’t make sense to what you can feel in your body.
– MR
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And I observed that you are working a lot with reflection – with mirrors, wallpaper and surfaces that reflect a lot. So, wherever I am and wherever I look, it's actually a reflection of something that's behind me.
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And so in every direction I look, I see a deeper place, a deeper space everywhere. So, I was thinking you must be a master of reflection. Can you say a little bit about this? – IP
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Brilliant observation Iris. Yes, a spherical combination of mirrors and reflective surfaces, precision of angles and light. So, the light emanates and reflects from tiny fairy lights, candles, floor lamps, and subdued use of daylight. And thus, the placement and alignment of the objects including the mirrors within the space, add dimensional depth to the whole.
But this is not about the ‘perfection’ of location, angles, objects . . . it is based on universal flow and precision, and the innate knowing within us all on the art of placement. – MR
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Amazing. Very, very beautiful. You use a lot of gold and this requires an amount of light. You can't just have this daylight with it. It requires something else. What is it? – IP
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It requires an attention to detail coupled with an overall awareness of your space, or presented from another angle, a responsibility to be present in yourself or space. And by this, it is a register in the body of what is required, there is no effort required to ‘work this out’. More light here, less light there, perhaps a candle lit on occasion, and dimmers on all sources of light where possible so the subtly of light can be modified.– MR
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Yes. And with this, you offer, when you come in here there's depth and there's repose immediately. – JB
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The depth comes also even with the colours you are choosing which really unfold themselves in the perfect light. – IP
Absolutely. Both elements unfold in a synergistic flow, neither the lighting nor the colour is first, so to speak, it is a layering, but not in the lineal sense . . .
For example, when I moved into this space the downlights in the ceiling were already in and located as specified by the architect, the downlights are a supposedly fixed source of light, however by introducing dimmers, or even not turning them on and using floor lamps, you can completely reconfigure their original imprint on the space and add to the dimensionally quality of the space.
So with colour, it is incredible to experiment with light sources . . . Angle of the source, colour of the globes, intensity of brightness . . . while always feeling the whole space, and attending to detail. The depth felt is an alignment to flow in this space. It stems from an obedience to what is received. – MR
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So, I want to talk about colour. – JB
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Great, colour's interesting. There's a whole consciousness around colour and colour experts advising what colour palettes people should and should not utilise in their homes and businesses, what is on trend, that latest colour forecast for the year . . . – MR
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So, I feel we could talk generally about colour... – JB
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Yes Josephine, and it is in-line with what we've been talking about. And that is, knowing what is true for the location. For if we give ourselves the space, we actually have an innate sense of what is required.
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We can become really caught up in our selections being ‘right’ or ‘perfect’, or ‘I don't want to make a mistake’ or whatever, but it’s unnecessary. – MR
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The space determines the colour, doesn't it? – JB
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Well, if we work off the fact that the space is already complete before we start, the colours required for the purpose of the home, the office are known. So, when we move in a way that accesses this universal flow and are responsive to impulses that are on offer, the ‘yes’ to the true colour for the space is known, felt . . . there is no back and forth, it is done. – MR
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So simple. – JB
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It is. We can become so complicated with colour selection..
– MR
And there are these fashion colours and everybody runs with this colour. Everybody wants to be up-to-date. – IP
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Yes. That's right because that's a grand distraction to keep up with the next global or local trend. It only requires a moment of settlement to know if the new object, colour, home you desire is a true impulse and alignment to what is next, or a complete distraction away from what is true.
For example, fashion trends, colour trends, restaurant trends, holiday destination trends all come from some source, somewhere, someone, deciding what is next for all, then circulated on a large or small scale. Then dropped and regurgitated at a later date as though it’s new again, when in fact it’s simply recycled or a copy of what was.
Don’t get me wrong, what’s ‘supposedly’ new and on trend can be fun and inspiring, it is simply the way it is approached. Are you caught up in the never-ending spin cycle and must have the next new shiney thing, colour, car, dress, for example, in a movement to remain focused on the acquisition and thus distracted from your life? Or, is there a settlement within, and from that location you simply know that you are receiving what is next for you?
There’s an absolute joy to be felt in the realisation that you are moving within the true cycles of universal flow, and not being distracted by the unnecessary. – MR
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So, do you mean are you being swayed by what's fashionable? – JB
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We are bombarded every moment of every day from external forces essentially saying ‘pick me, pick me, pick me’ . . . glittering lights of deception to distract to the point we halt the innate realisations or knowing of what is required in every moment. For example, what wall colour will support in the home office, what wallpaper will inspire in the entrance to the home, what colour car reflects the purpose of what is next in your work, what shape, make, model . . . why give your power away to an unknown source when all that is needed is within when we live in a way that accesses all that is required?
We have an opportunity for our homes to be the foundational vibration of everything we are and move in the world, in our work places, in our interactions at the grocery store, people we meet on the street . . . It is our responsibility to be aware of the angles, light, space, furniture location, fittings, colours, overall design and flow within our homes and equally our movements within and through these spaces in the realisation that our movements leave an imprint behind. As the sub-title to the book I have written ‘Interior Design and The Soul-full Abode’ says, ‘Home is Where Purpose Begins’. – MR
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That’s true. Okay let’s finish with you saying something about the book you have written which is yet to be published… but will come out within the next year. ​ – JB
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Okay fantastic. Well, the book as the title suggests, is partly about consciousness breaking of all the ideals and beliefs held around the interior design of our homes which is in essence to bring back a foundational knowing that we all are given what is needed in the set-up, design of each and every one of our homes if we are in a rhythm, a way of living, that supports receiving the wisdom required. It is not a book based on my design work though some images are included. It will be a visually stunning hard-covered coffee-table book, both exquisite and educational with Tips and Checklists at the back, discussions around colour, numerology of your home, symbolism of each room of your home, and the magnificence of the images included is the vibrational quality of the spaces (how people live and move therein), taken by extraordinary photographers who also live and move in a way that enables them through their lens to capture such magnificence – Hemma Kearney, James Tolich and Iris Pohl.
Interior Design and The Soul-full Abode’, ‘Home is Where Purpose Begins’ – brings interior design of our homes and how we live and move through these spaces, to the simplicity that was always there. For we all innately know what we feel when we enter a space, whether we chose to respond or react to that knowing is entirely up to us. And simplicity is all about vibrational Magnificence.
The word ‘simplicity’ has been bastardised. As Leonardo da Vinci shared, ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’.
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Right. So, it's empowering people to discover this in themselves? – JB
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Yes, that is the purpose. For example, we have briefly just discussed global and local trends and the harm of blindly following trends without discerning what is actually required for the space. The book doesn't go into explaining any of the design style trends or historic periods in detail because there's enough information online that people can do their own research for the specifics. The book is about what’s behind these trends, behind the cycles, and possibly offers a fresh perspective. Interior Design and The Soul-full Abode’, ‘Home is Where Purpose Begins’ – is about releasing what has confined us, true transparency, and maximisation of the enrichment of our Homes. I can’t wait to share it!– MR
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Thank you Melinda and I can’t wait to read it – but I’ll have to.– JB
Contact Melinda at: www.resonantdesignsforliving.com/
Photography by Iris Pohl: www.incocreation.de