Cassie James Herrick and her namesake studio are known for applying their brand of cool, calm and collected style to the interiors of some of the most beautiful and sought after homes in Australia and beyond. In their latest project - a small holiday house near Byron Bay – there’s a contemplative quality that feels apt for the location, footprint and feelings of solitude ones craves when making a getaway.
Throughout the project, all the CJH Studio signatures are there - the darkness and shadow, texture and touch – appearing simple at first, but upon second glance are layered and complex. This is not a big house, and due to ecological and environmental conditions, extensions or additions couldn’t be made, at least not without massive time delays, expense or radical design compromises anyway. So, the decision was made to keep the house and work within the existing parameters.
It all begins as you approach the front door - to the totally reworked exterior - via a stone path that hints of Japanese gardens and of what’s inside. “As a holiday home, you don’t want anything to feel too precious,” says Cassie. There’s something monastic about Folk Retreat; sparse and austere, it is pared back to its essentials. Nothing interrupts and in doing so makes the most of the tranquillity and the small footprint.
Furniture throughout is handmade and hand treated with Shaker-like qualities. Ascetic gestures like the solo wooden chair at the custom, concrete kitchen table make for beautifully peaceful scenes, as do the marks of the maker evident in the stools used as bedside tables in the second bedroom. The same can be said of the textiles used throughout; the linen drapery and textured bedspreads conveying a wonderful feeling of essentialism and aesthetic pragmatism. No more, no less - CJH Studio’s hand is controlled and deliberate.
Cabinetry as furniture is a signature of the studio and is demonstrated best in the new bedroom (once a garage) where Cassie has specified Laminex Shou Sugi, for the floating bedside cabinets. Shou Sugi (or yakisugi) is a Japanese technique of charring the surface of timber and has been used for centuries to create a durable and waterproof material for building. Almost black, Laminex’s Shou Sugi is a dark timber laminate that, in this context, provides the contrasts synonymous with CJH Studio while offering a practical surface necessary in a holiday house. It’s Japanese influence quietly nods to the contemplative theme of the home, gently signalling to the craftsmen-like quality of the space and calming nature one feels inside.
Laminex Shou Shugi is used throughout Folk Retreat. Applied to the cabinetry in the galley style kitchenette and teamed with Linear Standard handles, CJH Studio’s lean visual theme is continued. Along with the stud-like shelves at the wall and brutalist basin in granite, a story is quietly being told. The limited palette is its strength, establishing consistency through repeat, leaving a space that feels solid, permanent and enduring.
The walls have been given a micro-cement treatment in the kitchen and textured render elsewhere. This technique teases the light that manages to find its way in, letting it absorb or reflect to create soft, pleasing shadows all over. These are particularly nice in the nooks and corners left for sculpture and collected tchotchkes, not that this is a space for superfluous trinkets.
Lighting is equally as considered and where it has been made a feature, like the pendants of the bedroom or corner in the kitchen, it retains a clarity of concept, shooting into the space with gallery precision and strict adherence to the theme.
“It was meant to be a knock down and rebuild, but it became a refurbishment and renovation. These projects are about resolving challenges and coming up with solutions and interpretations, about working around constraints.”
Cassie and CJH Studio always deliver balanced and considered homes, and with a lightness and composure reminiscent of some of the world’s best interior designers. Working within the constraints of the original building Folk Retreat has transformed a space that wants for nothing more, no extra details or any unnecessary features. It is the perfect getaway.
Learn more about the project and explore CJH’s portfolio on their website.
Credits:
Architect: Paul Robertson Architect
Interior Design and Styling: CJH Studio
Builder: JPB Constructions
Joiner: Design Style Joinery
Photography: In Situ Studio
Handles: Linear Standard
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