In the Dandenong Ranges on Melbourne’s outskirts, a rainforest-like quality keeps the area in a perpetual green state; tall trees, ferns and thick forest dominate, covering the roads and driveways. Hidden amongst it all, a unique home born of a collaboration between Placement Studio and a creative homeowner presents an interior transformation that brings the warmth of New Mexico and the avant-garde confidence of Memphis Design to the area.
Homeowner Jeremy Worstman is a creative leader who puts the multi into multi-disciplinary work. Using art and technology, he is constantly finding new ways to bring more meaning and compassion to the world we live in, developing interesting and exciting alternatives that exist amongst the commercial. His home in the Dandenong Ranges is both a retreat and place to recharge amongst family and an excellent collection of books, art and objects he has collected from friends, clients and adventures over the years. His eye for detail, talent and the unexpected has been implemented with clarity in an interior renovation by Placement Studio.
The ingredients are simple; essentially a two-colour project with extensive colour blocking, The Selby House is a shining example of less is more, even when referencing the crazy, post-modernism of Ettore Sottsass’s pioneering Memphis Movement.
‘I think I was watching heaps of Better Call Saul at the time and was really inspired by the set design there and the overall palette of New Mexico,” says Jeremy, sharing an example of detail and unexpected inspiration that was drawn upon for the project.
Predominantly a joinery job, The Selby House has been re-designed to make the most of an unconventional and oddly shaped floorplan, and in doing so, custom designed furniture has been developed to facilitate the layout and to give the spaces a practicality that might have otherwise gone missing. A large kidney shaped table for dining is the perfect example of this flexibility; by cutting the corner, it allows passage, while it’s unique shape - the first of many Memphis Group influences – invites conversation and inclusion and more chairs if the moment strikes.
After speaking with Jeremy, Placement Studio came back with their potential treatment – a little more than the kitchen renovation that he first proposed. He knew that the concepts were “too good not to explore further.” So, they did.
The interior was flipped and changed to suit these new ideas – the original kitchen becoming a bedroom and entrance foyer, making the most of the asymmetrical layout of the house by maximising each space and corner. Clever joinery created shelves and see-through gaps to divide and delineate rooms, while maintaining feelings of connection and the spaces being part of the whole.
However, it’s the palette where New Mexico and Memphis collide. The joinery was created using Laminex Moroccan Clay AbsoluteMatte, with benchtops in the Natural finish (and matching Dulux paint were necessary) giving the dark exterior and wet landscape the desert warmth and feeling Jeremy was looking for. Tempered by blue upholstery and textiles, and plenty of curves, there’s something of a southwest America by way of Santa Fe influence too, another New Mexico influence. The large, new kitchen feels moulded, extruded and carved from clay – it’s every surface Laminex Moroccan Clay, the columns and corners softened by a gentle radius that only extends the feeling of a ceramic tactility.
The beauty of a renovation such as this is the ability to build in storage and pragmatic solutions for a family. The phrase ‘a place for everything’ was employed liberally to bring a sense of order to the family home. Built-in furniture leaves the spaces with a sense of permanence and architectural deliberateness that the original layout lacked, with the joinery providing ample accommodation throughout the home, the new entrance foyer a perfect example of the fun and surprising solutions Placement came up with. A quick walk through the studio’s socials reveals the popularity of the home’s interiors, not to mention its shortlisting on Dulux’s Colour Awards for 2024.
Thinking outside the box, The Selby Home is a great example of how to use the space you have in new and delightfully creative ways. On theme and consistent throughout – a great architect and a client understanding of the collaborative process always helps – the home has been transformed. With consideration and experience Placement Studio turned Jeremy’s love of colour, illustration and art into a wonderfully playful family home that will allow for further growth, development and creativity as time passes.
Learn more about the project and explore Placement Studio’s portfolio on their website.
Credits:
Design: Placement Studio
Photography: Tom Ross
Video: The Local Project
Joinery: E&C Joinery
Builder: Armourbuilt Carpentry
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