Page 128 - 2022-07-01VogueLivingar

he client and designer’s professional relationship A sense of nostalgia filters through, the kind that exists only
can be a tricky one. Translating a client’s hopes
and dreams into a material form that ticks
all the boxes isn’t an exact science. The plan of
attack an interior designer or architect comes up
with will express itself in bricks and mortar, tiles
and textiles, as well as a tailored layout that
Treflects a particular lifestyle. But what of that
intangible but knowing sense of home? A design professional has to
conjure welcome comfort via these bare building-block elements.
Imagine carrying the weight of this responsibility, then adding a
family client, as well as the need to protect the time-capsule heritage
of one of Sydney’s most admired addresses into the equation.
In the hands of Tania Handelsmann and Gillian Khaw of interior
design firm Handelsmann + Khaw however, this responsibility,
though taken seriously, is carried
lightly. Trust from the client — a couple
who happen to be a brother-in-law (the
twin brother of Handelsmann’s
husband’s) and his wife — helps. “We
were lucky that we knew them so well
that they didn’t really need to brief us,”
says Handelsmann.
The design duo even served as
property hunters for the couple and
their two daughters, taking 18 months
to find this Sydney gem, which was
“unrenovated with loads of charm and
character and had an expansive garden
for the children,” says Handelsmann.
And perhaps the family connection
lent clarity to hone in on the impulse of
calling a place home. “Looking back on
our initial presentation, we were
probably more obscure and whimsical
than usual — there was an image of Liv
Tyler in Stealing Beauty, whatever that
meant!” says Khaw. “The extra trust we
knew the client had in the two of us
meant we could really just create the
sort of house we ourselves would like to live in.”
Some of the Bernardo Bertolucci film’s aesthetics are apparent in
this now four-bedroom, three-bathroom home — the wild gardens
and sun-weathered facades of Tuscany, for instance. This stylistic
choice can be traced back to the property’s first incarnation when
architect and academic Leslie Wilkinson designed the home for a
colleague in 1934. Wilkinson served as the University of Sydney’s
founding dean of architecture and preferred to highlight the artistic,
expressive and more ephemeral nature of the practice than mere
practical construction. This rich past is something Handelsmann
+ Khaw embraced wholeheartedly. “Our goal is always to capture the
spirit of a home,” says Handelsmann, “and when a home has this
much history it actually makes our job a lot easier.”
THIS PAGE the home’s heritage-protected facade restored, with doors and shutters in Dulux Olive Leaf. OPPOSITE PAGE in another view of the kitchen,
Helen’s Stool stools from DeVol; Ilve stainless-steel cooker, enquiries to Harvey Norman; Pumpkin (2019) and Salmon Trout on Mary’s Plate artworks
(2020) by Tom Carment from King Street Gallery; Objects of Virtue terracotta vase by David Suckling from Bess; Mientje ceramic vase from Atelier MVM.
in a place that has stood the test of time. The heritage-listed facade
was restored in baked-terracotta tone and rendered texture,
complemented by an arched olive leaf-coloured door. “We protected
the facade — including Wilkinson’s signature concrete latticework
— the timber floors and ceiling, fireplace, original doors,
windows and hand-carved internal stair,” says Handelsmann.
“The ground-floor rooms at the front of the house are original but
we refurnished them to operate as one large living space opening
onto the garden with a dining room for intimate dinner parties,”
says Handelsmann.
The reworked front living space bears more than a passing nod
to West Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont. “The wooden ceiling is
original and instantly reminded us of a similar one in the Chateau
bar,” says Handelsmann, “which in turn inspired us to hang a
Spanish iron chandelier and fill the
room with a mix of bespoke and
vintage furniture finds, creating a
mood reminiscent of old Hollywood.”
Thanks to builder Verdecon, the
home’s latest chapter took a lightning-
paced nine months to complete, an
obscenely small amount of time given
the work undertaken, particularly in
the rear of the home, which involved
stripping out and re-imagining all the
bathrooms as well as the kitchen, and
adding a family area and dine-in zone.
Warmth, visual richness and
Wilkinson’s signature elements were
guiding principles for this new vision
for the home. “He used Andalusian
models for houses in 1930s Sydney
as part of a Mediterranean revival,”
says Handelsmann of Wilkinson. “Our
use of Spanish timber tables, zellige
bathroom and kitchen tiles and
terracotta floor tiles are a nod to
this Andalusian culture and the
idiosyncratic nature of the house.”
Speaking specifically about the kitchen, Khaw says, “Coupled with
the mashrabiya screens that we’ve admired in houses in Tangier,
the kitchen becomes romantic and escapist. It runs counter to the
‘contemporary add-on’ one expects at the back of a heritage house.”
Romance and escape recalls Tyler in Stealing Beauty but there’s
also a feminine intuition, too. All the doorways are gently curved, and
personal touches speak to meaning — a portrait in the dining room of
a beloved relative acts as a family talisman of sorts. “She escaped the
Hungarian Revolution in 1956, settling in LA where she opened a
high-end fashion boutique,” says Handelsmann. “This painting serves
as a memory of a glamorous life.” It seems this restored dwelling is
also the perfect spot for her to call home, watching over intimate
gatherings at the table. handelsmannkhaw.com