December 04, 2012
interior designer christopher elliott
Christopher Elliott worked across a range of design disciplines while living in his native Perth, and even won a State Design Art Award for his jewellery design. However, it wasn't until he moved to Melbourne and worked at Hermon & Hermon that he found his calling as an interior designer. After six years, during which time he developed the store's interior decorator service and designed products and furniture ranges for them too, he launched his own interior design practice. Christopher Elliott Design has since been featured in many of the Australian interiors magazines and a couple of his spaces have been included in House & Garden magazine's annual Top 50 Rooms awards.
Which five words best describe you? Perceptive, independent, focused, perfectionist, wannabe-comic.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I landed a job at Hermon & Hermon and from there quickly grew into the position of their store decorator. Working at H&H ignited my passion for interior and furniture design, giving me the impetus to start my own business.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Live in the moment and enjoy the process. 95% of our time is spent working towards a goal or a result and for 5% of the time we get to enjoy it, so it’s not hard to do the maths!
What’s your proudest career achievement? The proudest moment for me is when a project has just been finished and I am walking the client through the space during handover. It is a complex emotion involving a sense of achievement, release, joy and humility.
What’s been your best decision? To work for myself... mind you sometimes I think that might be my worst decision.
Who inspires you? Design-wise, Kelly Wearstler. She has impeccable taste and style, and is a smart business woman too. Patricia Urquiola is also an amazingly versatile inspiring designer. I want her job: being commissioned to design top quality furniture for all the prestigious European brands. Surely she needs an assistant! Otherwise, I am inspired by people who give up everything to follow their heart. That takes true courage.
What are you passionate about? Good design! Why are we wasting the world's resources on ugly, badly designed, useless objects? We have enough landfill already.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? In a moment of true honesty I would say my mother: she died when I was young. I think she could help fill in some blanks.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? I would love for an international client to call me up, and commission me to design their fabulous house on the other side of the globe. That would be exciting!
What are you reading? I’m in between books and desperate for a good read... suggestions? I like a book to awaken a new paradigm within my mind.
images courtesy of christopher elliott