koskela's sasha titchkosky

After hearing real living style director Jason Grant rave about Koskela's shop for months on end I finally visited recently. I'd loved their Dickebush home in Patonga - where you can stay as a holiday rental (and we featured in the mag) - and their product designs, which you can buy at the showroom, so it seemed a fait accompli that I would like the place. Like the place? I loved it. It was like I'd died and gone to design heaven - but very much in the Australian-organic-with-style-and-feeling aisle.

I also love the company's motto: FOLLOW YOUR HEART, TRUST YOUR JUDGEMENT, DO IT WITH JOY. And that the couple behind the business - Sasha and Russel - left highly paid jobs to start Koskela.


What was your first career job and what path have you taken since? My first career job was as the deputy company secretary for the Australian Stock Exchange. I then set up and ran the communications division of the ASX once we listed the company. After doing this for a few years, Russel and I met and decided we both wanted to create our own company. We’d both worked for large businesses and had worked out what we liked and didn’t like about different companies we’d experienced. So we took major pay cuts but took hold of the reins that were controlling our lives.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? To follow your heart, trust your judgment and do it with joy.
What’s your proudest career achievement? Getting the Yuta Badayala project off the ground. This is a collaboration – the first of its kind! - with weavers from Elcho Island in Arnhem Land to use their traditional weaving techniques to create contemporary design products. It has been a dream of mine for quite a few years to work with the weavers and is quite a privilege to experience their rich culture. The first works are currently being exhibited at Object Gallery in Surry Hills.
What’s been your best decision? To leave working in big business and start up our own company. Many years of hard, hard work and tuna pasta in the beginning but it is so rewarding to see the business evolve and grow. We are now in our 10th year of business and it is still exciting. I feel as though the best is yet to come and that we are entering a very interesting phase in the history of the company.
Who inspires you? My partner, Russel – he’s Mr Enthusiasm.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? I would love to see the Koskela concept develop further and have Koskela showrooms overseas.

images courtesy of koskela and anson smart (dickebush)

table tonic's louise bell

Some people blaze onto the blogging scene, and one of the most recent stars is Louise Bell from Table Tonic. Not only has her site gained many fans in a short amount of time but she's also managed to launch an online homewares store selling beautiful imported fabrics and bedlinen. Think Mexican suzanis and ikat designs. Louise used to be creative director at ACP Magazine's Cosmopolitan and Cleo.

Which five words best describe you? Organised, pragmatic, resourceful, visual, efficient.
What was your first career job and what path have you taken since? I was a junior designer at Cosmopolitan magazine, and only recently left the publishing industry as Creative Director of Cosmo, a marriage and 2 children later. I have since reignited the frustrated stylist in me and started Table Tonic, an interiors blog, as well as a Table Tonic online homewares store.
What's the best lesson you've learnt along the way? Politeness and persistence is a killer combination - one that will get you anywhere!
What's your proudest career achievement? Being nominated for (graphic) Designer of the Year at the Magazine Publishers of Australia awards (and subsequently being invited back twice as a judge).
What's been your best decision? Going against the flow, taking the plunge and starting my own business feels so right. And at risk of sounding modest, I've surprised myself. Definitely the best decision I've made so far.
Who inspires you? People who exhibit one or several admirable traits: honesty, passion, kindness, patience... And people who are "living the dream", doing what they adore, every day.
What are you passionate about? Quality, beauty and natural materials - everyday objects that not only stand the test of time, but get better with age. Oh, and good food.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? I'd love to have had an opportunity to have a grown up conversation with each or any of my grandparents. I lost all 4 of them when I was still quite young.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? To live in a foreign country. Like most people, I think a stint in Paris holds stacks of appeal.
What are you reading? Sia Furler's Tweets, The Business Bakery's "Daily Juice" blog archives, and book-wise, I just finished Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello. It was pure escapism, but also incredibly insightful, being based on a true story. I think I read it in 48 hours.
 
images courtesy of table tonic