a time to pause

After almost five and a half years and more than 700 interviews it's time to press pause on Daily Imprint. It's time for new adventures in creativity. 

I have also taken leave of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest too.

Thank you wholeheartedly for your support, enthusiasm and kind words over the years - readers and interviewees alike.

For now, you can still read my work in various interior magazines. I will continue to write and style for Warnes & Walton. And I'm thrilled to say that Frontliners will return soon too. Subscribe so you can receive updates.

Over the coming months I will share news on various projects on Nataliewalton.com - the site should be up and running in the New Year.

Until then, I hope the holiday season gives you the chance to rest and refresh.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

image courtesy of chris warnes

photographer chris warnes

Most weeks I work with photographer Chris Warnes. And most weeks he goes quiet when people who we meet through Warnes & Walton mention Daily Imprint. About two years ago I sent him the questions that I send through to the various interesting and creative people I meet through work who I hope to feature on the blog. And for two years he's been busy, which I know to be true. 

Since we met at real living magazine - when he was the art director and I was the deputy editor - he has gone on to forge a new career as a photographer. In a short period of time since going freelance he has not only been a regular contributor for the leading interior magazines but he's also shot covers for Country Style, House & Garden, Inside Out and Real Living. Chris is passionate about his fine art photography too, which he plans to exhibit in the near future. Notwithstanding his busy work schedule, he is also a hands-on father to two young sons.... and a keen renovator. 

For many years I've had the good fortune to work with Chris. He is someone who not only creates beautiful images - and cares deeply about what he does - but also someone who respects the process of what we do. And while shoot days with Chris are always fun and full of chatter, they are primarily focussed on creating work that we can both be proud to call our own. I couldn't ask for more. 

Which five words best describe you? Creative, perfectionist (it’s a curse), approachable, down-to-earth, fun.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I studied and started out as a graphic designer, working up towards being an art director in publishing and advertising. I was lucky enough to work with some very inspiring people. Some time ago I rekindled the idea of being behind the lens instead of standing next to that person. I studied some more and then threw myself in the deep end. I love my job and often think how fortunate I am.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Take risks and nurture your passion.

What’s your proudest career achievement? I find it hard to appreciate my work, as I often am a little too close to it. I have been enjoying working on an exhibition I hope to exhibit in the near future. It's something that gets me out of bed in the early hours chasing the right conditions, and keeps me standing in driving rain waiting for the right moment. I am proud of the shots I have so far so I think when I finish it, it will be great.

What’s been your best decision? To do what I love.

Who inspires you? My two boys, they are fearless!

What are you passionate about? Making sure my little boys grow up to be happy, kind and loving men. 

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Harold Holt. I would like to ask him what happened at the beach that day.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? I would like to win the Tour de France. Somehow I think I have missed the boat on that one. Go Cadel!

What are you reading? I am stuck on page 62 of a book my good friend wrote. It’s a romantic paranormal novel targeted at young teenage girls. Obviously it’s not something I would not normally read. I will finish it, Mick.

images courtesy of chris warnes

interior designer kelly hoppen

One of the biggest names out of the UK when it comes to interior design belongs to Kelly Hoppen. While she got her start at a young age - still a teenager - she was quickly designing interiors for high-profile clients, including chef Gary Rhodes and actor Martin Shaw. Kelly's other projects have gone on to include designing first class cabins for British Airways and a hotel in Barcelona. She has also created the interiors for residential and commercial clients across the globe, putting her imprint on properties in New York, Hong Kong and Thailand. Kelly has released various product ranges too - from fabric to wallpaper and paint - as well as books. And more recently she has been the host of Super Interiors for the UK's Channel 5. In 2009 Kelly was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to interior design.

Which five words best describe you? Passionate, motivated, ambitious, determined, curious.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? My first design job was designing a kitchen for a friend of my father and my career started from there. My first big design project was for a Formula 1 racing driver. 
What's the best lesson you've learnt along the way? That it is the spirit of a home which creates the perfect home in which to live.
What's your proudest career achievement? Receiving my MBE from the Queen in 2009.
What's been your best decision? To persevere with what I love doing. Even though I started my business when I was very young, and it was hard to get my clients to trust me, I am happy that I kept going.
Who inspires you? Nelson Mandela 
What are you passionate about? Creating homes for the way people live, not just because they are aesthetically pleasing or filled with design trends. Your home must work for you and how you live.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet?  Nelson Mandela 
What dream do you still want to fulfil? I want my brand and company to be established in lots of new territories. I would also absolutely adore to design a film/theatre set.
What are you reading? Vidal: The Autobiography by Vidal Sassoon

images courtesy of kelly hoppen

designer susanna bilardo

Designers based in non-Eastern states don't always get as much press as their Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane cousins often due to geography. Magazine budgets don't tend to extend to interstate trips and so sometimes the great work that's being produced in places such as Adelaide and Perth goes under the radar. But that's not to say that there isn't amazing talent out west. Take the design studio Enoki. It consistently produces engaging design across a range of mediums - from residential to commercial interior design right the way across to products and graphic design. Enoki was established in 2001 after one of its founders, Susanna Bilardo, had been running various interior and furniture design businesses since 1993. She teamed with her partner, graphic designer and illustrator Judd Crush to create the studio. 

Which five words best describe you? Energetic, creative, motivated, positive, supportive.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? When I left uni, a while ago now, I was either heading back overseas or staying to start a design studio with friends. I stayed and worked with Jacky Spencer for 12 years; we established designpod and later Now furniture. We finished up in 2003 and I amalgamated with my husband Judd Crush illustrator/graphic designer. We called ourselves Enoki mainly due to our love of mushrooms and how we marvelled that from the dark such beautiful things grow - a little like us we thought. Our goal was to create a cross-disciplinary studio where interiors and graphics drive a project unanimously, with a sprinkling of product design to feed the soul.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Do what you love and keep it real.

What’s your proudest career achievement? Having such an amazing group of people we work with in and out of the office everyday - it breeds creativity and wellbeing.

What’s been your best decision? To work alongside my husband.

Who inspires you? My team, my girls Ivy and Winter, and my mum.

What are you passionate about? Vitality, good food and beautiful design.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Meet again: my uncle Guiseppe, rally driving through the back streets of Lake Como - RIP.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? A studio/café overlooking the sea, with extended periods of relaxation.

What are you reading? Raw family: a true story of awakening.

images courtesy of enoki

scotland island house

It says something about the Scotland Island weekender that belongs to Craig and Leigh that shortly after I visited for a third time to produce a feature for Warnes & Walton, I booked a holiday to return. There is so much to enjoy about this place - not just its location, but also the way it has been transformed into a place to rest and relax. And that's just what I did on my return visit. I read several of Craig's books from cover to cover, and stopped to enjoy life.

The log cabin is listed on Stayz - so you can visit too.

Also, I must thank not only Craig and Leigh for making this feature possible - which appears in the JanFeb 13 issue of Inside Out - but also some of my regular haunts when styling for shoots - Project 82, Orson & Blake, Le Forge and Elements I Love.

images courtesy of inside out (photography chris warnes/warnes & walton; writing, styling and production natalie walton/warnes & walton)

interior stylist imogen naylor

The courier dock at ACP Magazines is a place where you can bump into all sorts of people. On occasion I'd see and meet Imogen Naylor, who was then interior design editor at belle. While the images she created for the magazine were sublime, there's no doubt that they involved a lot of work - and many runs to the courier dock. Shortly after I started styling regularly for real living, Imogen left belle to commence maternity leave. She subsequently went freelance and has since been in demand for advertising clients and interior decorating work. In January 2012 she was also appointed style ambassador for Maison Instyle.

Which five words best describe you? Passionate, motivated, perfectionist, sensitive, real. 

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? It was all about timing, after graduating from uni I was lucky enough to know Romaine Alwill, who was the interior design editor of belle magazine at the time. She offered me an assisting role which lead to market editor followed by interiors editor. Yes, you have to do your time in the editorial world. I left my full-time role at belle to juggle the duties of motherhood and build up my freelance styling work and private interior decorating business. 

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Trust and listen to your intuition - it's sometimes one of the hardest things to do.

What’s your proudest career achievement? There have been a few, especially amongst my freelance clients, but a definite stand out is being offered the role of interior design editor of belle by Neale Whitaker. 

What’s been your best decision? Marrying my husband, Louis Molines. 

Who inspires you? If I can name a few: my gorgeous French cousins - the three of them are completely different but all encompass such savior faire - they have such an amazing positive outlook on life. Others are Axel Vervoordt, Pamela Makin of Les Interieurs, photographer Tim Walker and Marcel Wolterinck.

What are you passionate about? My son, getting the colour just right, bedding and an organised living space. 

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Michael Jackson - yes, I know what you are all thinking but besides his weird looks I think he was one of the most talented artists around. The movie showcasing the behind the scenes and the making of his world tour blew me away. 

What dream do you still want to fulfil? I have a fabric shoot I have been designing for about 2-3 years now. I just need the budget, the time and the energy to produce it. And, of course, my dream house - you should see the mood board! 

What are you reading? In all honesty, about a thousand different things from how to landscape your own backyard to Buddhism for mothers to interior design blogs. Last night was the Howards Storage World catalogue. It changes every night. 

images courtesy of imogen naylor (photography jason loucas 1, 2 & 3, nick scott 4, and paul suesse 5) 

designer & shop owner shelley mason

Over the past five years I have crossed paths with Shelley Mason many times. We first got to know each other when she was launching her kids bedlinen company Kideko, while I was at real living magazine. We resumed contact when Shelley was assisting her parents at their company, Strand Agencies, and consequently helped me to source furniture and homewares for styling shoots. Most recently we have been meeting at Project 82, a design business she has set up with Tom Williams. It's a multi-pronged venture as not only do they have a shop front in Sydney's Surry Hills, but they also offer an interior design service, and are able to source wares from across the country. The actual store is a small rotating sample of the products they have available to them via industry contacts. If that's not enough, Shelley is also involved in Staple & Co, a new range of affordable sofas that are Australian designed and made - and available via Project 82. 

Which five words best describe you? Warm, honest, hardworking, down-to-earth, perfectionist. 

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I guess that having my own business was something that was always going to be a given for me. My family have run a company in the commercial fabrics industry for many years, and I've watched them work very hard along the way, but also enjoy the flexibility that doing your own thing allows. Leaving school, I was convinced I wanted to work in hospitality and own a restaurant, which was my first business back in the early nineties. That was a bit of disaster - my age probably had a lot to do with that. I've always enjoyed design and nice things. My first role after the restaurant was working for DeDeCE, which gave me a great introduction. Then the in-between years have been spent on a variety of things: marketing roles; event management and PR; and project managing building renovations in London, which was a lot of fun and very rewarding. I also set up and ran my own kids bedding label Kideko, which I've now sadly closed down. That type of business is very competitive and designing and manufacturing new and interesting product in this country is very hard to make profitable. More recently, and whilst Luella my daughter was very young, I assisted my parents with their business that wholesales furniture and accessories to the interior design trade, which was another great introduction to what I'm doing now with Project 82. 

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? This latest business is my third, so I'm clearly not shy of having a go.  Tenacity is probably something I lacked in the early years but have recently gained with age and experience - this is certainly an essential ingredient to any business success.     

What’s your proudest career achievement? This may be crazy but I'm most proud of the fact that I now have a business that my team are all very happy to be a part of. For the first time in my career, I have talented, dedicated staff that really want to come to work - they are always on time with a smile, and really, genuinely want to be here. I think that's pretty cool as it means I've created an inspiring place to be. 

What’s been your best decision? Teaming up with my business partner Tom Williams has to be up there. He's a true creative entrepreneur and I feel lucky to have established our collaboration; his input has been invaluable and it's great to have someone to share the responsibility of making the big decisions.  

Who inspires you? My parents who have always managed to mix pleasure and business together, showing me that work doesn't need to be a drag. They have fun with what they do and who they work with, so their work/life balance is great - this is important, particularly when you've got family to consider. 

What are you passionate about? Good design, lovely things and great food.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? Since moving back to Australia almost seven years ago, the overseas trips and travel have definitely been few and far between. I really miss jumping on a plane and seeing somewhere new and would really love to get my life to a point that I have the opportunity to do this on a more regular basis. It'd be great to take an annual trip to somewhere amazing each year - next year I'm aiming for Milan in April for the Furniture Fair. 

What are you reading? One Day by David Nicholls. For design inspiration - Emma's blog.

images daily imprint featuring shelley mason and project 82 

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

shop owner anna chandler

Holly Clarke and Anna Chandler

The world of interiors has shrunk considerably since the advent of online shopping. And while it's possible to buy products directly from other countries, there are an increasing number of businesses that do away with trawling to find the good stuff. That's the intention behind Feather & Buzz, an online shop focussed on unique finds from across the globe. Anna Chandler and Holly Clarke launched the site in 2011. The most recent collection includes finds from their travels through India. While Holly is currently exploring South America, Anna spoke about their online venture.

Which five words best describe you? (Depends on the day!)

Tall, zealous, mum, impatient, hungry.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? After I graduated I was lucky enough to land a job with Savills in their shopping centre marketing – this was a fantastic platform to get me a great job when I moved to London in 2002.  Over there - inbetween much travel, which was definitely the start of the dream of starting my own business working with interesting artisans from all over the place - I worked in a few different jobs but the most memorable was being the marketing manager with Historic Royal Palaces (Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Banqueting House). My office in the Tower was literally above the crown jewels! Seriously inspiring locations to work in. I moved back from London after a six-year stint and I continued to work in marketing before giving it up to have my children – Mac and Piper - and focus on launching F&B.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? To be flexible! It’s the nature of what we do that we are dealing with artisans and businesses all over the world and I’ve quickly learnt that a deadline can be a very grey area, or a shipment being delayed due to monsoons in the north is quite "normal" and that "yes, not a problem" may not always mean quite that. 

What’s your proudest career achievement? I’ve got to answer launching Feather & Buzz surely.

What’s been your best decision? To wear flats on my wedding day - I was first and last on the dancefloor.

Who inspires you? My sister – she is absolutely a modern day revolutionary.

What are you passionate about? Without being a complete cliché can I say my children? I am their slave.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? I can’t imagine actually upon meeting anyone I can think of I wouldn’t be completely lost for words or say something completely ridiculous in my nervousness, and consequently they would quickly wonder why they ever agreed to meet with me in the first place. With that aside, and assuming I was suddenly granted unswerving witty conversation and cool, I think it would be Jamie Oliver.  Adore his cooking, but really admire his philanthropic work on health and nutrition for children and through the fifteen foundation.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? To get my pilots licence.

What are you reading? Five Bells by Gail Jones – I’ve just joined a book club and it’s this month's read.

images courtesy of feather & buzz

the home of "elvis et moi"

The home of Emilie Austin of Elvis et Moi is every bit as stylish as she is. It's also where the designer creates her jewellery. Emilie has also just released a range of leather goods, too.

The feature on her home, in the latest Christmas issue of Real Living, was shot by Warnes & Walton.

Read an interview with Emilie here.

images courtesy of real living, warnes & walton (photography chris warnes, styling natalie walton), emilie austin 

designer christine schmidt

The range of stamp sets and stationery from Yellow Owl Workshop can be found in more than 500 stores across the world, including in Australia. However, it was only in 2007 that the founder Christine Schmidt was making handprinted cards and gifts herself and taking them along to shops in San Francisco, where she has been based since finishing art school in Washington. While she continues to be heavily involved in the creative side of the business, she now has a team focussed on the business end, which is headed by her husband Evan Gross and friend Maria Niubo. Christine also published a book, Print Workshop.

Which five words best describe you? Curious, exacting, stubborn. 

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? After art school I had a lot of random jobs like mural painter and cake decorator.  

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Don't be prideful. Don't stop learning. I didn't know anything about computer graphics but I slowly I taught myself. Didn't know anything about print production (or jewellery production or rubber stamp production) but I called a million places and hobbled together an understanding of each field and made a plan.

What’s your proudest career achievement? I have been fortunate to have had some good press and write a book and have my goods in stellar stores, but I love getting emails from people that like and use my stuff. Just honoured that people care enough to write to me and that items I have made have crept into people lives. 

What’s been your best decision? Falling in love. My husband, Evan, loves me too much and he has always been my biggest pusher.  He is my confidence when I have none and my drive when I really just want to watch terrible TV.

Who inspires you? My mother. She raised four girls by herself with a career and taught me about considering others and that asking for help is not a weakness.

What are you passionate about? Getting my ideas out in physical form. 

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Hokey, I know, but Leonardo da Vinci. So accomplished because he was an astute observer, a problem solver in so many arenas. I would make him roast chicken and chocolate cake.

What are you reading? My bedside table now I has Why we buy: the science of shopping, and gossip magazines.

images courtesy of christine schmidt; portrait ana homonnay