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Rouse Phillips Design - Made in Sydney

Meet Sydney textile design duo Timothy Rouse and Anastasia Phillips from Rouse Phillips
This is a small selection of samples by Rouse Phillips found in their Sydney studio. Photos via Hub*
*sneezing with excitement* Watch this space - colour samples for hand knotted rugs in wool and silk - exclusive to Rouse Phillips Textiles. You can see them being made in Nepal on their blog
Find Rouse Phillips Textile at Suite 7, 66 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia 2010
Welcome to my first in the series Made in Sydney.

OK drum roll... Meet six month old textile brand Rouse Phillips Tim [Rouse] and Anastasia [Phillips] saw a gap in the Australian interior textile market for fun and eclectic fabrics. Other than very typically Australian design or high end European fabrics there was nothing that they felt really did anything different. The first vibrant collection is a mix of art-deco, floral, and illustrative design.  I love what they are producing and I predict we are going to be seeing their designs popping up everywhere soon. It's exciting to see youthful brands full of energy. They are already planning to expand into homewares and rugs. You can read more about them here. To see more of their wonderful designs go here.

Why am I doing Made in Sydney? 
EVERYONE (locally and internationally) it's time to support Australian Design. If you know who to go too Australian design isn't overpriced or inspired copies.  There is a young generation who are seeing a gap in the middle market, who are trying to manufacture locally, and are finding inspiration and natural materials from this wonderful country which has over 40,000 years of history to work with.

Since being back in Australia I'm shocked in the lack of support for local design talent by major retailers. It's been a huge contrast to the UK. When I first checked out major department stores Myer and David Jones I couldn't find obvious Australian interior design product. I contacted the heads of both stores telling them they NEED to support local designers how they do with fashion. Yes, I did find Donna Hay's Wedgewood collection, Kas textiles and Sheridan but surely they should offer shoppers something way more substantial? Where is Henry Wilson, Trent Jansen, Charles Wilson, Bonnie and Niel products in those stores?

I suggested them to adopt the business model of Heals and John Lewis supporting local young designers in store and in the press. I also suggested an essential range which is good design at low prices. It isn't acceptable retailer to sell average, made in China, dessert bowls at $25 each. One of the biggest challenges young designers face is cost. They work very hard to make their product affordable for us to buy. If they had support from major retailers they would be given buying power in materials and labour to help their prices go down and exposure to hopefully become household names. I would love other stores including, Bunnings, Domayne, Harvey Norman, Freedom Furniture, Target to actively support young talent in Australia.

I live in Sydney and on a daily basis I'm coming across new talent. In a small radius there is an incredible amount of passionate people tapping away actively trying to help us live in environments we are proud of.  This is my chance to share this with you and hopefully get the world buzzing about what is happening in my hood.  I would love someone to commission (challenge) me so I can prove to you it is possible to fit out an apartment with beautiful locally made product for about the same price as a high street store such as Australian IKEA or Freedom Furniture. 

If you want to see young Australian design talent supported by major Australian retail then please go to their twitter or Facebook page and write.

"Please bring together the work of the best up-&-coming Australian furniture & homeware designers in an exclusive collection. I would like to nominate (name of designer)". #MadeInSydney

David Jones Link   |  Myer Link   |   Freedom Furniture Link  Domayne Link | Target Link 

If you can't wait on me you can find a great source of Australian design talent on must read blog The Design Files.

9 comments:

  1. great theme for some posts, i want to see more of this. i'm not up on my aussie design so it's going to be interesting to find out more. i'll be sure to check out this designfiles and all the fb pages

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  2. Yeehah ! You tell 'em!! But seriously, I couldn't agree more. Have just finished a new house using as much australian product as we possibly could - without stretching the budget. It took a lot of sourcing, as these things do have to be hunted down. So why, oh why, don't the big retailers tap into a growing demand for ethically, sustainably made local products which do not fall to bits like so many of the cheap imports often do?

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  3. Wow! I think it is so awesome you challenged yourself to decorate your home with locally designed products to fit out your home. We just need to let the retailers know directly on a large scale we want local talent and product in our store. We have to stress too it needs to be affordable...

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  4. The rouse Phillips design made in Sydney is excellent. Get the details form here

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  5. Amazing patterns! Look forward to seeing more of your #MadeInSydney series in 2013 :)

    Danling @ The Flying Room

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