Finding a flow in interior design

You know you’re doing something you love when you completely lose track of time, maybe even place if you’re lucky. They call it being “in flow”. And you know you’re onto a good connection when you’re inspired by the people around you.

I’ve always had a love of interiors, maybe ever since Saturday morning chores as a kid! My chore was always to dust the living room, I loved it though because it never felt like one. I’d play around with mum’s different porcelain vases and oriental ornaments. Mix them in among her floral arrangements resting on lace or crocheted cloths my Granny had made.

I’d grab her at the end, lead her into the room with her eyes closed and “ta daaa”. She always nurtured and encouraged my creativity, and my Saturday chore never did change, so maybe I was ok at it. 

I never had a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. Other than an actress! My careers counselor was mortified and tried to steer me into a career in catering, “perhaps in the Navy”, she’d suggested. While I had a love of food and my home economics class was probably my favorite subject, somehow being stuck out at sea, below deck for days/weeks at a time didn’t draw me in. 

So taking a lead from my high school friends, I packed up and moved four hours south to Wellington, my Capital city to study Media Studies and Theatre. I absolutely loved my Uni years. I met some of my closest and dearest friends who’ve been my world… and still are today, 21 years on even though we’re an ocean apart.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but my part-time Uni career was influencing something bigger. It was sowing the seeds for a life I had no idea was coming. I’d worked as a merchandiser in retail stores for years during high school, and Uni. Layla, a regular customer of mine for a store I’d been working in, saw something in my work and offered me a role as a retail manager and stylist in her stunning homeware store, Country Theme. I was in heaven. Introduced to beautiful furniture makers from New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and kitchen and homeware design houses like Alessi and Ritzenhoff. I was able to appreciate the unique, handcrafted approach to interior dècor and design. The thing I loved the most though was helping our clients design a space they wanted to come home to. Selecting materials, colours and styles for their new dining table or lounge suite, and pairing these pieces with rugs, lighting and dècor to add texture, shape and depth to the space, I would lose track of time. I was in my flow. 

It’s funny how life takes twists and turns for you without explaining why. Landing in my digital marketing career after Uni there were a lot of similarities to how I worked in homewares. The layout and flow of a page on a site, the linkage of design, colour and stories between email, social and the website, like wandering through a space in a home before settling in on a comfy sofa to read a page and find inspiration. I used to work with my now husband, affectionately known as T, back in my corporate days. I was always completely blown away with how he’d turn my bits and pieces marketing briefs into the most amazing, next level, eye catching designs that instantly drew you in, and looked so clean and clear.

I tell the story of why I made the move out of my corporate career to create Ocean to Stable homewares in my Founder’s Story. I think, a year and a half away from that world now, having had the space and time to be able to set my own pace and find my creative flow again, I'm able to really appreciate that the road that has always been leading me to where I am today. The ability to follow a passion, play and get lost in a world that really is where I was always supposed to end up.

I hope everyone finds this place, activity or joy that makes them feel this way. In the very least, never underestimate how much life really does have every experience and pathway planned out just for you. Let yourself be led, confidently by this. Goodluck, and I’d love to hear your own stories of how you found your flow. 

P x