Christopher Elliott is a self-taught interior designer, having come to his craft via an artistic and product design background. During the past two decades of running his own interior design studio, Christopher Elliott Design, Chris has developed an acute sense of awareness and rigour, which he brings to all his projects. There is a sharp almost forensic awareness of the client and their needs and aspirations, and rigour, too, in delivering a design response that answers these needs and pushes beyond to anticipate needs not yet considered.

“It’s nice to bring beauty into the world and I feel that definitely is of value, but it’s also about delivering upon purpose and having functionality incorporated into the design,” says Chris. “When you get that winning formula of form and function, and your design really delivers that for the clients, then you knock it out of the park. Not only do they love it, they also relish in the fact that it makes their life easy, it performs [well] and endures over time.”

South Yarra House, recently completed by the studio, is notable for its sensitive blending of Victorian era heritage elements with more contemporary design additions, custom furniture pieces, and one of Chris’ favourite features of the fit-out, the kitchen.

Chris is a proponent for working with heritage homes. He sees the restrictions of heritage as an opportunity for building new narratives; they give him something of substance to work with and a strong “jumping off point” for the design response.

One of the design team’s immediate challenges was agreeing on which heritage aspects of the home to retain and how to transition other elements into a contemporary aesthetic that aligned with the early-2000s extension at the rear. “We didn’t want a huge contrast between the two” – rather, the strategy was to blend.

Together with senior interior designers Will Harrington and Charlene Antoneemootoo, Chris used natural stone and timber joinery to create a cohesive dialogue between past and present. “We used materiality to bridge these two aesthetics, incorporating a contemporary joinery design in the newer spaces, while working with a shaker frame detail for the more heritage aspects of the home.”

Chris and the team chose Artedomus Zurano granite, applying it extensively throughout the living areas, the bathroom, and outdoor entertaining area, to unify the home’s dueling architectural eras. The team was drawn to the Zurano granite’s “rock solid” qualities and blueish-grey tones. “We influenced the material palette with an injection of a deep navy colour,” says Chris. The Zurano answered this call with its own rich navy veining, offset against tones of charcoal and grey.

Finding the perfect colouration required some back-and-forth with Artedomus, who undertook their own investigations to source a sparkle-free granite that would match the team’s specific colour palette requirements.

The Zurano granite truly comes into its own in the kitchen, bringing warmth and texture to the benchtop, splashback, shelving, and rangehood, where it contrasts with the sleek expanse of stainless steel. “Food is a passion for our client, so she wanted a kitchen that performs,” says Chris. “While aesthetics matter, she didn’t want to be overly precious about maintenance.” The stainless steel benchtop introduced a striking design element, and the hard-wearing Zurano granite provides a warm, textured counterpoint to its cool, pristine surface.

Chris and team have taken their ventures into granite one step further, to sculpt the freestanding kitchen island with a curved, stepped edge. “We played with curvature on that island bench to soften the form as it steps down into the lower bench. This gives it a sculptural form in the space,” says Chris.

The curved edge is echoed in the floating Zurano granite shelf in the adjoining dining zone; the material story continues into the loungeroom with a low-lying plinth upon which the fireplace is set, and the outdoor barbecue zone.

“When creating living environments, we like to use natural material which have an authenticity to them, that allow for a more timeless design. Natural materials can be re-treated, natural stone can be refinished, or manipulated in the future to give them further life,” reflects Chris, who prefers to design for longevity and work with materials that have the ability to endure.

While Chris’ interior design work is innately tied to the client and the location, his product designs are a free expression of his own artistic voice. Under his Elio Furniture label Chris frequently finds opportunity to develop bespoke furniture pieces for his interior design projects, and for South Yarra House he has designed the Norman Desk, a beautiful kidney-shaped sit-to-stand executive desk.

The desk is the embodiment of beauty and resolve, delivering on the client’s functional needs and responding intimately to the bay window within which it is positioned. Chris has cleverly concealed the sit-to-stand mechanism which allows for the desk to seamlessly rise and lower back down again. He is most proud of the effortlessness of this operation, a complex feature that has been seamlessly resolved into the overall design.

You can watch the behind-the-scenes video of the Norman Desk in development, courtesy of Joel Elliott Furniture, below.

Also making a brief cameo in the project is the Vera Stool for Elio Furniture. The stool is characterised by its sculptured and shaped solid timber elements, and the generously padded seat with its hugging back support. “The Vera stool is a tribute to my grandma, whom I remember fondly as I sat in her kitchen watching her bake. It’s where I first learned to appreciate food, and her kitchen stool gave me the perfect vantage point to observe, learn, and wonder,” says Chris.

All in all, South Yarra House is a reflection of Chris’ sensitive and rigorous approach to interior design; the spaces are an expression of Chris’ bravery and also confidence with materiality and design detailing in responding to complex heritage scenarios; and of course a little of his own artistic flair dwells quietly in the details – best appreciated when sitting behind the desk.