An Artist’s Minimalist, Yet Personalised Apartment

A brutalist travertine coffee table is one of the few statement pieces in the otherwise minimal home. Photo – The Palm Co.

The lounge room benefits from direct sunlight and a gorgeous green outlook. Photo – The Palm Co.

The dining room table was made by the client’s brother, The Mill, and represents the heart of the home. Photo – The Palm Co.

The brief was to create a bright minimalist space that could act as a comfortable, gallery-like backdrop for the client’s collection of beloved objects and furniture. Photo – The Palm Co.

Open kitchen shelving puts earthy ceramics on display. Photo – The Palm Co.

In order not to overwhelm the small space with dramatic flourishes of personality, the designers exercised restraint – opting for texture and bespoke fittings to create points of interest. Photo – The Palm Co.

The owner is artist Ash Holmes, whose large artworks sit in the second bedroom beside a custom timber window seat. Photo – The Palm Co.

The large white steel doors were custom made for the project, and ended up being the biggest challenge! Photo – The Palm Co.

An inbuilt ledge is an elegant solution to a chunk bedside table. Photo – The Palm Co.

Linens were another key feature of the material palette, which is largely inspired by Japanese interiors. Photo – The Palm Co.

Green became the continuous colour accent throughout the project, linking all the rooms together and providing warmth to the muted space. Photo – The Palm Co.

The bathroom is a tonal contrast to the rest of the home. Photo – The Palm Co.

To ensure a minimalist space is balanced and warm rather than stark and clinical, there needs to be a few points of interest. Folk Studio considered this problem at length when designing the Adam Street House – a two-bedroom apartment for artist Ash Holmes in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Co-founder and director of Folk Studio, Mariah Madder, settled on textures, custom furniture and subtle threads of colour woven throughout the interior as a way of create an interesting, unique space that didn’t overwhelm its petite volumes.

A restrained, Japanese-inspired material palette of American walnut, ceramic tiles and linen creates a focus on texture and sets the backdrop for larger pieces to establish small flourishes of drama. For example, the floors, walls and ceilings are painted white, while bespoke cabinetry and a few statement insertions such as a travertine coffee table and vast steel doors immediately draw the eye.

‘Choosing green to be the continuous accent colour throughout the home was an intentional choice to reflect the bold colour statements we appreciate in Ash’s artworks,’ Mariah explains.

The material restraint was both necessary for the small space and intentional to create a comfortable, gallery-like environment suitable for displaying the client’s curation of belongings.

‘[Ash] wanted each piece in the space to have a story,’ explains Mariah. ‘These stories were communicated through unique furniture pieces, the people who created them and their origins.’

Two of her own large artworks sit in the second bedroom beside a custom banquette seat, while open kitchen shelving presents the couple’s collection of earthy ceramics.

The dining table is especially special. Designed and made by Ash’s brother, The Mill, the curved table with distinct flat legs is the heart of the home.

Each pocket of the house has a narrative embedded in its presence, making this project a minimalist yet ultra personal home!

See more projects from Folk Studio here.