I spent 35 years as a classically trained, award-winning Graphic Designer/Senior Creative – mostly in print, back when print was still the main event. I loved every year of it. As the industry tilted further and further toward the digital, I found myself paying more attention to my original passion: the physical world around me – space, colour, texture, pattern, light, and the particular alchemy of a well-placed object. So I followed it, and have recently been building my "second-coming" as a Melbourne-based Interior Decorator, including more than a year as a colour consultant for Resene Paints (yes, I really do have opinions about 360 shades of white).

It's less of a reinvention than it looks. Thirty-five years of graphic design left me with an eye for spatial layout, a genuine fluency in colour and pattern, and the technical skill to read and draw a plan properly – all of which, it turns out, translate rather neatly into a room. What hasn't changed is the part I've always cared about most: understanding people, and helping them say something true about themselves through their surroundings.

I help people make their house a home – sourcing intriguing new pieces, acknowledging existing key pieces and finding their best place, developing colour palettes, and project managing fixtures and fittings – the aim is always the same: a space that actually reflects the person or people living in it, not a trend I've imported for the season that will look dated the moment it's fashionable to say so. I work in an eclectic style, because I believe a home should have at least a few meaningful pieces that spark comment and conversation at a dinner party (or, ideally, a small controversy). Considered and clever, with a healthy dose of light-heartedness.

A little more about me, for context: I'm a collector (I still get a small thrill recalling a few of my pieces once appearing in the NGV – both of which I still have, as they're reminders of special and influential women in my life), and a mender – there are few things I enjoy more than repairing and rejuvenating something that deserves a second life. I also have what I can only describe as an unhealthy relationship with manchester and all things glass. Is it healthy? Probably not. Am I stopping? Also no.

If you'd like to talk colour, pattern, texture, architecture, or the occasional bit of cinema, I'm always up for the conversation – and I'd love to help you create a space that will still feel like you in ten years, not just this season.

— Lou Beach