I was just saying the other day on the blog that the coastal interior is being reinvented.
We’re moving away from those more nautical influences like anchors, blue and white stripes and boats, and embracing a more tropical, lush and zesty aesthetic (think palm trees and mojitos).
You can read more about how to rock the new coastal interior here, but in the meantime I want to show you some tropical homewares from a brand I’m loving right now; Tropical Grace.
The stars aligned a little this week for me, actually, because not long after I was raving about how much I loved the new coastal interior scheme, I was lucky enough to secure some of Tropical Grace’s gorgeous cushions for TLC Interiors Shop.
What I love about these cushions is that one is very bold and bright and features a gorgeous palm tree motif (the Monstera Leaves design), while the other is completely subtle and subdued (that’s the Palm Lace design).
You might even, at first glance, think that the latter isn’t tropical, but the devil is in the detail here, with the intricate design inspired by palm trees themselves, albeit with a vintage influence and adorned with on-trend tassels.
Artist and creator of the designs, Marina Di Costanzo, tells me that she loves mixing traditional techniques like painting, crochet and embroidery with natural fabrics like cotton or linen. The process of design and execution is an interesting one, too.
“Depending on what kind of design I want to create, I usually start to illustrate the design with a pencil and restart until I like the shape,” Marina explains. “I prefer using oil paint to create tropical plants; I think the details are remarkable compared to watercolour. I have to wait a few days until it dries so I can scan it into Photoshop to smooth it and fix my mistakes”.
Moving from France to Australia in 2013, Marina’s creation of Tropical Grace followed years of work in completely different roles; writer for an online newspaper, merchandiser and sales specialist at Nespresso, and trade marketer for a organic food company in Europe.
Only meaning to stay in Australia for six months, Marina’s obviously fallen in love with the country (and who can blame her?).
“My first year in Australia was the most challenging and inspiring moment of my life,” she explains. “I think this journey gave me all the pieces I needed to listen and understand what I really wanted, who I really am”.
I couldn’t be happier to be exposing Marina’s work to you through TLC Interiors Shop. I spend a long time hunting out local artisans and designers that are up-and-coming, or who have put blood, sweat and tears into their work to get it off the ground. And it’s obvious that Marina has done this with Tropical Grace (and the results are divine, don’t you think?).
If you’d like to explore the Tropical Grace cushion range, please click here.
>>> Are you loving tropical homewares? I’d love to know if there are any other local creatives you think I could stock in the TLC Shop. Drop a comment below and let me know.
