“I knew I wanted to be an interior decorator when I was ten years old” says Greg Natale, adding ”I saw sets on tv and in films and was inspired.” This personal epiphany made him realise he’d always be good at what he loved doing.

Mr Natale studied interior design at the Design Centre Enmore, Sydney, visual arts at Sydney College of the Arts as well as architecture at Sydney’s University of Technology. He has been a designer for 25 years and is now a multi-award-winning interior designer. He has completed many glamorous, successful projects, has his own flagship store at 115 Macleay Street, Potts Point, and has now written two books with a third on the way.

His design consultancy creates the full gamut of homewares including his own bespoke items such as designer rugs, glass mosaic tiles, coffee tables, mirrors, cutlery, picture frames, candleholders, hand-tufted silk rugs, pet products, Portuguese ceramic vases, towels, quilt covers, crystal bookends, glass wear, ice buckets, dinner wear, napkin rings, cushions and other objet virtu. Complementing his own range of soft homewares are marble, brass, ceramics are other desirable designs pieces from style masters such as the esteemed Italian designer, Gio Ponti, and American artist, Keith Haring.

Mr Natale makes spaces sing.

His first project for Greg Natale Design was designing his sister’s one-bedroom apartment with wall-to-wall custom-coloured Florence Broadhurst wallpaper, layered with matching artwork and linen. Not only did this project win him his first award, it also announced his commitment to the creation of a new Australian interior, one that was unafraid of the big notes, unapologetic and, although bold in its approach, was also carefully considered, intricately layered and beautifully measured.

Since then, his business has gone from strength to strength, with designs featured in numerous local and international publications including “Architectural Digest”, “Harper’s Bazaar”, “The Wall Street Journal”,” Vanity Fair”, “Vogue Living’ and “Belle Australia”. Among his many awards, one of the most important is winning International Luxury Designer of the Year for 2016 in North Carolina, USA. His most cherished awards have been winning the Belle Magazine Interior Design Award, twice.

Greg has extended his passion for pattern, line and colour into other design disciplines, exploring his love of geometric and organic designs through the creation of ranges of rugs, carpets, wallpaper, tiles, furniture and homewares. He has collaborated with local and global brands such as leading Australian firm, Designer Rugs, Italian tile experts, Bisazza, and classic French furniture label, Grange.

In 2019 Greg’s collection of decorative accessories and homewares was launched in the Bergdorf Goodman luxury store, 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York.

His Macleay Street store is a work of art in itself and incorporates hand-polished, cement-coloured walls, marble floors, chrome door linings and exterior curved glass and black tiles as an homage to the area’s art deco heritage. He says he chose Macleay Street because “it is such a great ‘high street’”.

The window display is both arresting and daring: a life-size male wearing nothing but a Greg Natale towel – naturellement.

“It stops traffic,” says Mr Natale, “and encourages people to think about coming inside.”

His design ethos is based around his own four principles: (1) establishing a clear concept of what is desired and why, (2) layering art and finish into the floors, walls and ceilings, (3) incorporating pattern and colour, and (4) ensuring the end result achieves both balance and proportion. He says his style is summed up in one word, ie. “tailored”, which incorporates the Three Ls; layered, liveable and luxurious.

He addresses these in more detail in his books, “The Tailored Interior,” “The Patterned Interior” and in next year’s release, “The Layered Interior”. As a style virtuoso, he is also featured in “Interior Design Review: a definitive guide to the world’s top 100 designers”, published 2020.

Martyn Lawrence Bullard, writing in the Foreward to “the Patterned Interior” notes that “Greg proves himself in this book to be not just a leader in the field in his own country, but to be a world-class tastemaker. His singular style has become admired internationally, inspiring many to be true to themselves, to be more adventurous with pattern, and to live life to the fullest through fun and totally fabulous design. This is undeniably the signature of a master designer, the signature of Greg Natale.”

His future projects may include designing yachts, private jets and even home fragrance diffusers.

Greg Natale flagship store

Address 115 Macleay Street, cnr Orwell Street, Potts Point

Hours

Monday-Wed: 10am – 5:30pm
Thursday:        10am – 6pm
Friday:             10am – 5:30pm
Saturday:        9:30am – 5pm
Sunday:           11am – 4pm

Phone              (02) 9188 8716
Mobile              0473 333 283

Email               store@gregnatale.com
Website           https://www.gregnatale.com/pages/about/

Books available in-store: ”The Tailored Interior”, published 2014 by Hardie Grant books, Richmond, Melbourne; “The Patterned Interior”, published 2018 by Rizzoli, New York; “Interior Design Review; a definitive guide to the world’s top 100 designers”, published 2020 by teNeues Verlag GMBH, Kempen, Germany, and next year: “The Layered Interior”, details to be announced.

By Andrew Woodhouse

Heritage Solutions