Make Your Home Beautiful with Bambury (and WIN a $500 Gift Voucher!)

If you are after one of the quickest, most affordable and also easiest ways to freshen up a bedroom or living space, I always think new cushions are a fail-proof way to go. Nothing brightens and lifts a space quite as easily! Add in a fresh new plant and you’ve treated your room or outdoor area to a speedy, mini facelift that will lift you up as you walk into it.

I keep cushion covers in our linen closet, and rotate them through the year. I buy what I love, and although I try to declutter our things often I find I rarely get rid of cushions. Yesterday a friend visited my house for the first time and commented on how pretty a cushion in our lounge room was – I told her I’d bought it about eight years ago! Although I LOVE seeing the latest interiors trends (so much so I even write a weekly interiors column for STM in The Weekend West) I still go by the ‘buy what you love’ rule. Trends will come and go, but if you buy what you really love, you’ll never go wrong, and you can usually find new ways to rework an ‘old’ trend into a new look. (I may make a small exclusion here for chevron… however, if you still love it, that’s the important thing!)

So I have a small library of cushion covers filed Marie-Kondo style in our linen closet, and I love pulling them out and using them again and again. When I first bought a couple of cushions from Bambury recently, I was blown away by their gorgeous – and very expansive – range of cushions and textiles. I was blown away a second time when I realised they are local – I’d never actually realised they a Perth-based company, I’d thought they were in Melbourne.

In fact, Bambury is one of Perth’s oldest – and most successful – textile companies. They have beautiful wares, and they’re run by a really nice group of people too. It’s probably quite obvious by now that I’ve always loved learning the stories behind start-ups (when I was a teenager, I used to cut clippings about businesses and business people that inspired me and saved them all in a folder). Well, Bambury began in 1994 in a Fremantle garage – just like many businesses do when they are starting out. It was a small wholesale business founded by now-managing director Andrew Lodge. Andrew was working in the sales within the textile industry. He saw a gap in the market for beautiful and individual wholesale products, and decided to manufacture his own.

It wasn’t long though before his product range of sheets and towels expanded and Bambury needed to find new premises – this time a warehouse in North Fremantle. Now 25 years later, Bambury have a vast range of products stocked across Australia and New Zealand – and amazingly, they’re still local!

Their design team consists of Design Director, Amy Clarke, Textile Designer, Anna Campbell, and Graphics and Marketing Stephanie Harrison. “We are very proud to be a West Australian company,” Amy tells me. “There aren’t many textile businesses based here in WA and a lot of the industry and customers are located on the East Coast, however we have overcome all geographical challenges and have kept Bambury’s head office here in Perth.

“From very early on Andrew knew that design was going to play a key role in the business, it was to become Bambury’s strength and point of difference, and it still is today. All of our designing happens in our studio in Bibra Lake, in Perth’s south, not too far away from Fremantle.”

Recently Bambury experienced a big change as the company went from a wholesale-only business to an online retailer as well, delving into the world of social media too – which is how I actually stumbled upon them online, through their Instagram.

I couldn’t take my eyes off their beautiful images and brand photography, but what I liked too was that while they have so many on-trend cushions and throws (with their newest palettes featuring the latest hottest colour trends of dusty pinks, ochres, terracottas, burnt umbers, bracken, tinged mustards and army greens) they are still the kinds of pieces you can keep and style with for ages. And they’re easy to style with too – their feed alone gives you so many ideas for colour combinations and textures that work together. Their products range from cushions and throws to bed sheets, towels, bathroom products, rugs, ottomans, beach towels and bags, wall hangings, teatowels, pieces for outdoor living, exercise and things for kids.

It’s not a complete surprise that everything Bambury creates looks as complementary as it does – the design team have been working as a tight-knit team for almost eight years now. “Anna and I develop the prints and product ranges, while Stephanie works on photography, catalogues and marketing,” says Amy. “We have quite similar tastes, so we all work really well together.”

The entire design team is West Australian-born – Steph was born in Perth, Anna is from Fremantle and Amy grew up in Carnarvon and Bunbury. “We have all travelled a little over the years and lived in other places, but our families are here in WA – Perth (and Fremantle) is home,” says Amy. Each of the girls has a new home that they are all busy decorating and styling.

They design two main ranges a year. “When we first come together to discuss the next range, we usually have a few ideas that we have bookmarked to bring to the table,” says Amy. “These ideas might be as simple as a colour, a fabric we have collected from a trade show or a motif that we think will work; quite often it is an extension of the previous range.

“Like most creative people, your work never stops, you are always taking things in and on the constant lookout for exciting new ideas, trends and products. We sometimes attend overseas trade shows, and we make sure we keep on top of the latest design and interior trends.” After collating and editing ideas, they play with colour and drawings until they are happy that they have a good range.

“It’s hard to explain, but I do think gut instinct pays a big role too – if we all start noticing or loving something, there’s a good chance our customers will pick up on that soon too,” says Amy.

So what colours and textures are they predicting will be big in 2020? “Trends have been moving to warmer tones for a while now, beautiful terracotta and nude tones – this will continue for a while longer,” says Amy.

“It’s less about the grey and white Scandi look, and moving towards a colour palette with warm greys and natural earthy tones – think soft taupe rather than silvery grey. There’s also a really fun play with unexpected colour combinations such as terracotta and lilac, or ochre and blush pink.

“There’s definitely a move to being more nature-inspired, which is where olive greens come into play, as well as products that are more textural and artisan looking, a more hand-made look, like our macramé products.

“The 70s vibe is well and truly here for 2020, so lots of floral patterns with mustards and straw yellow tones – look out for our next range in March, it will feature some 70s-inspired brown velvet and corduroy!”

If you love interior design but have ever felt nervous about styling your own home, I completely understand – sometimes I take a while to choose things for my own home and like to play around with mini moodboards or Pinterest boards (like below!) other times I can make a decision in a snap (it gets easier the more you do it!)

And a common piece of feedback I get from House Nerd readers is that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to choosing things for our own homes. So how can you confidently choose pieces that you’ll really love in your own place?

“I think a room definitely needs to show the owner’s personality,” advises Amy. “Go with a colour palette that feels natural to you, don’t overwhelm yourself with colours you aren’t comfortable with. You don’t have to follow the latest trend, just keep it simple. If navy is what feels natural to you, go with it and pair it with a neutral tone like white or taupe or keep it really tonal, and create interest with different textures and fabrics.

“The other way to do it would be to start with something you already have, something that you love whether that’s a vase, or a cushion or a painting, use it as a starting point and add pieces that match it, but also items that just make you happy.” Maya x

WIN! A $500 BAMBURY GIFT VOUCHER

The team at Bambury are really kindly giving me an epic competition prize for one lucky House Nerd, who’ll score a $500 Bambury gift card!

Think of all the gorgeous goodies you could get with this! Would you give your bedroomor guest room a stunning new look? Replace all your old bathroom towels? Refresh your living room with some beautiful new cushions or throws? Get kitted out with colourful new beach towels and beach bags for this scorching summer? Or maybe your kids rooms could do with some fun new cushions and bedsheets? The choice is totally up to you.

There are four ways you can gain entries into the draw:

• Visit the Bambury website and leave a comment below telling me which piece you love from their range (1 entry).
• Visit the Bambury website and sign up for their email newsletter (worth 5 entries).
• If you’re on Facebook, follow both Bambury @BamburyPtyLtd and House Nerd @Housenerd (1 entry). Tag a friend on the Facebook competition post for an additional draw entry. One friend, one additional entry, five friends, five entries and so on.
• If you’re on Instagram, follow both Bambury @bambury and House Nerd @housenerd (1 entry). Tag a friend on the Instagam competition post for an additional draw entry. One friend, one additional entry, five friends, five entries and so on.

COMPETITION RULES:

Winner will be drawn Jan 10th, 2019.
There is a complete release of Instagram and Facebook by each entrant.
Promotion in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Instagram or Facebook.
Competition open only to people living in Australia or New Zealand.

Good luck!