STORY
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF...
My name is Michelle Mathieson and I’m a qualified Interior Designer.
I’ve always been fascinated by spatial design and its ability to ‘touch the senses’ and I have spent my whole career working in the industry.
I’m a meticulous sort of girl and I know ‘God is in the details'. Interior Design requires financial and emotional investment, as well as time. It deserves careful consideration and planning is everything.
I’m thorough, pragmatic, thoughtful, and very inspired by the potential for transformation. The possibilities are endless…and that’s exciting! Each individual client brings their own story and background to a space and the journey together results in a truly unique interior.
BACKGROUND
Born and bred in the UK, my parents moved around a lot in my early years finally settling in Reading when I was 8. House plans, show houses, and sales brochures were introduced to my world at a formative age and I spent my free-time dreaming up perfect apartments and drawing up my own crude pencil-drawn plans. I was hooked.
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My career has taken me on an interesting journey through spatial design. A degree in Interior Design led to a position in a UK-based architectural practice where I had the opportunity to perfect my technical skills and deepen my understanding of structure. A stint in the film industry working as an Art Department runner helped me realise how much I value functionality and longevity: knowing that the props and sets would more than likely end up in a skip was unsettling to say the least.
In 2004 I satisfied my long-standing wanderlust and embarked on an adventure to ‘see the world’. This of course led me to Sydney where I was given the opportunity to run an in-house interior design team for an international serviced-office company. Big budgets on international projects with high-end finishes and custom-joinery gave me very valuable knowledge and experience. Communication must be clear and documentation must be precise and detailed.
And a subsequent move to a thriving design practice nestled in Sydneys design hub, Surry Hills, gave me a chance to flex my creative commercial muscles, pitching exciting and diverse ideas to various Australian and international companies, alongside established and respected designers.
The birth of my gorgeous kids, and the need for flexibility, led me to entrepreneurship. ROUGH SILK design was conceived and developed.
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Working for myself afforded me the freedom to indulge in my underlying passion for print and photography and I started to develop textile patterns, screen-printing my own fabrics to create my very own products. A joyous and satisfying artistic outlet, and whilst my products still form part of the RSd sphere of offerings, the forefront of the business remains in the interior design service. I am privileged to spend most of my time working closely with homeowners and property developers helping them to imagine, plan and build functional, beautiful dwellings.
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