Kristian Hawker x Paradiso

Some of the best things happen when you are not really planning them. On set for the Paradiso shoot, with the collection coming together around us and the light doing its thing, our friend Kristian Hawker picked up a brush and started to paint.

Here's the story

Not a commission, not a plan. Just an artist responding to where we were, what we were making, and the feeling of the whole thing.

What came out of that day has since travelled into our showrooms around the country.

Who is Kristian Hawker?

If you do not know his work yet, you will want to. Kristian Hawker is a Noosa based artist who lives and works from an old houseboat on a quiet stretch of the Noosa River, using the rooftop as his studio.   

His abstract landscapes and seascapes are inspired by aerial views of the Australian coastline, and he makes them with an unusual method, working with acrylic, oil and saltwater on linen, then letting the elements (sun, rain, wind) work on the surface over months. Each piece is a slow collaboration with nature.

It is a way of working that sits beautifully alongside Paradiso.

Both are about the Australian outdoors. Both are about what happens when you let considered design meet the elements and come out better for it.

On set for Paradiso

There is something about watching an artwork happen in real time. As the collection was styled and shot, Kristian worked alongside us, translating the mood of Paradiso onto the canvas.   The tidal blues, the warm sand tones, the contrast of structure and softness that runs through the whole collection.

What he captured was not any one piece of furniture, but the feeling of it. Summer, coastline, and the easy Australian way of living outside.

From the Shoot to the Showroom

The best part is what happened next. Rather than let that moment live only on set,  we have brought Kristian's work into the spaces where you can see Paradiso in person.

The original artwork he created on set has been framed and now hangs in our Brisbane showroom. In Paddington, we have a series of additional works created especially for the space. Kristian has also hand painted a collection of tiles, tactile, one of a kind, that have been sent to showrooms around the country. And at our Balgowlah Paradiso launch event, guests took home their own exclusive prints, signed by Kristian.

Every one of these is a little piece of that day on set. A way of bringing  Paradiso to life that you can see, touch and take home.