Friends of Flinders #8
We chat with interior designer and stylist, Jono Fleming about his love of design and favourite spots along Tassie’s coast line.
Hi Jono, where do you call home?
I’m based in Sydney but split my time between the city and my family property in the Central Tablelands of NSW near Oberon.
What’s your favourite local?
I’m based in Sydney but split my time between the city and my family property in the Central Tablelands of NSW near Oberon.
What’s your favourite Australian town?
It’s hard to pick an all time favourite spot, we’re blessed with such incredible landscape and scenery in Australia but earlier this year I travelled to Tassie and fell in love with so many spots along the east coast of the island. From Bicheno and the Bay of Fires all the way down to Swansea, the whole coast captured my heart.
What’s do you do?
I’m an interior designer and stylist. After working in the design industry for over a decade, from interior design, to styling for e-commerce to working in publishing, I now work for myself across a range of different projects, from design, to styling, to podcasting and product!
How did you get into your profession?
I studied interior design at uni and my goal was to work in a big fancy firm and do lots of beautiful high-end homes and I was very set on that being my only path. Then after about five years in the industry, I found myself a bit lost and not really approaching my work with my original passion. The last eight years has been a series of pivots and swerves, styling for e-commerce, holding an editor position in magazines, even cooking in Italy behind the scene for a show and many more diverse but related jobs along the way. It’s helped me gain a really well rounded approach to design being able to explore it from all different views.
What’s the most important thing about your profession?
My favourite thing about being a designer is creating unique, personal spaces that help tell the story of the people living there. No two spaces are the same so being able to tap into the personal style is the biggest challenge and reward.
If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you be doing?
If I wasn’t a designer I’d probably be involved in film production in some way.
What do you do in your downtime?
I’m a big lover of film and television. Downtime for me is either immersing myself in nature or the complete opposite, holed up indoors watching old movies or binging shows.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I think the best advice I could give myself would be two things, be confident and be patient. It takes a long time to build confidence, especially as a designer. And it can be frustrating when things don’t move at the pace you want no matter how hard you work. Patience is such a necessity in this life, things will always happen when they’re supposed to.