Designer Collette Dinnigan's new range of homewares is all about fabric

For fashion-turned-homewares-designer Collette Dinnigan, the place to start has always been with fabric – whether she is creating a garment or a piece of linen.

“A lot of people always ask me why I moved from fashion in Paris to ceramics and linen, but I have always been about textiles and fabrics – that’s where I always start, it’s not where I end,” Dinnigan says.

“I have always been obsessed with good-quality fabrics. For me, it’s all about colour and proportion in the home and I learnt that early on in the fashion business, and it works across what I am doing in the home interior space.”

When she decided to collaborate with Melbourne design royalty Tigger Hall, it would be a meeting of the minds and a chance to fuse their love of textiles, travel and all things destined to make home a happier place.

Dinnigan is a guest at this year’s Decor and Design Show, where she will launch Collette Dinnigan X Tigger Hall – a curated collection of tableware, napery, curtains, wallpaper and hand-painted lampshades, with cushions likely on the way as well.

She will also be in conversation with design editor Stephen Todd talking about her transition from Paris Fashion Week to homewares.

“The reason I had to leave Paris fashion shows and my business was because I couldn’t keep leaving my children behind any more,” Dinnigan says.

“Being on this treadmill that was dictated by fashion shows was getting too much, and yes, this interiors industry probably has a similar cat-and-mouse chase to it like fashion, particularly if you need to show collections at big trade shows and want to commercialise your ideas, but for now I am happy with the status quo.”

It’s a segue that works well for Dinnigan and feels organic to the mother of two, given she has a range of ceramic plates handmade in Italy, and now has an exclusive candle collection through Myer.

A collection of ceramics, crystal and vintage cutlery sets from her time spent in Paris informs Dinnigan’s preference for European chic meets ethnic bohemian.

Teaming with Tigger Hall means she can bring her dream collection to life without the pressure of manufacturing too.

“I didn’t want to start the manufacturing side of business again, but Tigger mentioned we should do something together and she has that side of the business already set up,” Dinnigan says. “I thought, let’s start small and see how we go, and now we’re working on wallpaper. It’s a very exciting time.”

The pair worked together when Dinnigan styled her fashion boutiques – chairs covered in Tigger Hall velvet and prints fabric all point to a friendship and working relationship that worked well then and still does now.

When Dinnigan was guest editor for Vogue Living’s Italia edition in 2017 (the same year she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal), she worked with Tigger Hall on reupholstering mid-century and vintage pieces using fabrics in her collection to give the old a new lease of life – think floral green linens, Renaissance-inspired velvets and breezy, blue-and-white cottons.

“We have made tablecloths all based on the colouring of my ceramics and my print ideas,” Dinnigan says.

“Her business, Nine Muses Textiles, has more of an English sensibility to her design, whereas I am slightly more ethnic and European with my style.

“We don’t step on each other’s toes – and when we do, it works.”

Collette Dinnigan X Tigger Hall is focused on sustainable Belgian linen and ethically made pieces that sit at the affordable end of the table.

“It’s a vertical business, so we’re direct to customer and can pass on the good price points,” Dinnigan says.

The tablecloths and napery are strongly grey and white with tinges of Indian onion pink, pale pink tones and plenty of rose hues throughout. They work nicely with her hand-painted ceramic dinner plates which are made in Basilicata in Italy.

“There is nothing too bright and poppy; it’s very muted and Bordeaux influenced,” Dinnigan says.

She’s just leased the old post office in the Southern Highlands town of Mittagong and will make her foray back into a bricks-and-mortar store in country NSW later this year.

“I love being in the Highlands because I am surrounded by a lot of artists,” Dinnigan says. “The shop will be curated and a destination people come to visit.

“I have missed retail and interacting with people on an everyday basis. I don’t like the commercial wholesale world but I do like the one-to-one customer contact.”

While she still has properties in Rome and Puglia, the focus is on living in Australia and expanding her homewares footprint for now.

In her own home, Dinnigan is all about keeping it chic and European-inspired.

“My advice is, don’t mix everything you have together – stick to one colour and keep it curated. It’ll look more effortless that way,” she says.

“People are understanding the beauty of handmade from linen to ceramics and I think the whole Royal Doulton look is less desired now.

“You don’t have to spend a lot of money to appreciate a good table setting and the aim of our collection is that it feels approachable and desirable.”

Collette Dinnigan: A Romance With Design – in conversation with Stephen Todd at the Decor and Design Show, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, July 14.