'It's my happy place': Inside fashion designer Camilla Franks' colourful Woollahra home

When Australian fashion designer and kaftan queen Camilla Franks purchased a four-bedroom, 1800s Victorian terrace in Sydney’s Woollahra five years ago, she knew it was time to trade her vagabond lifestyle for a sanctuary away from her busy work life.

“I wanted to find a home as far away from the fashion world as I could get,” Franks says of her purchase. “I was a travelling vagabond who could never commit to a place, and then all of a sudden I stumbled upon this home, and I knew I had to have it.”

Inside, you’ll find a menagerie of colour, from the floor-to-ceiling wallpaper she’s designed herself in some rooms, to travel artefacts, a rotation of art made by her fiance – Welsh artist and musician JP Jones – and rugs she’s designed.

“As soon as I shut my front door, I immerse myself into my real world where life is all about textiles, art, food, fashion, family and spirituality,” Franks says.

There are travel journals she likes to read every now and again stacked on shelves, keepsakes collected from India, Africa, Mexico, Vietnam and Indigenous Australian communities, and two personal artworks by JP hang proudly – one when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, and a family portrait when their daughter Luna, 3, was born.

“It often surprises people to learn I am a completely private homebody,” Franks says.

“When I am not out in my wild fashion world, I spend all my time at home; it’s my library of memories, a sort of bohemian gallery.

“The house is old and charming and the reason I bought it is that she has four working fireplaces. It’s where I get to spend time with family and friends and tell stories. It’s my happy place and where I can connect with humans I love.”

The front bedroom is where you’ll find Franks doing her meditation and yoga. “Each room has its own identity,” she says. She burns incense and sage here while Camilla rugs (her collaboration with Designer Rugs) and wallpaper with motifs of her engagement ring and totem animals are featured.

The living room is filled with travel treasures and a blue Persian rug for extra warmth. “I am the happiest when I am unravelling my treasures from markets, galleries and local artisans that I have collected along the way,” she says. “My travel journals cascade the walls and trigger magical memories for me too.”

She renovated her backyard by adding a deck. It’s where she likes to entertain and feels right at home in the sunken fire pit, which conjures up an Ibiza mood, and a pizza oven is on high rotation. A black-tiled pool mightn’t get used often, but the sculptural bath alongside it is her favourite place to unwind. “I love getting naked outdoors,” she laughs.

Rugs designed by Oscar-winning film and stage designer Catherine Martin light up her rooms, and a significant artwork by friend George Raftapoulos sits opposite her piano.

“George lives around the corner from me, he’s a great artist, and I bought this for JP for his birthday,” Franks says.

Her bed linen rotates weekly (she’s collaborated with Bed Linen in the past and has her own range via her store as well), and the bedroom is decked out in the Lady Lodge print; it’s where she watches movies and feels most safe.

“I am definitely learning how to decompress and sit still and see the importance of doing that,” Franks says.

“Having a home is a great way to get in touch with that stillness. I spent so much time running my business for years [since 2004] and then cancer hit, and I had a baby – my priorities quickly changed,” she says.

Now Franks is a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice – a move she wasn’t sure she wanted to make.

“I was on the fifth round of IVF when I decided to do the show and lost two eggs in my second day of filming,” she says.

“It was my last go at having another child. It was hard to put the face on while filming when I had all the emotions going on, but while it wasn’t a natural fit for me, doing my bit to raise money for breast cancer is a commitment I made to myself, so I put my ego aside and went for it.”