Meet Georgie Beaumont: The homewares designer creating timeless pieces

When your Mum is a talented interior decorator with her own homewares store, it’s no surprise that your childhood home would have looked beautiful.

Growing up in a country homestead in the Snowy Mountains, Georgie Beaumont remembers her mother always adding different fabrics or moving furniture around. 

“Our house was never the same. People would come over to it being completely different. Mum just had a way of decorating and making a space feel beautiful,” says Georgie.

Even from a young age, Georgie was in her mum’s homewares store in Cooma, helping out with buying and merchandising. And as much as she loved it, her own interests never really lay in interiors – she had dreams of working in fashion – although the entrepreneurial streak was there from an early age. 

“When I was at boarding school in Melbourne, I used to make my own jewellery and sell it to the boarding house mistresses, or teachers or friends who had asked me to make something for a certain outfit. It was basically just so I could buy the designer clothes that I wanted. But I always had that entrepreneurial mind,” she says.

After school, Georgie did a diploma in graphic design, plus a stint overseas studying at the London College of Fashion. She followed her fashion passion and worked in retail for six years, but when she was pregnant with her first child, she had an overwhelming sense she really didn’t want to go back to that job.

“I went on a trip to Bali with my Mum while I was pregnant and she had organised for us to meet this really amazing Australian designer at his home, and he was just so lovely and inspiring. I had also been walking around Bali for literally two weeks saying to Mum, ‘I want to start my own business. I’d love to have my own brand, I’d love to have my own product, but I don’t know what to do,’” she says. 

“And on three separate occasions in three different stores, I had heard women speaking to each other and say, ‘I just wish that we could find the perfect cushion.’ So, I said to Mum: ‘I need to be doing cushions.’”

And so it began with the cushion. Georgie launched Luxe and Beau in 2015, selling her own line of cushions, rugs and lampshades online. Fast-forward almost eight years and the Luxe and Beau range has expanded to include sleepwear, table linen, silk scarves and more, and she sells wholesale to more than 90 retailers across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. For five years, Luxe and Beau traded out of Designer Op Shop Emporium, and in May this year, Georgie opened the very first Luxe and Beau showroom in Fyshwick. 

Stepping inside the beautiful space, you’re greeted by a gorgeous display of their colourful range. The signature of the Luxe and Beau collection is their assortment of elegant patterns, which Georgie and her team design themselves, and can be put on anything, from a cushion to tablecloth or even sleepwear.

Georgie is all about creating classic and elegant pieces that will stand the test of time, and she’s involved in every step of the process. Even in the new store, she’s there five days a week, getting to know her customers and helping them to create beautiful spaces of their own. Georgie also offers a styling and decorating service, either in-store or at her clients’ homes, advising on everything from finishes, fabrics and paint colours to curtains, flooring and furniture. 

As for her own aesthetic, Georgie describes it as quite classic and traditional with a contemporary edge. 

“I don’t like anything to be perfect or matching. I really love beautiful old, beaten-up pieces of furniture. I think that it’s important to have old pieces in your home,” she says.

“I just love texture. I love real marble, I love brass, I love timber. I like as many natural textures as I can possibly find. And I’m obsessed with flowers. If I could, I would have a florist come to my house every week and do fresh flowers.”

And if you were to visit Georgie at home, you’d be greeted with a fairly similar interior to her store. So, with two young boys – aged five and seven – how does she manage to maintain a beautiful home? Georgie says not to underestimate the humble cushion.

“Cushions are the easiest thing in the world to wash,” she laughs.

“I do have two very full-on little boys that definitely have a mind of their own, so I have to be conscious of things, and nothing is too precious in my house. I have marble all throughout my kitchen, and I’m not uptight about it getting marked. I’m actually quite relaxed about that. If the boys came into my shop, it would be a different story. But they live there too, so it’s got to work for them as well.”