By Eva Lewkowicz

In Crown Street’s The Green Room

There’s nothing like that feeling of opening your front door, dropping your bags, sliding off your shoes and ensconcing yourself in the cool calm quiet of home.

The patter of furry paws might sidle up to you in greeting, reaching up for a scratch behind the ear. Or depending on what stage of life you’re at, the clatter of feet from your favourite people – hand picked or created – might pounce to regale you with tales of the day. As your eyes adjust and take in the life around you, your senses relax and you breathe in the smell of home.

Home. An oasis in the daze of city life. An expression of self, where the jarring aesthetics of outside over there have no place. This is your space, to fill with your favourite things; a treasure trove handed down through family lines, gifted by best friends, sourced on travels, spied in shop windows.

And surely, in our era where craftsmanship has suffered the onslaught of Swedish flat pack and cookie cutter ‘Freedom’ furniture, it is a little rebellion to embrace the eclecticism of individual aesthetic in your own home. If as Oscar Wilde said, “the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and […] Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy”, this act of rebellion has a higher calling.

This calling is exactly what Surry Hills creative duo Olly Adam and Maxine Fielding (pictured) invite you to embrace.

For The Green Room founders, life imitates art, so much so, that every surface is ripe for expression. While it may seem counter intuitive to step onto a work of art, for Olly and Maxine, the floor is like a fifth wall and their Crown Street showroom is a veritable gallery of striking pieces that would be at home both horizontally and hanging.

The Green Room’s recent partnership with London-based The Rug Company has further increased their portfolio of luxury handmade rug.

Olly and Maxine now invite you to embellish your space with works from international fashion design icons including Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Diane Von Furstenberg, Thom Browne and Mary Katrantzou, as well as interior design legend Kelly Wearstler.

As Australia’s first dedicated retailer for The Rug Company, The Green Room’s incredible portfolio of designs and collaborators are complemented by custom and bespoke offerings to help you find something perfect for your work or home.

Olly and Maxine sat down with Urban Village recently to talk about their latest venture, and the roads that lead them there.

Urban Village: What has brought you to where you are today?

Olly: Maxine and I met in 1998 and it was love at first sight. The Green Room is the story of our relationship. We love spending every second of every day together, and it’s always been our plan to create, live and work in beautiful spaces surrounded by wonderful objects. For many of us our homes are our workplace, and our workplace is our home. So we love working with our clients to build their aesthetic in residential, retail, and commercial spaces.

Urban Village: Why rugs? What is the rug scene in Sydney?

Olly: I’ve been working in the world of rugs for 16 years now so it’s a specialty subject. We love the designer collaborations The Rug Company has across fashion, design and art. I can’t think of any other business that has such a seminal roll-call of iconic collaborators. We’re excited to be bringing these great brands here, but our plan is also to become champions of Australian design both nationally and on the international stage.

Urban Village: Why did you choose the name The Green Room?

Olly: The Green Room is a space where artists hang out when not performing. We’ve always met really interesting people in green rooms, so we want to emulate that feeling with our own space, and products.

Urban Village: Which designers do you admire and why?

Maxine: So many people to mention – let’s go for Diane Von Furstenberg for her boldness, Alexander McQueen for his sheer genius and eccentricity and our very own inimitable Florence Broadhurst. Florence is such a legend and her work is sure to be an influence in our design journey.

Olly: One my career highlights was meeting Manolo Blahnik when I was designing rugs for his stores. In the interiors world I awe at Kelly Wearstler’s talent to touch people with her designs.

Urban Village: How would you describe your aesthetic at home?

Maxine: Every object in our home carries a memory (and most of them have their own name) – I guess the word would be eclectic.

Urban Village: What is your favourite design piece at home?

Maxine: My latest sculpture of a bull’s head adorned by Swarovski Crystals.

Olly: Our Poppy Night wall hanging by Alexander McQueen.

Urban Village: Coco Chanel is famous for saying “before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” What is your advice?

Olly: Buy what you fall in love with.

Sage advice.

This article first appeared in the online edition of Urban Village

The Green Room
540 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Mon – Sat: 9:30am – 5pm
Sunday: by appointment