Top 5: Your favourite Design Hunters of 2022

At Habitus we love profiling designers, artists and creatives, and these Design Hunters were your favourites to read about in 2022.

If there’s one thing these creatives have in common it’s that they are truly creative. We were honoured to get a glimpse into their lives in 2022 and learn more about them both personally and professionally. It’s especially interesting to see where they live and work and what the concept of home means to each.

These five design hunters were definite favourites, capturing our imaginations in the process.

1. Tamsin Johnson

You simply could not get enough of interior designer Tamsin Johnson in 2022 and who could blame you. The Melbourne Art Fair 2022 ambassador has a flair for interiors and storytelling and hearing her speak about growing up the daughter of antique dealers left us hanging on every eloquently poetic word. Tamsin grew up surrounded by beautiful things and as an adult has forged a career creating beautiful things, from bespoke interiors to books. Here’s to more of that in 2023.

The founders of Studio Periphery, photographer and director Marc Tan and studio director Amy Lim, invited us into their beautiful home and studio, where light, shadow and an ambient mood prevail. The couple are avid collectors and within neat and ordered shelving systems, treasures can be found in the form of books, objects and furnishings. Their furniture collection is also to-die-for and includes an Objekto Eclipse lamp, four Artek stools and pieces from &tradition, Herman Miller and Vitra.

Wellard Architects are quiet achievers indeed, but oh how their star was on the rise in 2022. This South Melbourne-based studio’s portfolio of smaller commissions has snowballed into single residential architecture and interiors and multi-residential, commercial and hospitality projects, and the commissions just keep on coming. Huw Wellard established his eponymous practice in 2012 and today his staff numbers five, including wife Jade Wellard, as project manager. Sustainability is key and their aesthetic is light, bright and thoroughly modern. A name to watch for sure.

If you could only use one word to describe Sarah King it would be dynamic. The designer and sustainability polymath is easily one of Australia’s most exciting practitioners, with her greatest skill the ability to bring ideas to life. She is a furniture designer, the founder of Supercyclers and the sustainablist line and recently wrote ‘the sustainablist masterclass’, amongst other projects. Her ideas on sustainability are important within the wider dialogue and we’re all waiting to see what her future collaborations and initiatives have in store.

South Australian furniture designer James Howe was the first subject in Habitus Living’s 10/10/10, a new series where artists, designers and creatives give us a glimpse into their life through the lens of a disposable camera, a set of 10 questions and 10 songs. James’ photos are lively, emotive and just plain wonderful (especially the snaps of his gorgeous kids), his answers are thoughtful and eloquent and his song choices – by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Nick Cave and The Stranglers – get a chef’s kiss of approval. It was such a pleasure getting to know him.

Stay tuned as we count down more of your favourites stories from 2022!