There is no mistaking Greg Natale’s style. Always different,
always surprising and always glamorous, there’s just that certain panache that
indelibly identifies his work. His latest residential project in Balmain – the
Tierney Watson house – is no exception, thanks to an amazing client who allowed
Natale to work his magic without compromise. From architecture to lamp base,
the results are quite simply spectacular.
The house essentially begins with the front door and the
first of a series of etched concentric rings to be used throughout. The door
motif is low and bold with a strikingly minimalist brass doorknob at centre.
There is something decidedly American in the scale of the design and, as the
door opens to reveal wall-mounted brass sculptures, the theme is quickly
concreted to ‘Palm Springs Regency’. This style, though similar to Hollywood
Regency in its pairing of ornate curves and bold lines, has the charming
addition of exuberant colour and the structural rigour of 1950s architecture
and sculpture. (Think Sinatra, the Viceroy and the Parker for classic Palm
Springs panache.) As now exemplified by Natale, it engages a layer of opulence
over the ’90s minimalism much as Hollywood Regency allowed a flamboyant layer
over ’40s minimalism. It is a style with which Natale is very much at home, and
is able to extend and elaborate with considerable finesse.
