Colin Crawford and Anastassia Allen describe themselves as “creators of life – style”. They design and make garden and architectural art, and composite stone furniture from their new design studio in Montville.
Why did you come to the hinterland?
Anastassia: I am a mountain girl from British Columbia, Canada. I have always been in the mountains. I started out at Mt Glorious, then headed to the hinterland of Byron. That got too busy. So, we came up here and that’s it.
Colin – Actually we met up on the hill. It was just one of those chance meetings. Because we are so creative we wondered what we should tackle first when we came here. So we went for houses which we have a passion for. We totally transformed several properties – one of them into a quaint little French style home with gates and hedges and with another we transformed a modern hexagonal brick home into a country home with shutters and flower boxes.
Anastassia: So that’s how the design studio came about. People loved what we did in different finishes or styles and we would source individual pieces. We’ve been told that we are both inspired by nature; making things that enhance nature. Things like durable tables and mia-mias (temporary bush sheleters), but made out of composite stone.
Colin: Like any artist, I suppose we work together to create things that people enjoy. At the moment, through our design studio it’s garden art, things that people haven’t seen before. I am personally trying to create a place where people can come down into the studio and look at something and say, I haven’t seen that before. I really like it and I would love it in my garden.
What did you have to change to come here?
Colin: For me, I would say I had to slow down. When I first came to the country I just thought OK, what are those noises. I haven’t heard that before. You know, like cows being weaned off their mums. But as the months go past you get to feel the surrounding areas.
Anastassia: I have never lived in a city or a suburb ever. I have always been in the mountains, in a village. So I have always loved the mountain environment.
Colin: I came from Belfast to Brisbane. So it’s like I’m slowly coming down in energy level. Maybe I’ll end up back of Burke where there’s nothing, just stillness.
I would just say the surroundings and the environment is much easier paced and that’s how I have chosen to live.
Anastassia: There are so many interesting and creative people living up here. That’s what attracted us too. What really keeps us surviving are the amazing people that came up here for the same reasons that we did.
What keeps you here?
Anastassia: I’ve just looked it up. It’s the je ne sais quoi quality. You can’t describe it. It’s when you go looking for another property when you think you’ve been here too long, which we’ve done time and time again. And then you drive up the hill, not even close to home yet, up to a certain point and you go … aaahh! And you have a look around as you’re driving home and you think, why would you look anywhere else.
Colin… I just do one day at a time. I just enjoy my time here. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Today I’m here on the hill. And I’ve got no plans to go off it at the moment. I mean how could you go back to living in Belfast. We’re just grateful every single day when we wake up. It’s such a wonderful place to live.
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