Like every other Sydneysider, I spent many months in an exclusive relationship with my four walls over the past couple of years . It has been enough to drive even the most stubborn homebody crazy, and as far as hermits go, I can give most a run for their money. As one lockdown day melted into another, I found a welcome escape \u2014 the colourful online world of interiors inspiration.<\/p>\n
One such destination is the Instagram account of Rachel Castle and her eponymous homewares brand CASTLE. Not only are Rachel\u2019s designs, with their smacks of colour and abstract prints, ridiculously Instagrammable (something that delights her 172,000 followers), but they also depict the sort of uplifting witticisms we all need to hear right now; \u201cI get lockdown but I get up again\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s just be really nice to one another\u201d are personal favourites.<\/p>\n
The embodiment of her Instagram page, Rachel is everything you might expect her to be: vibrant, thoroughly optimistic and just a little bit mad. She\u2019s also dedicated to a tee.<\/p>\n
Rachel began her career in the marketing department of Country Road, before working for London\u2019s renowned The Conran Shop and later joining a multidisciplinary branding agency. She made the move into design sort of by accident, after her crafting hobby evolved into selling her artworks. \u201cWhen my children went to school, it was finally time for me to just make stuff that I liked; to use my hands to sew and print stuff that I felt compelled to create,\u201d she says. \u201cI started cutting up big felt spots and hand-sewing them onto canvases. I would trace them out from the little of a teacup \u2014 damn useful things teacups \u2014 and never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve years on, those felt spots have grown into a cult lifestyle brand. Rachel now creates beautiful printed bed linen, embroidered artworks, paintings, sweaters and all sorts of vibrant, wonderful \u201cstuff\u201d for homes. Her team work out of a lovely studio in Sydney, which, apparently, doesn\u2019t have a centimetre of wall space that hasn\u2019t got something stuck to it (what else would you expect from a creative workaholic). \u201cWe actually need to move \u2014 we\u2019ve run out of walls,\u201d says Rachel. \u201cIt\u2019s not beautiful, but it\u2019s full to the rafters with all the tools we need to make a ton of fun stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n
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A post shared by CASTLE AND THINGS (@rachelcastleandthings)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n