Inspiration profile - Talia O'Connor and Ella Murdoch

Lately I have been regularly hearing about new home wares stores popping up all over New Zealand, which is positive to hear, especially after the tough economic climate from the last few years.
This week's profile opened one recently in Dunedin after having an online store since March. Enjoy and have a great weekend all!

Ella Murdoch and Talia O'Connor

Styling by MintSix

Name: Talia O'Connor & Ella Murdoch

What do you do: We co-own our home wares & lifestyle business, MintSix. We also do interior styling both locally and online. Our business has been online since March and we have we have just opened our first store in Dunedin. 

Where do you live: We live in Dunedin, New Zealand. 

What are you working on: Lately, we've mostly been working on getting our new store up and running, as well as continuing with our online business and working with clients on interior projects.

MintSix store, Dunedin

Colour:Such a hard one, we love colour! Talia: Chartreuse. Ella: Mint & at the moment anything Fuchsia 

Plant/Flowers:T: Currently loving our fiddle leaf fig trees Ficus Lyrata) & I'm very partial to a big beautiful bunch of peonies. E: Lilies

Food: T: Vietnamese E: Dumplings

Smell: T: The smell of summer or my Stella MCartney perfume I can't live without!  E: Jasmine 

Style:  Fashion:   T: Can't beat H&M & Topshop for affordable items and I love anything from Gorman & Mr Zimi. E: Zara, I miss Zara! (Zara was about 100 metres from our apartment in Beijing). We are both also big fans of Isabel Marant and Alexander Wang although unfortunately don't have a huge amount of their pieces in our wardrobe... one day hopefully!

Home: We like an eclectic mix of stylish and functional home wares, quite often with a bit of a twist. At the moment we love brands such as HK Living, Pony Rider, Kip & Co & Brita Sweden. We're also still huge fans of the original items we started importing, our Bamileke Juju Hats and Moroccan Pouffes. These can all be found at MintSix!

Who/what inspires me: Talia: I try and grab at least ten minutes (more like half and hour if I'm honest!) a day on Pinterest & Instagram and try and squeeze in some blog reading once a week. I'm also always inspired when I'm in Melbourne where I lived for eight years, I'm completely obsessed with the place!

I work best:During the day when my children are at school and kindy but also often find myself on the computer again in the evening.

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: There's nothing quite like a sneak peek into someone else's home. The Design Files showcases some amazing Australian homes weekly on their blog and it's one of the few emails that gets opened immediately when it arrives into my inbox. Being a hoarder, I also never throw away magazines, so I often dip back into old issues of my favourites if I'm lacking inspiration for a particular project.

The best advice I have been given is: To do what you love, work hard and trust your instincts. 

My latest discovery is:All the great Kiwi designers & creatives that I'm discovering now that I'm home. 

Mood boards by Talia - Black

Mood board - yellow and caramel

 Books that I get inspiration from: A range of interiors books. I especially love Todd Selby's books & more recently Megan Morton's, Things I love. 

Magazines that inspire me: Living Etc, Inside Out & Real Living are favourites

Blogs that I enjoy:The Design Files, The Design Chaser, Dos Family, Lovenordic Design Blog, Ascot Friday, Bluebird Vintage, Studio Home, Stylizimo, Desire to Inspire, Emmas Design Blog, Cush &Nooks, Elsass, Sincerely Jules, 79 Ideas, Caroline's Mode, Planete Deco, Fashion me Now, After DRK, The Fashion Guitar, My Scandinavian Home, Milo&Mitzy, Table Tonic...I'll stop now but could go on and on! 

My favourite room at home is:  Probably my living room as that's where we all hang out together. We get the fire cranked up in the winter & it's gets nice and cosy, which is essential here down South!

My office has:Been used as the MintSix headquarters during the last few months. Now that we have moved into our new shop it's looking very empty apart from my beloved mid-century desk and iMac.

What am I looking forward to:I'm looking forward to watching our business grow and diversifying our range. I also can't wait to explore more of New Zealand with my family. My husband is British and my kids were born in Australia so they haven't seen much of our beautiful country. 

MintSix styling work.



Photographs are used with permission from MintSix.