Alyssa Owens From Alyssa Owens Design
Founder of Alyssa Owens Design, Alyssa Owens creates interiors driven by colour, art and emotion, with her enduring passion for New Orleans woven through her work.
Photos DYLAN JAMES
Alyssa Owens is the founder and creative director of Alyssa Owens Design.
Pink Panther project by Alyssa Owens Design.
Amaro Rosso by Alyssa Owens Design.
âBefore design, I was an English teacher, and I think that still shapes how I work. Iâm always looking for the story of a home and the people who live there.â
Pink Panther project by Alyssa Owens Design.
âRight now Iâm very drawn to colours with a bit of complexity; pistachio, rose, aubergine, terracotta, mustard, muddy greens, warm neutrals.â
Hello Ayssaâcan you introduce yourself?
Iâm Alyssa, a stylist and founder of Alyssa Owens Design. Iâm based in Naarm/Melbourne, where I live with my husband and our two young boys. My work is cross-continental, with projects in Australia and across the US. My work is rooted in colour, art, texture and the careful curation of objects and furnishings. Iâm interested in how those layers can shift the feeling of a home.
My obsession with interiors began in New Orleans, where I lived for a long time before moving to Melbourne. That city really shaped the way I see spaces: there's a bold use of colour, a mix of grit with glamour, beautiful art alongside decay. That contradiction is something I'm always chasing in my own work. I want the spaces I shape to feel sophisticated, soulful and a little unexpected.
For those who are new to your work, how would you describe your design style?
My work is colour led, art led and emotionally driven. I like interiors that feel layered, expressive and personal, but still really liveable. My point of view is that decoration is not superficial. It's where a home's real identity lives, in the objects and textiles people touch every day.
Iâm drawn to tension: vintage with contemporary, refined with playful, bold with restful. I love Australian art with Italian lighting and a strange object in the middle of an elegant room. I donât like spaces that feel too matchy or like a showroom. I think a little friction is what gives a room life.
What first drew you into interior design?
I donât remember one single lightning-bolt moment, but Iâve always been very affected by the feeling of interior spaces. I instantly notice light, colour and furniture placement whenever I step into a room. Growing up my mom kept a beautiful home, sheâs got great taste and was frequently refreshing and rearranging things. I'm sure I absorbed those lessons early on.
Before design, I was an English teacher, and I think that still shapes how I work. Iâm always looking for the story of a home and the people who live there. Decoration is a way of giving that story form.
What do you like most about working on projects in the US?
I've done five projects in the US over the last two years and honestly can't get enough. Working across both countries feeds me in different ways. In New York especially, people often rent for years, sometimes their whole lives, and still want to fill their homes with beautiful things. They're not waiting for ownership to invest in pieces that make them happy, which I love.
The product landscape there is also incredible, with a strong middle market and proximity to Europe and Latin America. But it goes both ways. I've brought Australian art into American homes, and I'm just as excited about bringing Latin American pieces back into projects here. Working across both places means I'm always sourcing with a wider net, and Australian projects get the benefit of that too.
Where does a project begin for you, and what are the first things you want to understand about a client and their home?
I always start by trying to understand the story of the people and the house â who they are and how they actually want to live. What's already there that we should keep and honour? What isn't working for them anymore? What do they keep coming back to, and what are they actually responding to, visually and emotionally, versus what they say they want? Sometimes those are different things. Really, my job is to help unlock the home a client already has in their head but hasn't quite been able to create on their own.
What does a typical studio day look like for you, and what tools or rituals keep you organised?
My days are a strange mix of creative obsession and very unglamorous admin. At any given moment there might be a stack of fabric on my desk, a pricing spreadsheet open, a client presentation half built, and a delivery issue to solve, sometimes all at once. I try to protect time for the design thinking itself, but that's not always possible between deliveries and supplier emails. I still haven't found the perfect hour or place where the ideas come easiest, so when the spark hits, I just run with it. Sometimes that means a late night at the studio, feverishly putting together mood boards, with thanks to my husband for doing dinner and bath without me.
What guides your palettes, material choices and sense of atmosphere?
Colour is usually where I begin, and I think about it in terms of a feeling we want to evoke in a space. Right now Iâm very drawn to colours with a bit of complexity; pistachio, rose, aubergine, terracotta, mustard, muddy greens, warm neutrals.
How do you balance beauty and liveability when designing for real family homes?
I have two sons, so I'm very aware that homes need to work. But I don't think family life should mean abandoning beauty. It's about making intelligent choices. I think carefully about fabrics, rug construction, circulation, durability and maintenance. Once those foundations are right, there is still a lot of room to play with character.
I don't want to live in a home where things are so precious that we can't actually live. I know that's a bit of a contradiction: wanting a house that can survive two boys while also wanting to be surrounded by beauty constantly. So sometimes it's a calculated risk, honestly. It's something I tell my clients too. I'm not waiting until the kids are off at college to live in a beautiful home. A vase or two has been sacrificed for the cause, and I'd do it again.
What does working with you actually feel like, week to week?
There's a lot of conversation at the start as I learn their preferences, their needs and who they are as people. Then there's a stretch where it feels like little is happening while I'm deep in the concept phase. Design development is the most intense part: lots of ideation, back and forth and refining, and it's so exciting. Then it goes still again during procurement, while the makers do their work and we sit through lead times, which can be tough after such a high-energy period. Once all the core pieces arrive, I come back in at the end for styling and the finishing touches, the cherry on top.
Whatâs a small, inexpensive change you advise clients to make first?
Edit before you buy! Most rooms don't need more things, they need fewer, better-chosen things. Take everything off a shelf or mantel and put back only what you actually love. Less, with more space around each object, is usually better.
Where do you see Alyssa Owens Design in the next few years?
I love the idea of longer relationships with clients, doing a second and third project with the same family as their life changes would be a thrill. And if we're putting it out into the world, I would love to work some magic on a traditional New Orleans residence. Iâm dreaming of a loft in the French Quarter or a Greek Revival in Uptown. Someone call me!
Where are you looking to right now for inspiration?
Travel, more than anything right now. Iâm lucky to be getting to New York twice before the end of the year. There's something about the energy of the city, the galleries, the density of good taste on every block, that completely recharges me creatively. I come home from every trip itching to get back to work. In October I'm doing site visits for two new projects, with a Seattle client flying in for a shopping trip while I'm there.
Where would we find you on a typical Saturday?
Saturdays start with soccer practice for my eldest. My littlest is in tow causing his own kind of trouble on the sidelines. After a flat white and a babycino, we try to get out as a family: a market, a gallery, a museum, whatever weâre in the mood for that day!
What's coming up for you that you're most excited about?
I'm deep in an incredible project in Seattle with a client I vibe with completely. The palette is divine: baby blues, creamy whites, soft violets, with some seriously good art and objects going into the home too. We've still got a couple of custom pieces coming over from Australia before the end of the year. I cannot wait to see it finished. All of this has been done virtually so far, but there's no way I'm missing the final reveal, so I'll be heading over for the photoshoot early 2027.
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