Interiors that begin with the material in your hand.
Residential and hospitality interiors from a studio of seven in Collingwood. Selected work, how we run a project and who to call.
Studio
Collingwood, Melbourne, since 2015
Edition
March 2027
The studio in numbers
Seven people, kept small by choice. Ilse Moranti draws on every project, and the person who presents your scheme is the one who stands in the room on install day.
0
Interiors completed since 2015
0
Hotel keys fitted out
0
Samples in the library
0
Days, average house install
Hotel Ardent, Fitzroy
Thirty-two keys in a new mass-timber building. We specified every room from one sample board of spotted gum, rust bouclé and grey terrazzo, and the hotel opened on its booked date with a room rate 18 percent above its forecast.
Ruthven Street House, Kew
A new family house of 410 m², fitted out from bare plaster to styled rooms in eleven install days. The clients walked every room in VR before a single order was placed, and changed nothing after.
Sallow Wine Room, Cremorne
Forty-four covers at the base of a new office tower. A single hard light source over a rammed earth bar wall carries the room. Covers per night rose by a third in its first full quarter.
Level 31, Southbank
A 168 m² apartment in a tower completed in March. Acoustic plaster, wool carpet and lined linen curtains brought the living room's reverberation down from 1.4 to 0.6 seconds.
How we work
Four habits that separate a scheme which photographs well from one that still feels right after five years of use. None of them is glamorous. All of them are where the budget is saved.
Material first, drawing second
Every scheme starts on a table, not a screen. We build the sample board before the floor plan is fixed, because a finish you can hold settles arguments that a render only starts.
Walk it before you buy it
Photoreal 3D and a VR walkthrough at developed design, with the real finishes mapped in. Clients make their changes here, when a change costs a morning of modelling rather than a restocking fee.
One live FF&E tracker
Every item, supplier, lead time and delivery slot sits in one shared tracker you can open on your phone. Rafaela Duque runs it. You see a delay the day we do, with the fix already proposed.
Install as one event
Nothing goes in piecemeal. Goods are held at our Preston store until the last piece lands, then installed and styled in one run, so you walk into a finished room rather than a delivery site.
The materials library
1,380 samples, catalogued digitally and held physically in the studio. Most are Australian made or low-VOC, and every one carries its lead time on the label.
How a project runs
A full house takes 22 to 28 weeks from brief to styled rooms. The design is the short part. Lead times decide the date, so we order against them, not against the calendar we would like.
Brief and site measure, two weeks
A long conversation about how you actually live or trade, a laser measure of the site and a written brief you sign off before any design begins.
Concept, three to four weeks
One scheme, presented on a physical sample board with plans. We show the version we believe in rather than three to choose between.
Developed design, four weeks
Joinery drawings, lighting plan, RCP and elevations, all modelled in 3D. You walk the rooms in VR and make your changes here.
Specification, three weeks
Finish schedule and FF&E schedule with every item priced, sourced and its lead time confirmed by the supplier in writing.
Procurement, ten to sixteen weeks
Upholstery runs 10 to 16 weeks, bespoke joinery 8 to 12, stone 6 to 8. Long-lead items are ordered first, the day you approve them.
Install and styling, two weeks
Delivered and installed in one run, styled over two days, then a snag list closed within ten working days.
From the people who hired us
Come and handle the samples
The best first meeting happens at the library table, with your plans open and the materials within reach.
We take on six to eight projects a year and are booking design starts from Monday 7 June 2027. Studio visits run on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and take about ninety minutes.
Ilse Moranti, Founder and Creative Director Level 2, 118 Smith Street, Collingwood VIC 3066 ilse@ilsemoranti.studio