GLOBAL ROAMING

Past and present, plus travels far and wide, are all interwoven in the exquisitely detailed home of textile designer Tigger Hall.

- Chris Pearson

Self-described ‘textile maverick’ Tigger Hall is a passionate collector, gathering objects and ideas from her life, past and present, and weaving them together into a richly layered tapestry.

On a recent trip to Paris, Tigger squeezed two zinc finials into her bag and they now grace her roofline, the final flourish on her renovated home in NSW’s Southern Highlands.

“I have collections from all over the world,” she says. “These objects are imbued with the memories and connections to people and places. I also love a sense of surprise in a home, some little thing to make you smile and look again.”

This repurposed home, a once-modest 1970s bungalow, makes everyone “look again”. It stirred strong emotions when the design doyenne first saw it in 2020. “On a rainy day, my daughter and I inspected five places and this was the last,” says Tigger. “As we walked up the stairs, the house felt kind, like we’d known each other forever.”

In its scale and its sense of the bohemian, it evoked homes of her youth. Most striking was the spacious living area, boasting a five-metre pitched ceiling with exposed beams. “I like high ceilings, because they make the spirit soar,” explains Tigger. “I grew up in homes with huge scale and I remember visiting my cousins’ grand homes in England and France. This lofty room also echoes the gums outside.”