A master class in balancing opposites

Monochrome master: Greg Natales signature is apparent in the tailored contrasts of black, grey and white in this Brighton home. He created the shape of the rooms before deciding on the exterior. Colour highlights leap out and accentuate the tonings, as with the painting. Photos: Anson Smart.

The plainness and geometric discipline of the street-side presentation of the four bedroom Brighton home is Shaker-style in its rigor and restraint. The tonal story is too. Black, white and grey.

The balance between the black and the white forces of the interiors is along a knife-edge. Neither a blackout nor a whitewash but schemed as big blocks of both in either walling or cabinetry. This poise between opposites is characteristic of the work of one of Australia's busiest and most influential interior designers, Sydney-based Greg Natale.

Order is his manner. He reckons it makes individual furniture piece stand out better. Contrasts of black; invariably some shade of grey, and stark white is his unmistakable signature. Natale is the master of the monochromatic, maybe with some extra textural ground in paled timber (in this case it's American white oak), or in figured white marble.

Photos: Anson Smart.

Usually too, there is a punch of a high key colour to discover somewhere in a room. In the Brighton home, a blue cushion or an orange splash of paint on a large canvas will "pop" into contention like a visual wake-up call.

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Black. He can sure do black. "But you do need to know what you're doing," he cautions. "Black is a classic". To Natale it never overwhelms and never gets old. "Black and white is Chanel, isn't it? Her shops have been black and white since the beginning and they never look dated.

"In interiors, it is very bold, very powerful and very tailored". Tailored is another of his maker's marks. He has a coffee table book exploring and explaining his best projects coming out later in the year and has entitled itThe Tailored Interior.

Photos: Anson Smart.

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A master class in balancing opposites