A Long History With Easycraft
While Hailey is relatively style-agnostic in her day-to-day dealings with clients – “The right style is whatever the project needs” – there is one outlier when it comes to suggesting what a project should include: easycraft. For years now, Hailey has been installing everything from easyVJ to easyGROOVE, easyREGENCY and now the Silhouette range.
“My partner Glenn and I do a lot of our own personal projects,” Hailey says. “On our past six projects, we’ve used easycraft because it gives so much texture. In my personal style, texture is very important, so it’s always an easy way to add interest to spaces.”
They’ve also started using easycraft in a range of commercial projects.
“It just adds so much interest and it paints really well. I don’t love doing colour on plasterboard because it can look really flat and a bit ‘meh’. But once you paint easyVJ or any of the other Easycraft profiles, it adds texture and makes the colour really pop.”
How Silhouette Elevated ALBA
One of Hailey’s most recent projects was a collaboration with Studio Shibui, a renowned design firm dedicated to creating inspiring and thoughtful designs. Both Hailey and Studio Shibui’s creative director, Danuza Rogers, worked with renowned chef, restauranteur and TV presenter Peter Kuruvita on his latest restaurant, ALBA by Kuruvita. The collaboration focused on crafting a timeless atmosphere in the restaurant – one that would warmly welcome guests into the stunning Noosa Heads institution. But as it was already nearing the end of 2021, Peter wanted to make sure his restaurant would be ready to cater to hordes of tourists over the holiday season.
“The timeline was very tight,” Hailey says, quick to add that such expedited projects are rare. “Danuza and I came onboard in October 2021 and it opened in December. It’s based in Noosa and tourism was set to boom coming out of COVID restrictions, so a lot of tourists were expected to come to the coast over Christmas. It was a really key opening date.”
Having previously been a restaurant, the bones of ALBA was already established – but Peter had big plans for what else he wanted to use the space for. That meant H&G Designs Hailey and Danuza or H&G Designs and Studio Shibui needed to create visually spectacular (and functional) interiors in not only the restaurant itself, but also the ALBA Providore and ALBA Cooking School.
What Hailey Loves About The Silhouette Cove Profile
Once Hailey had fallen in love with another easycraft product – this time the Cove profile – she knew it would find its ideal home in the cooking school.
“It’s a multifunctional space set up as both a cooking school and filming studio. Because Peter Kuruvita is quite a famous chef – he’s got his own videos and he does his own show – he wanted the space set up as a studio where he could film. It’s also used as a chef’s table so Peter can cook for a small amount of guests in a private space.”
But because it would regularly be used as a commercial kitchen, Cove and all the other installations had to be able to withstand heavy traffic.
“The space had to be commercially suitable, which does make design a little trickier as there’s a lot of hardwearing products that are needed – we went with a sand-covered vinyl floor, porcelain benchtops and lots of stainless steel on the rangehoods and cooking appliances.”
The ‘harshness’ of these products meant there was a very real need for textural softness, which the Cove delivered in spades.
“The profile offsets the really hard finish of stainless steel and other things you unfortunately can’t get away from in commercial cooking. We wanted it to have that softness and texture from the Cove to make it feel less clinical.
“From a hardwearing point of view, there’s also a fair bit of movement around the area – trolleys can run into walls, and furniture is constantly being moved for filming. If that were to happen against plasterboard, it would be a problem. But with the Cove’s primed MDF it doesn’t chip or dent as easily, which is ideal for a commercial environment.”
Cove Stands Apart
Peter and the whole team at ALBA adore the Cove profile – not only for how it adds a textural element to the space, but also for its durability and acoustics support during filming.
“Everyone at Alba is loving it. I think visually it adds such a nice look, but also from an acoustics point of view – because it’s quite a small space despite its high ceilings – we really didn’t want sound to bounce around when people were filming.
“We added some curtains, and then having the Cove on both walls stops any unnecessary echoing, which would be horrible when trying to film. For the cooking school, they usually have 12 people in the room plus chefs, so sound-wise the Cove helps with noise there too.”
Find out more about H&G Designs, including their wide variety of recent projects, and discover for yourself why Hailey and Glenn love the Silhouette by Easycraft range so much. You can also see some inspiring designs on Studio Shibui’s Instagram page.
Stay informed about our latest releases by signing up to our mailing list here, or find out where to buy easycraft from our list of resellers right across Australia.