We are delighted to share a residential project by Loopea Design Studio, led by interior designer Lisa Luppino, whose work was commended in the 2025 Residential Interior category of the Emerging Designer Awards. The project beautifully blends architectural geometry, tactile materiality, and bold, considered lighting. This striking home draws inspiration from the traditional Australian farmhouse while infusing contemporary design elements, creating spaces that are both dramatic and inviting.
At the heart of this home, lighting plays a pivotal role, thoughtfully curated to highlight sculptural forms, enhance mood, and punctuate the playful material detailing throughout the interior.
Design: Loopea Design Studio
Photography: Lucia.B Creative
Bringing Spaces to Life: A Conversation with Lisa Luppino
1. How do you usually begin a new residential project?
I will go to site to get a feel for the space, even if the site doesn’t exist.
2. What’s your first step in understanding a client’s needs and lifestyle?
Meeting with the client on site and taking a slow, detailed walkthrough of their current or future space is essential. It allows us to understand not only their aspirations but also their pain points, so we can future-proof the design. We dive deeply into how each room will be used, even down to the hours spent and activities carried out per person each day.
3. Could you tell me a bit about this residential project, what was the overall vision behind it?
Architecturally, The external design concept draws inspiration from the traditional form of the Australian farmhouse to connect the home with its direct farmland. The internal design focuses on spatial awareness & volume creating privately open nooks and experiences. The interior design language is a contemporary adaptation of the traditional rural family home. With the clients history of graphic design and copper and brass, the home showcases their legacy of shape, form, and metal through geometric connections, spatial volume, and playful material detailing.
4. How do you balance what the client wants with your own creative instincts?
I believe it’s most important to fully understand what the client wants & relinquish control of my own internal design biases. Every project deserves its own soul. My role is to bridge the connection of a space with the clients’ wants through creative & strategic design.
5. Lighting plays such a crucial role in mood and atmosphere. How do you typically approach lighting design in your projects?
Some clients instinctively understand and appreciate the role lighting plays in creating mood and atmosphere, and some don’t. For those who don’t, I like to run a dedicated lighting session with their finishes and materials, so they can clearly see the visual intention and the mood we’re aiming to create.
6. In this particular residential project, what mood or story were you hoping to create?
The design intent was to punctuate a harmonious outcome whilst pushing it to the edge, to create magic moments. The spatial layout uses architectural geometries as a medium for the interior design, creating a strong sense of connection and home through geometric activation, with strategic open volumes, unpredictable materiality, and bold threshold transitions. Geometric forms are expressed with bold pattern & textural movement characteristic of a farmhouse but with serious edge. Strategic play of geometry is everywhere!
The showpiece lies at the junction of the ‘floating’ mezzanine, whereby the scalloped stairs appear to float - simply by concealing the stair structure with a series of pleated sheet brass that invisibly fix together. Bullnose detailing echoes the arched portholes & windows. The home embodies a balance of bold architectural statements and soft, inviting interiors. The overall effect is a dramatic yet welcoming home that fosters visual sightlines through rooms and spaces.
7. When you chose the lights for this project, what drew you to those particular pieces?
It was the combination of their striking sculptural forms and the rich history behind each piece that truly captured my attention, creating a sense of narrative and artistry that resonates deeply in a space.
8. Are there any design or lighting trends you’re especially excited about right now?
Trends die. I believe that there are no strict rules, and that every material has its perfect moment. What truly excites me, though, is seeing how bold and adventurous clients can be. Lately, I’ve noticed a wonderful shift from the dreary ‘Millennial Grey’ to warmth & colour! Colour has always been something that lights me up! Honestly, people shouldn’t be afraid to embrace it; it brings a space to life in ways nothing else can.
9. At the end of the day, what do you love most about what you do?
At the end of the day, I love every phase of the interior design process, I never find it monotonous. I have vivid memories of my nine-year-old self, sitting in my bedroom, designing houses to scale & drawing floor plans & elevations! I’m a tactile person and can be deeply affected by even the smallest details, like where I’m seated in a restaurant... (sorry to my beautiful husband for making us move tables 4 times in the last 4 minutes)
I love the ability to shape a space and influence its mood and atmosphere through thoughtful finishes and materiality. Specifying finishes to bring a concept to life is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting parts of the process, it’s something I always look forward to.
