Cultivated & Curated

Old and new elegantly dovetail in the NSW Southern Highlands home of antiques connoisseur Sally Beresford.

- Jessica Bellef

Sally Beresford’s name is synonymous with antiques. A fashion designer before she relented to her passion for old wares, Sally established her eponymous emporium two decades ago, based initially in the Southern Highlands of NSW and then in the chic Sydney suburb of Woollahra. She quickly built a reputation for impeccable taste and an eye for detail.

Antiques have been a constant in Sally’s life. “I grew up with them,” she says. “My mother was a lover of trees but also a lover of antiques, and she would say, ‘You’re just the caretaker.’ ” Fine French furniture is Sally’s specialty, but her connection to France goes beyond an appreciation of its design history. “My mother has French ancestors on her paternal side, albeit a long way back, and I like the way the French think,” she says. “They think carefully about what they do before they do it.”