BOLD profile

Designer Nickolas Gurtler plays with rich materials and a moody palette, enriching a Perth worker's cottage with a sophisticated tone.

- STORY Eliza O'Hare | PHOTOGRAPHY Timothy Kaye

Good design is powerful. When award-winning Melbourne-based interior designer Nickolas Gurtler took on the transformation of a Perth cottage for a friend, he created a home dripping with intrigue, combining its characterful heritage facade with a sharp extension that oozes sensuality with a dark and moody selection of materials.

The owner, Ben, a doctor, but specifically an anatomical pathologist and medical director, had known Nickolas for years before the project. Their friendship meant there was a degree of trust already in place and it helped Nickolas to interpret his client's needs. “He wanted to create a space that was an embodiment of how he saw himself, a place he was proud to bring people to - a sophisticated house that was really sexy. That was his real big thing.” In fact, the brief called for the ultimate bachelor pad for Ben and his cat.

The home sits in an neighbourhood close to Perth’s CBD, dense with worker's cottages that had been heavily gentrified. “I fell in love with the street facade,” says Ben. “It was a quaint, weatherboard cottage with a picket fence, front hedge and an established peppermint tree on the front verge.”

But how to approach the bachelor pad brief? “It called for bold ideas, for sure,” says Nickolas. “It was meant to be a home for him as a bachelor, but hopefully it would also be a house that he shares with a partner in the future.”