Tristan Ceddia describes living in his Black Rock home as a “full circle moment”. It’s the suburb he grew up in, and it’s where he met his wife, Adriana Giuffrida, 18 or so years ago.
“It’s really interesting to think about the journey to get here,” Ceddia tells Broadsheet. “It’s probably why living here feels so right.”
Ceddia, a graphic designer and creative director, founded multidisciplinary design studio Tric in 2021 with his business partner Rick Milovanovic. Even if you’ve never heard of the company there’s a high chance you’ve seen its work for a clutch of local and international brands: branding for beloved Melbourne sandwich shop Hector’s Deli, for instance, or campaigns for Mecca, Nike, MAAP and Blackhearts & Sparrows.
Before Tric Ceddia founded prolific design studio Never Now in 2005, worked as art director at Australian fashion label Ksubi and was creative director at Oyster Magazine. He also helped Giuffrida build her brand Poms, a cult accessories label she dreamt up on their honeymoon and launched in 2011.
“Poms was an amazing experience that I ran for about 10 years while we raised our young kids,” Giuffrida says. “I had huge success with the big fluffy pompom earrings. Then I moved into designing eyewear adorned with removable crystal jewels. It was a really great time.” After closing down the label in 2021, Giuffrida went back to her career as a fashion designer and consultant. She had previously worked for Ksubi, P.A.M and local label Something Else.
The pair’s shared penchant for creativity and love of design is apparent in every aspect of the Black Rock abode they purchased in 2020.
Its architecture echoes the modernist homes peppered throughout the neighbouring suburb of Beaumaris. “We live near where a lot of modernist architects built experimental holiday houses in the ’60s and ’70s,” Ceddia says. “Our house is a little old holiday house that’s evolved over the years. Like, none of the walls are straight and we’re just adding to it in our own way.”
When it comes to their approach to home styling, Giuffrida reckons it’s a culmination of all the places they’ve lived in together over the years. “Our first place was full of monotonous furniture because we didn’t really have anything. Over the years of living in four or five houses together we’ve collected things that make our home a combination of where we were and where we are now.”
Names: Tristan Ceddia and Adriana Giuffrida
Live: In a modernist “bungalow-esque” home in Black Rock
Since: 2020
With: 10-year-old daughter Valentina, 8-year-old son Enzo, and Slinky the dog
What’s the story behind the house and how you found it?
Giuffrida: We found the place in 2020, during Covid in-between the first two lockdowns. We were in a villa unit beforehand with two small kids, and when we were locked down and stuck in there we knew we had to find somewhere bigger.
I’d actually seen this place online and showed it to Tristan because I thought it would be the most incredible place for us. We watched it get sold and were like, “Oh well, we couldn’t afford it anyway.” And then when we sold our unit, it popped up again – the sale must have fallen through. It just happened to be perfect timing so we snapped it up. Because we were purchasing during Covid we only had like five minutes to come and look and we couldn’t touch or open anything. But we just had a really great feeling about it. It was meant to be.
Tell us about the vibe of the house?
Ceddia: It was built in the 1960s so it’s definitely got a modernist vibe, and it’s a bit like a bungalow.
Giuffrida: It’s set back on the block, so there’s a lot of garden and greenery at the front. You open this beautiful big chocolate-brown front door and you walk into a little entryway, where you’ll find two of the bedrooms. The dining table is in a little nook, made to fit the space by our good friend and designer Fred Ganim.
There’s a couple of steps to get down to the living room from the kitchen, and you can look out onto the garden and pool from there. The sky-blue carpet in the lounge really matches the pool. Valentina’s room is upstairs, which is kind of like a little treehouse. It all feels very fresh, light-filled and open.
What’s been your approach to decorating?
Ceddia: It’s all mismatched and everything is just sort of put together in a way that flows. I think we’ve always had the mentality that you could go out looking for something that’s red, and you’ll find something else that’s great that’s green. And so you accept that and you don’t try and fight it.
I feel like we also manifest things that we want. We don’t go and target them in a shop, we’ll allow ourselves to just come across things. We go to a lot of op shops and find a lot of pieces online.
Giuffrida: We’ve got some great denim Kartell couches because Tristan is really good at finding incredible vintage designer furniture bargains online. We also have this beautiful Strip sofa by contemporary Italian furniture designer Arflex and plenty of USM modular pieces that we sourced from my sister-in-law’s online platform, Collecte.
Do you have a favourite item?
Ceddia: We have a wind vane out the front that our friend Brendan Huntley made. It’s really beautiful and it’s kind of hidden when you enter the house, so you have to look up through a certain spot to see it.
Giuffrida: It’s hard to say what my favourite piece is because we’ve got so many amazing friends who have helped us shape our home. One of my favourite things would be something that Brendan also made, which is a little bust that he gave me after we had our first child.
What’s your favourite room in the house?
Ceddia: The lounge room would have to be my favourite spot. We sit there all the time.
Giuffrida: When we’re all at home I really like sitting on my bed reading, because then I can look out onto the front garden. Or I like sitting in the backyard, reading. I also love where the dining table is because that’s where we gather. The kids have sports and all sorts of things to do in the evenings, so it’s nice when we can sit and have dinner together.
Do you spend much time working from home?
Ceddia: I have a work-from-home day on Thursdays, so generally Rick will come over and work and we’ll sit at the dining table or the coffee table. It’s nice to have that day where we can work independently and at our own pace. We used to have a desk upstairs during Covid that we built specifically to separate work life from home life, but we dismantled it and made the room our daughter’s room.
What do your weekends look like, and how do you spend time around the neighbourhood?
Giuffrida: There’s lots of sports that the kids play, like soccer and tennis, so we do a lot of running around.
Ceddia: We’ve got the beach, which is really nice, and there are really nice lifesaving clubs around. There are heaps of good parks, too. We actually spend a lot of time at home, either by ourselves or we’ll have friends over. We love to cook.
This article first appeared in Domain Review, in partnership with Broadsheet.
For a look inside the homes of more local creatives, head to our Home Visit series.