CJH Studio One to Watch
Designer, maker, studio director: Third-generation craftsperson Cassie James-Herrick discusses small practice, big projects and the joy found in collaboration.
For the director of this interior design studio, collaborating with the client is what makes each project unique.
“It’s exciting,” CJH Studio director Cassie James-Herrick says of the New York City commission her Victorian practice landed during a global pandemic. “It came about during iso, which was interesting … It’s sort of a whole different challenge but, in a sense, it’s just like doing a job in Melbourne because I couldn’t go to the city this year anyway. Posting samples and having ‘Zooms’ – the processes have been a bit the same.” The commission is for the reworking of an existing apartment, for a client who discovered her love for Antipodean design when she noticed that her collection of reference images favoured Australian designers. Cassie’s “man on the ground” for the project is a ceramist who used to work in an architectural firm; her eye for detail dovetails with Cassie’s own, making for “a really nice fit.”
This narrative articulates much about Cassie and her practice: her hearty commitment to local craftsmanship, appreciation of small details, joy in collaboration and, pertinently, her agility in working with and eliciting the most from existing conditions, be they worldwide travel restrictions and sporadic lockdowns, or the old bones of an apartment building. “I think it’s responding to the space that’s often exciting,” says Cassie. “You then create things that you might not have without those parameters forcing you to challenge yourself.”
Cassie established CJH Studio after garnering more than a decade of experience working in a Melbournebased interior design firm. A “leap of faith,” the studio came about almost simultaneously with Cassie’s second business, Linear Standard, for which she designs and makes cabinetry hardware, handles, hooks and bathroom accessories, all of which feature in the copious custom elements of CJH Studio’s projects. Now based in Mount Eliza on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, both CJH Studio and Linear Standard operate from a renovated warehouse that Cassie describes as “a beautiful, serene and calming place to inhabit.” Her words ring true for the homes she and her small team create, which are replete with natural materials, soft fabric textures and considered smaller details. “I respond more to the client, their brief, needs and budget, than to impose what I would personally like,” Cassie says of her design process. “I really enjoy the collaborative aspect of working with the client and that’s what gives each design concept its uniqueness.”
For Penthouse M (2019), a reimagined 1980s penthouse on the Gold Coast, CJH Studio worked within a tight timeframe and budget, as well as existing structural restrictions, to deliver an elegant home that speaks not only to its beachside setting but also to its inherent character. Extant curves and arches were added to and amplified by resourceful means, glass blocks were reintroduced to harness light, and the existing glossy travertine floors were honed and mattified. “I try not to introduce too many materials or too many elements,” Cassie says as she reflects on her responsive design approach. “I try to keep that consistency and that flow from space to space, with each feeling unique as well. I think it’s important that it doesn’t feel like ‘copy–paste’ across the whole job … but it’s about using economical materials in an interesting and clever way.”
Cassie’s painterly command of materials is steeped in a love for the artisanal as much as the aesthetic. “My dad was a builder – he’s retired now – and my grandfather was a furniture maker,” she explains. “I love going to workshops and seeing the making of [a piece] and understanding how things work and are built and what you can create out of that [process].” That aptitude for making permeates House P (2015), an alteration to a century-old property in south-east Melbourne, where almost every room features bespoke joinery designed by Cassie to meet the functional needs of the client’s small but growing family. “The client was due to have another baby at the time and I had a little baby as well, so we bonded quite well on that front. And I understood the requirements of having a young family – what that means in terms of practicality, storage and daily life,” Cassie says. The design