Australian designer Greg Natale steps onto the world stage
His arrival at Europe’s biggest trade fair is just the latest achievement for this award-winning designer
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Award-winning Australian interior designer Greg Natale is exhibiting at Maison&Objet Paris for the first time this year. The four-day event, which begins today, showcases the latest and best in design from Europe and around the world. The theme for the 2023 event is ‘Take Care’, with a focus on looking after each other and the planet after the challenges of the pandemic.
Aimed at helping businesses in the design sector grow and connect, the show is in its 27th year, with an unrivalled range of exhibitors, talks and seminars.
Following on from the release of his third book last year, The Layered Interior, Natale is bringing to market his latest interior accessories, Fantaisie, inspired by the club scene of the 1970s and 80s. The Debbie ceramics range is a homage to the Blondie frontwoman, with gold ‘studs’ and abstract face motifs. Visage takes its cues from the 1980s Blitz Kids with a little bit of Bowie, Cocteau and Picasso thrown in. The Billy range is also inspired by the 80s scene, with a perforated finish and monochromatic palette.
The latest range will be in addition to Natale’s existing Onda range of stone vessels and joins his considerable stable of homewares that include dinnerware, towels, custom-made rugs, tiles and more.
Maison&Objet will be on in Paris until January 23.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, annual growth was the lowest since 1992
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Australia’s commodity-rich economy recorded its weakest growth momentum since the early 1990s in the second quarter, as consumers and businesses continued to feel the impact of high interest rates, with little expectation of a reprieve from the Reserve Bank of Australia in the near term.
The economy grew 0.2% in the second quarter from the first, with annual growth running at 1.0%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The results were in line with market expectations.
It was the 11th consecutive quarter of growth, although the economy slowed sharply over the year to June 30, the ABS said.
Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, annual growth was the lowest since 1992, the year that included a gradual recovery from a recession in 1991.
The economy remained in a deep per capita recession, with gross domestic product per capita falling 0.4% from the previous quarter, a sixth consecutive quarterly fall, the ABS said.
A big area of weakness in the economy was household spending, which fell 0.2% from the first quarter, detracting 0.1 percentage point from GDP growth.
On a yearly basis, consumption growth came in at just 0.5% in the second quarter, well below the 1.1% figure the RBA had expected, and was broad-based.
The soft growth report comes as the RBA continues to warn that inflation remains stubbornly high, ruling out near-term interest-rate cuts.
RBA Gov. Michele Bullock said last month that near-term rate cuts aren’t being considered.
Money markets have priced in a cut at the end of this year, while most economists expect that the RBA will stand pat until early 2025.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned this week that high interest rates are “smashing the economy.”
Still, with income tax cuts delivered at the start of July, there are some expectations that consumers will be in a better position to spend in the third quarter, reviving the economy to some degree.
“Output has now grown at 0.2% for three consecutive quarters now. That leaves little doubt that the economy is growing well below potential,” said Abhijit Surya, economist at Capital Economics.
“But if activity does continue to disappoint, the RBA could well cut interest rates sooner,” Surya added.
Government spending rose 1.4% over the quarter, due in part to strength in social-benefits programs for health services, the ABS said.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
