Sonya Romeo’s designs are handsome; clean lines combine with classic shapes to make repeats that are fresh, yet familiar and comfortable. Inspired by her day to day surroundings, her patterns take in elements of nature and of family, filtered through the stylistic influences of luminaries such as Florence Broadhurst and Joel Dewberry.
lee and allen – tulip seeds
A sense of family is paramount to Sonya Romeo. Based in on the Gold Coast in Queensland, her current collection of surface designs called McAlister Street is woven around images and memories of her grandparent’s house in Townsville, where she spent much of her childhood. “We lived 2 doors down from them. Some of my fondest memories are climbing onto the outhouse roof and sun baking with my cousin, squashing the African Tulip tree flower pods, talking to my Grandfather’s pet cockatoo, collecting eggs from the chook pen, Christmas under the mango tree and of course Sunday lunch, which many family members would attend each week. This collection is very special to me.”
eeandallan – tangerine cockatoo
Her grandmother was a ceramicist and painter, but there is a whole other Sicilian side to Sonya’s family. When her great grandfather was sent to a concentration camp during the Second World War, Sonya’s great uncle brought her grandfather to the little town of Fletcher in Queensland, along with grape vines from his home country. Sonya has been told that the vines planted on the property still grow there, and that the original buildings are still all in tact thanks to the efforts of the present owners, who are keen to preserve the history of the farm.
This international connection will form the basis of her next collection of prints, and she’s planning for it to come together over the next 18 months.
lee and allan – tangerine broad bean
Currently working full time as an interior designer and teaching part-time, Sonya is gradually pushing her way towards her goal of being a full time textile designer, specialising in contemporary infant bedding.
She says her career has been one of gradual shift and change, evolving organically demands arising within the industry, and her own growing sense of self. Originally studying interior design, she was offered a contract as a colour consultant for a major builder, and after accepting this contract she decided that colour consulting would be a good base income for her business along with offering design and fit out services to residential home owners. Importantly, this meant that she was able to work out of a home office providing flexibility between work and family life.
“However, as my knowledge in the industry expanded, I found that I had a great interest in textiles and fabric. It was then that I decided to recommence studies, focusing just on textile design. I now offer custom fabric design to the architectural and design industry along with sharing my knowledge of textile design and manufacturing with my students.”
Her first forays into getting fabric custom printed were a disaster. “It took weeks for the company to print the fabric and when they finally did, the quality was horrendous to say the least. To pick it up and be so disappointed sets you back ten steps. It took me so long to find a local company that would print fabric by the metre at a reasonable price – but that was nearly two years ago. Now I have a printer in Sydney that can print onto natural fibres and wallpaper for me, a large textile mill in Brisbane that can print large quantities of commercial grade fabric and a local company in Burleigh Heads who do all of my synthetic fabric printing. And of course crafters can find a lot of my designs on Spoonflower.”
Sonya Romeo – no.46 McAlister Street
sonya romeo – No. 46 hand sketch
Sonya describes herself as a big daydreamer, with “a head bursting with ideas and pipe dreams as long as my arm.” She loves curling up in her favourite corner next to the window, admiring the outdoors for hours on end and enjoying the solitude.
Rather than being a waste of time though, she finds these times quite productive, often sketching ideas as they occur into one of her journals. From there she scans them into her computer, and manipulates them in Illustrator. Lately, she has also been experimenting with water colour crayons and collage to create custom printed cushions for her children’s rooms.
sonya romeo – family room
Her best piece of advice? “Some one very close to me quite often tells me that success does not just happen, you need to work hard, believe in yourself and anything is possible.”
You can find more of Sonya’s work in her Spoonflower shop leeandallandesign, and on her own website, leeandallan.com.au.