have you ever had a special someone at the top of your favorite people list that you’ve never actually met in person? well, neville trickett and i have never met, nor have i had the pleasure of meeting his lovely family, but i’ve long admired them from afar. a fashionista, freelance creative director and “a culture anthropologist and fanatical collector”, neville has a quirky creativity i just identify with and we’ve been internet pals since 2009. neville and his wife sharon trickett now live in durban, south africa but when we first discovered each on flickr many moons ago and neville invited me to share his home, they lived on their beautiful family farm in the dargle, kwazulu-natal south africa. i discovered they’d found another home (8 years ago — where has the time gone?), a 1960’s bungalow on a private little road in Morningside Durban when i saw it on instagram unexpectedly. it had been awhile, so i was thrilled to reconnect with neville once again and to now share their incredible new home is a happy pleasure indeed.
The structure, bones, and proportions of the bungalow they found were solid and honest — just right for what they were looking for, and it had epic inland views with the total privacy they had hoped to find. All of the tricketts’ homes start with a fantasy in mind. Often it’s just a crazy mix of things they love or have collected over the years. sharon and neville’s fantasy here was Hollywood circa 1940’s — dusty glamor with evidence of their worldly travels to North Africa and the East. Durban has a hot humid climate, a bit like Miami in the summer, so working air conditioning is a big luxury, and the utilities in this house all work perfectly, unlike their farm where everything is broken or held together with duct tape. neville says their overriding aesthetic is mixing super cheap finds with the odd investment pieces — just my style. and this house oozes with unique, eclectic style! just like my friend — neville trickett. you can follow neville, or @trickster55 on instagram for much more inspiration — and check below for sources for some of these incredible collections. thanks, neville!
Two fabulous walls are floor to ceiling diamond quilted porcelain tiles which reflect a cool light; they then painted the floors gloss white to reflect that light. The dining room table is Saarinen marble and neville recovered the tulip chairs in a slightly different red. The wall of prints (below) are from the Amazing Japanese artist Ikenaga Yasunari — neville liked the idea of the frames all touching each other. he now goes to Japan three times a year — “It’s my drug of choice.”
neville’s personal favourite is the long wallpaper frieze by Joan Nelson he bought in New York 15 years ago. the lounge curtains are from tricia guild. the Wall sconce lights (just below) were bought in Paris and are from the designer Mattia Bonetti — “I am a huge fan of his work, sadly nowadays his prices are CRAZY”. The pendant lights are all by David Trubridge and The stone labradorite coffee table was an off-cut found in a stone factory — they just placed it on top of bent chrome legs. “Re-purposing stuff from factories is a big thrill for me”.
The sofa is super-sized but the proportions were wrong so they cleverly cut the legs off! neville designed the gold armchairs using quilted vinyl and blond birch wood. The rugs are New Zealand wool, found on a big markdown from Overstock. they loved the geometric metal trays, KALEIDO by Clara Von Zweigbergk for HAY — the Perfect colour combinations and they think they will eventually install them on a wall. genius!
The Moroccan window was a find on their last trip there, as were the vintage portraits dotted around the house. They were made from the original glass negatives and have a real vintage feel to them. also scattered about the house are paintings from Alex Katz and Philip Taaffe.
neville’s office is cozy with an old stuffed up chesterfield couch, more vintage Moroccan prints, cabinets for a small but important collection of treasured books, plus other stuff neville likes “to look at to put me in good mood”.
• all photography by neville trickett.
