Inner-city Abbotsford is the perfect mix of edge and ease. Offering a low-key lifestyle to locals that bares glimpses of grit, abundant green spaces and eclectic café and creative culture.
Abbotsford is renowned for its eclectic and dynamic culture. The suburb is loved by many for its distinct industrial architecture and street art, not to mention the hip cafes within converted warehouses to be discovered around every corner.
Pace of Abbotsford sits amongst the heart of the action at 251 Johnston Street, rising above the historic beautydistinctive architecture of the red-bricked St Crispin House façade.
Dean Newham, a resident at Pace of Abbotsford, has always been fond of the suburb, drawn to its inclusive diversityspirit and creative artsy edge. He purchased a dual level loft apartment within the building as the first step towards an exciting new chapter.
The collector of ceramic and model frogs wanted to showcase hero his existing pieces throughout in his new home, whilst also incorporating a showstopping mural that would honour both the suburb’s rich legacy of local artistrycultural history and his own personal journey.
“Wherever I move, I like to have something in my home that reflects the surrounding suburb. Walking around Abbotsford you can tell the street art community is really strongstrong. Everywhere you go there’s graffiti; it’s a symbol of the neighbourhood,” Dean says.
He reached out to Dan Wenn (aka Danny Awes), Founder and Creative Director at 90 Degrees Studios, to commission a mural that would span the length of his entry stairwell. On his brief for the piece, Dean says: “I wanted Danny to take the creative lead, all I really needed in the piece was a frog,”
And on the final result: “I’m stoked, it’s above and beyond what I wanted. It really throws some colour and excitement into my home.”
Street artist Danny Awes, who has worked extensively on commercial and residential mural work, says the trend for commissioned graffiti within the home has been growing for the past few years. His insider tip for seamlessly integrating a large artwork piece into a home environment is to keep to a simple colour palette.
“I didn’t want to do anything too full on, so as to complement the environment and other pieces in Dean’s collection. If you keep the colours simple, it ties everything together,” he says.
Dean says the finished work turned out to be even more spectacular than he expected, and he can’t wait to invite friends around to see the mural in real life.
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