Samantha Wardle and Hady Anboussi share honest dispatches four years into running their small design studio, in Sydney.

Some interior designers enter the field aspiring to ascend the ranks of prestigious studios whose styles and sensibilities match their own. Some, after cutting their teeth at these big firms, learn quickly this is not for them.

Samantha Wardle, 30, and Hady Anboussi, 28, fall into the latter category. The partners in life and co-directors of Some Studio – a young interior design practice in Surry Hills – met while studying interior architecture at the University of New South Wales. Wardle came from an interior design course in Florence, Italy, and Anboussi from a childhood spent on construction sites, with family ties in joinery and stonemasonry.

Wardle went on to complete internships at Hassell and Sharon Campbell Architects and then spent most of her early career designing workplaces and commercial spaces at Bates Smart. Meanwhile, Anboussi used his 3D visualisation and project management skills at a real estate content agency, all the while never envisioning a long future at a large firm.

“When you work in a bigger firm, you don’t get to be as hands-on,” Wardle tells inside. “I felt like there was a strength here, that we could bring something different to the industry.”

Having never worked together – not even on a group project – the humble but driven pair struck out on their own, founding Some Studio together in January 2020.

“We trusted one another quite a lot,” says Anboussi. Wardle adds that having “very different” strengths is an advantage of their partnership.

“He’s very client-based and really good at managing and project managing. I like the backend stuff; I actually enjoy documentation,” she says.

Despite a bumpy and somewhat stagnant start thanks to COVID-19, they persevered and now have the Some Studio stamp on a variety of projects with the help of a graduate interior designer, Christina Pavlidis, and the occasional casual.

The ‘Some’ part of their name comes from a desire to create work that is “undefined and diverse”. Working across multiple sectors – from residences to restaurants – Some Studio doesn’t want to be associated with particular design elements or trends. “We don’t have a style,” declares Wardle. Instead, it’s the process that remains consistent.

“Part of that is really bringing the client into the picture,” says Anboussi. “That’s what we feel makes every single project quite different. We really use the client as an anchor in our projects.”

Anboussi and Wardle also pride themselves on the end-to-end nature of their service, starting with detailed concept design and ending at construction management, with some branding assistance to hospitality clients in between. Their interior design studio is sometimes part of the architecture stage, an opportunity they relish.

“I used to find architects were quite heavily involved in projects from design to construction, and interiors were left behind,” says Anboussi. During Wardle’s time at big firms, she similarly felt the architecture and interior teams were “so disconnected”.

“They don’t even speak to each other, it’s like a culture thing,” she says. “I feel the exterior should reflect the interior; it’s a whole process. You don’t want the language to be disconnected when you walk from the front of the house to the back of the house.”

This holistic design approach is evident in their earliest project, Homebush Residence. Completed in 2020, this playful, modern apartment was carefully curated around fluid dark and light spaces. Upon entry, full-height black-stained veneer panels contrast with warm feature lighting, setting a juxtapositional tone for the rest of the home. The design, while dynamic, harmonises through a continuous punchy terrazzo floor plane and stainless steel hardware and appliances.

Another early project was something of a baptism of fire. Under pressure to deliver before Christmas 2020, Some Studio had six weeks to take the workplace fitout of educational consulting firm HBD from design to construction in the midst of the pandemic – and while Wardle still worked at Bates Smart.

“[It was] just mayhem, but it was really, really fun. That’s what pushed us to evolve and work alongside clients to get projects over the line,” says Anboussi.

HBD Sydney taught Some Studio that anything can be done, but it’s about the “limitations” you set around the project to make it work.

“What are you happy to let go and what are you willing to not let go [of]?” Anboussi says.

They’re still applying these lessons to more recent projects, such as 2023’s Ethel, a refurbished, circa-1888 Victorian Italianate two-storey house.

“Our focus for the project was to preserve the original heritage elements such as the architraves, cornices, fireplace mantels and staircase, while creating balance with new opulent materials in the home to create a timeless, contemporary, elevated design,” the pair says.

2021’s Sapid is a more pared-back restaurant decorated in rich, warm hues such as deep beiges, golds and salmons, serving as a “canvas to the food”.

And then there’s Clements, a quietly luxurious refurbishment to a Californian bungalow in Drummoyne, which has been shortlisted in this year’s IDEA Residential Single category and has put Some Studio in the running for Emerging Designer of the Year.

For Clements, Some Studio took a once-disjointed interior and created something expansive and tactile. Adorned with burnished oak throughout, the design reinstates the home’s original deep brown earthy brick and connects the ground and first floor.

“That’s a bit of a taste of what’s coming from our studio because it was after COVID – that’s when we were able to go out and interact with new clients and new trades, where we could really push our work out there,” says Anboussi.

“The next quarter is when you will see quite a lot of new work from us, whether it’s in hospitality or residential.”

Photography by Nick De Lorenzo and Pablo Veiga.

Featured Image: Some Studio’s first project, Homebush Residence. Photography by Nick De Lorenzo.

This article originally appeared in inside 119. Click here to subscribe and receive future issues.