Sister Act! Move over Bek Donnan (Abi and Joseph activewear fame), your sister Melissa is now taking the limelight this year too in ‘The Bridge’ newspaper and also in a bigger picture with the ‘creative world’ at her feet. As an interior design graduate, as each door opened another one sprung open wider to more success with ongoing prestigious graduate industry honours. 

Since graduating from RMIT last year Melissa has been on a dream run for her creative career aspirations. Taking in all the glory of being awarded the Victorian and Tasmanian Graduate of the Year and then taking out the Australian Graduate of the Year in the Interior Decoration Category, it was a perfect plan from an early outset, but one of surprise for the former Barham girl.

From Barham to beyond, just like sister Bek, Melissa’s amazing creative inspiration is one for all upcoming designers to take heed of.

First question, ‘do the creative genes run in the family’?

“I honestly don’t know where we got it. Bek and I are very creative, we have always been and no one else is at all, certainly not from mum,” Melissa laughed.

Back to square one...

From farm life in the Riverina and with primary and secondary education from Grade 3 to Year 10 in Barham, the quiet country life soon evolved to a journey unexpected and eventually to the big smoke. Finishing secondary schooling with year 11 and 12 in Bendigo and with an undertaking of broader creative subjects choices, for Melissa there has always been a love and passion in the field. 

“I just remember as a child I was so crafty in all of my spare time I would be just making stuff, painting, building things that I would find around the farm and things like that. Even arranging flowers and ceramics. 

“I’ve always loved anything creative. I guess this is what made me do something as a career with a bit of creativity in there.”

At the same time, talking to Melissa from afar, Melbourne was in lockdown for seven months and she hadn’t been able to return to Barham to see her family and friends. Communication had been by video calls, however she was looking forward to returning home once the borders reopened to reconnect again.

The next stage...

“When I finished high school I had no idea what I was going to do, so I ended up just travelling for five or more years. I would work and then save up and go overseas and come back again when I ran out of money. I did this for a lot of years.

“I was living in Scotland at the time and I decided when I was coming home I would study interior design. I’ve always been really creative but never really knew what to do with it. When I got a bit older I wanted to bring creativity into my work. At the time I was just working in ‘hospo’ in cafes and bars and did a bit of disability work. 

“I didn’t go to uni until I was 26, I’m 29 now. I was a mature aged student and I enrolled at RMIT for the Associate Degree of Interior Decoration and Design and I was absolutely mortified. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I wasn’t very good at using computers and all of that but that changed very rapidly,” said Melissa.

“If I did this course when I was 18, I think I would’ve dropped out or failed. Going back as a mature aged student and understanding that I really wanted to be there and knowing how much I was paying for it and caring about learning, is such a different experience,” Melissa said. 

After moving to Melbourne to study and with years of hard work paying off for Melissa, the recognition of her interior design work upon graduating in December last year was rewarded in more ways than one.

“I ended up being really good at it and really enjoying it. It was a lot. It was very hard work. I came out of it and won ‘Runner Up Graduate of the Year’ from RMIT, which was incredible. I was lucky enough actually during my studies to be chosen by an interior designer to do an internship for a few months,” Melissa went on to explain.

For Melissa, the ground work continued for further nomination by her teachers in submitting her work for the Design Institute Award and was short listed. Following on from an interview the awards were to be set down this year, however with COVID-19, they were held online back in September this year.

“Usually there would be an award ceremony but because of COVID-19 it was postponed for months and months and months. 

“I found out that I’d won the Victorian and Tasmanian graduate for the year which then put me in the running for the Australian Graduate of the year, which I also won, which is ridiculous,” Melissa shared.

“It was very exciting and it was completely unexpected. Honest to God I was blown away, it was wild.”

Putting it all in place

“My teachers emailed me about talking to new students about next year. At the time I didn’t think anything about it and I’d been gardening all day. The meeting was to be held via Zoom [video-conference].

“When I logged into the Zoom meeting every teacher I’ve had over the whole time was there, and the Head of the RMIT interior design section and another lady I didn’t recognise. I thought what’s going on here?

“Someone said ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ After that, they told me.

“The real reason you are here is because you’ve won the Australian Graduate of the year. They actually recorded the zoom without me knowing and that’s what they used on the online ceremony presentation. They could have told me because I would’ve dressed up,” Melissa laughed.

More than just four walls

“I do like interior design and interior decoration a mixture and styling of furnishings and fittings and also I do like the design of the whole interior walls. 

“It’s a lot more designing that I thought. I don’t think people realise how much interior designers do.

“As a graduate, I have learnt so much, but have so much to learn. It’s just getting in there.

“Once you get in the job you learn so much more.

“I think of my best designs and creative things and have them in the back of my mind,” she said.

Living in lockdown saw other windows of opportunity at home, and inspiration for other endeavours. From building garden beds, designing a new bed, learning how to weld, painting and more crafty ideas, Melissa spoke of the ‘up and down experience’ through the challenging time and working from home.

At the time of the interview Melissa was employed by ‘World of Style’ and was freelancing interior design work and also working part time as a design assistant.

“I mainly do residential but would love to be involved with temporary, commercial and event industry design which is a lot more creative and bold. 

“I really love texture and raw materials. I quite like to bring in big bold raw textures inside. I feel like this is what connects us to the environment and nature and how we live. I love anything textural and I think that is one of the main things I love about design. I like creating more of an experience and tapping into a little bit more of sensory design like how you feel in a space.

“That’s really an important element of design and that’s where I get inspiration from.”