Silvana Azzi Heras | From Moulin Rouge to House of Heras: Design, Heritage & Creative Courage

Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516687/fa...) Silvana Azzi Heras is the founder of House of Heras, a Sydney-based textile and interior design studio known for its maximalist, emotionally rich patterns rooted in folklore, flora, and cultural memory. Born in Lebanon and raised in Australia from the age of two, Silvana was the youngest of five in a family of doctors, surgeons, engineers, and academics — the black sheep, as she calls herself, but the kind that glimmers in the light. Before founding her studio, she spent over a decade as head designer at Bazmark, the creative company of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, working across Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby, Australia, La Bohème on Broadway, and The Get Down for Netflix — designing everything from film titles and posters to hotel rugs for the Faena in New York. This is a conversation about what it takes to follow your instincts when the world expects something safer from you. About how heritage shapes the motifs you create, how cinema teaches you to see, and what happens when you finally back yourself and build something entirely your own. In this episode, we explore: • Growing up Lebanese-Australian: arriving in Sydney at age two, navigating identity, and returning to Beirut at 35 to understand her parents' resilience • Being the 'black sheep' youngest of five — how family pressure shaped the long road to design • Starting with a Bachelor of Welfare Studies, meeting her husband there, and going back to university as a mature-age student to study design • The phone call that changed everything: how a university lecturer put her name forward for Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin's studio • Life inside Bazmark — researching Moulin Rouge! in Paris, drinking absinthe, walking the streets, and building a world from scratch • The Gatsby baby — her water breaking on the last day of filming The Great Gatsby • Going to Cannes twice and the Oscars twice, including helping Catherine Martin dress Beyonce • Designing over 200 rugs for the Faena Hotel New York, in collaboration with Peter Mikic • Founding House of Heras — filling a gap for maximalist, culturally rich design in a minimalist market • Pre-visualisation as a design practice, the art of knowing when to stop, and why there are no shortcuts Why this conversation matters In a design world that often rewards restraint and minimalism, Silvana Azzi Heras is doing something rarer: making work that holds memory, carries culture, and takes emotional risks. Her story is also a reminder that the creative path is rarely linear — that detours, late starts, and unexpected phone calls are often the beginning of something extraordinary. About the guest Silvana Azzi Heras is the founder and creative director of House of Heras, a Sydney-based design studio specialising in textiles, rugs, wallpaper, and interior design. She spent over a decade as head designer at Bazmark, the production company of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, working across some of the most visually ambitious films and productions of the past two decades. Her textile collections are stocked internationally and she has designed for the Faena Hotel New York, Designer Rugs, Milton & King, and CB2 in the United States. House of Heras is expanding into commercial interior design, and a new Axminster rug collection is due for release later in 2026. RESOURCES MENTIONED House of Heras website: houseofheras.com Instagram: @houseofheras and @silvanaazziheras Designer Rugs: designerrugs.com.au Milton & King wallpaper: miltonandking.comCB2  (US): cb2.com Faena Hotel New York: faena.com/new-york Peter Mikic: mikicdesign.com To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials:   on Instagram (  / buildbeautiful_podcast  ) on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...) on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/buil...) If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on [email protected].