Not many Australian design brands have found the same level of international recognition as ELLISON STUDIOS.

Known for its nostalgic and minimalistic (but never boring) furniture, the business has garnered more than 266,000 followers on Instagram, and is now sold in seven countries worldwide.

Behind it all, is ELLISON STUDIOS. CEO Leigh McKeown and his small Sydney-based team, who are about to celebrate seven years in business!

How they found their demographic

Leigh was working as a fashion publicist when he and co-founder Sarah Ellison (magazine editor-turned-designer) decided to join forces to create the brand in 2017. They were inspired to fill a gap in the furniture market that was a step up from the ‘big box’ stores, and less expensive than legacy design brands.

‘We knew the customer we wanted — the customer was us ultimately,’ Leigh says in the latest episode of TDF Talks. ‘It was us and our friends, and people in our budget bracket that wanted great stuff that just wasn’t around at the time.’

Creating a nostalgic aesthetic vision

With this customer in mind, Leigh says the brand’s look and feel also evolved from a personal place. They drew from their shared experience growing up on the coast, Australia’s laid-back lifestyle, and a love of ’70s furniture.

‘The core of it was sort of not being too precious about design. What we want to do is edit the market rather than saturate it,’ Leigh says. ‘I think it’s about having less, but having interesting pieces, and it’s the way you put things together.’

ELLISON STUDIOS. is all about reimagining aspects of the past for a modern era. Their internet famous Float sofa created in an exclusive colour collaboration with Pantone draws on the look of conversation pits, while other collections like the Chromeo chairs nod to space age styles.

The benefits of coming to the design world as ‘an outsider’

Leigh admits he didn’t really know ‘the rules’ of the industry before starting ELLISON STUDIOS. so he leaned on his fashion background and PR network to get the product out there. ‘We were shooting every week,’ he adds, recalling a marketing strategy that involved PR gifting, and asking friends to photograph the Huggy chair in corners of their homes for social media content.

It wasn’t until a few years into the business that Leigh was told most furniture brands only shoot two campaigns a year tops — but doing things differently is what helped give ELLISON STUDIOS. an edge. Going all-in on content creation and building their online audience is how the brand became so popular, so quickly.

Running a business is a marathon not a sprint

‘We could have easily rushed in and opened a store years ago,’ Leigh says of the decision to remain online only for now. ‘But for us it’s about not biting off more than we can chew at any one time. And my other half will say I’m a complete workaholic and there’s no denying that — I’ve accepted that fact about myself. But at the same time, running a business is a marathon, not a sprint. It has to be sustainable.’

For now, you can shop ELLISON STUDIOS. online here and find out about their new concept space here.

Listen to the full episode below, or find TDF Talks on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.