Howard Smith Wharves gets the Anna Spiro treatment

Anna Spiro the designer is famous for bold interiors, from homes to dining hot spots. But the woman herself is surprisingly low-key — with a love of the quiet life.

Before her is the pink granite bar top she hand-picked to match the vintage tropical fabric she selected for the couches.

Behind her, palm trees fan out below the timber panelled ceiling and nearby, on the bathroom walls, nude women dance on Maison C wallpaper.

Anna Spiro, the celebrated Brisbane-based interior designer, adores it all, but especially that wallpaper.

We are in the just-opened Mr Percival’s, the boldly styled bar Anna, 41, spent the last two years designing.

The octagonal-shaped overwater bar, inspired by Brisbane’s iconic rotundas, has been touted as the jewel of Howard Smith Wharves (HSW), the city’s new $200 million entertainment and dining precinct.

Mr Percival's overwater bar at Howard Smith Wharves precinct.

And on this balmy Tuesday inside the casually glam venue, which served 3000 people during its opening week, it’s easy to see why. It’s fabulous.

And there is more to come, with Anna designing Arc Dining and Wine Bar, and Chinese restaurant Stanley at HSW.

But instead of basking in the glow of a high-profile job well done, Anna is wishing she was anywhere but the spotlight.

“I’m confident in my design but not so confident in myself,” she owns.

“I don’t go out, I don’t go to events. I get invited to all these events in Brisbane but I have to make up excuses all the time. I don’t want to put myself in a position where there’s any kind of social situation or any position where I feel uncomfortable.”

Mr Percival's interiors designed by Anna Spiro.

Behind her signature bold and brave designs is a woman plagued by self-doubt.

“I’m self-conscious, I’m really self-conscious,” says Anna, who lives on Brisbane’s bayside with husband Brad Lipke and sons Harry, 16, and Max, 8.

“There are moments in the whole process of these projects, just before install, where I have a mini heart attack and mini breakdown because I’m so nervous. There are so many elements to my design, so many patterns and layers and it’s not all matching, so I do doubt myself constantly.

“The doubt comes from perfectionism. It’s a really paralysing thing for me and it’s a very hard thing to live with on a day-to-day basis.”

Anna’s fierce introversion is in stark contrast to her “mix everything, match nothing” design aesthetic where she brings to life a splendid and unexpected world.

Her trademark style has seen her become an in-demand designer with fans splurging $1365 a ticket last year for the chance to workshop room ideas with her at an exclusive event at her home.

Anna’s star has been on the rise since she started her business, Black and Spiro, when she was 21, and her blog, Absolutely Beautiful Things, which spawned a coffee-table book of the same name in 2014.

Anna Spiro with her family, husband Brad and children Max (6) Harry (13). Photo: Russell Shakespeare

In 2015, she finished what became her breakout commercial design project, Halcyon House, in the NSW coastal town of Cabarita Beach.

Anna’s work on the five-star boutique hotel helped it secure a swag of awards and saw it included on various “hot lists” including Conde Nast Traveler’s “Best Hotels and Resorts in the World: 2019 Gold List.”

It’s also the project where Adam Flaskas, director and co-owner of Halcyon House and now director of Howard Smith Wharves, saw the power of her designs.

“I knew how brilliant her work was and that she would have a good grasp of what we were after from a design perspective for Mr Percival’s,” says Adam.

He approached Spiro two years ago to design Mr Percival’s and bring his overwater bar concept to life.

Howard Smith Wharves director Adam Flaskas and designer Anna Spiro.

“Right from the start, we knew we wanted to create something that would be different from anything else in Brisbane, and indeed globally. The design brief took cues from some of Europe’s most iconic beach clubs and also (its) design and feel … suit Brisbane.

“We wanted the atmosphere at Mr Percival’s to portray a sense of a year-long summer, which I think Anna has achieved through every aesthetic element, from the colour palette to the furniture.”

It has been, by anyone’s standards, a hectic 12 months for Anna, given she took on 28 large commercial and residential projects around the country last year.

Despite Mr Percival’s completion, Anna is still feeling the pressure as she finalises the fit-out for Arc, set to open later this month, and Stanley, opening in late March.

“It comes back to the thing where I’m the only one who really knows what it’s going to be and I’m thinking, ‘Is it going to be OK? Have I done everything right? Will people like it?” says Anna, who has almost 67,000 Instagram followers.

To escape the pressures, Anna spends her weekends with her family at their North Stradbroke Island holiday home, a place she’s owned for 14 years.

Mr Percival's overwater bar at Howard Smith Wharves precinct.

She says the key to keeping sane is exercise, and she starts the day at the beach with a 9km walk before going for a long swim in the ocean.

“Without the swimming in the ocean or big walks, I would be a mess,” says Anna, who reveals she has lost 33kg in the last three years. “It helps me cope with everything I do and makes me feel happy.”

And while she says she still has lessons to learn in self-love, Anna does acknowledge the importance of taking stock of her achievements.

As she watches the stream of people walking through the elegant doors at Mr Percival’s, she pauses for a few seconds and lets it sink in. She’s realising the legacy she’s left to the city she grew up in.

“I was born and bred here and what speaks more about Brisbane than what I do, especially right here under the Story Bridge?”