Collette Dinnigan sees pandemic pushing online interest in decorations

Fashion designer, property investor and interior decorator Collette Dinnigan reckons Covid-19 is ­inspiring a renewed interest in houses and gardens.

Collette Dinnigan in her Surry Hills studio in Sydney. Picture: David Swift

Fashion designer, property investor and interior decorator Collette Dinnigan reckons Covid-19 is ­inspiring a renewed interest in houses and gardens, with owners spending up big buying luxury goods ranging from French chandeliers to colourful hand-woven rugs as well as marble urns at online auctions.

Ms Dinnigan might have made her name as an international fashion designer and company owner, but she’s now making a fortune renting out her high-end holiday properties and adding her decorating touch to anything from a high-end resort on the NSW south coast to off-the-plan apartments.

The NSW Southern Highlands-based Ms Dinnigan, who returned from creating an idyllic family retreat in Puglia, Italy late last year, could pocket as much as $43,000 from the sale of various decorator pieces she has sourced across Italy, Belgium and Morocco during her travels at an auction run by Lawsons.

“I have so much stuff, I have two extra containers I brought back from Italy and Belgium,” Ms Dinnigan told The Weekend Australian.

“I have so many things I could open a shop.”

Ms Dinnigan, who has just spent five weeks filming MasterChef in Melbourne, says many more people are buying online due to Covid-19.

“When I used to buy online no one did it,” she said.

“Now everyone is buying online, people are trawling through these auctions and buying.”

Ms Dinnigan is selling several of her personal pieces, including a Belgian stone fireplace with a buyer’s guide of $6000-$8000, eight hand-picked Moroccan rugs for $1500-$2000 apiece, as well as 20 vintage 1950s Murano glass tumblers, which have a guide price of $1600, through auction house Lawsons.

There’s also a French lantern that once adorned Ms Dinnigan’s former mansion in the elite Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, with a buyers guide of $8000.

Ms Dinnigan is also selling a French gilt mirror and classic white chairs in the online auction. Some of the pieces were shot at jeweller Nicola Cerrone’s estate in the NSW Southern Highlands, as part of 336 lots that have been ­curated by style queen Melissa Penfold.

“It’s a great opportunity to buy things Collette has collected with soul over the years,’’ Ms Penfold said. “She is constantly editing and using things in different settings. “They are old things and very easy to layer with whatever your look.”

Ms Penfold added that the best houses and gardens often had something extra, such as these kinds of things.

She said online auctions had become incredibly popular during Covid-19, with sales up 30 per cent compared with 2019. “Collecting and decorating are among the few leisure activities the pandemic has not taken away,” she said. “There’s a renewed interest and focus on homes and gardens. We are looking at our homes and gardens in a totally different way.”

The auction of Ms Dinnigan’s and Ms Penfold’s furnishings and homewares finishes on July 28.