Stil Store began when
Anna-Lisa Backlund decided to create an extension of her day job - working as a designer and columnist at
Good Weekend, a liftout magazine for
Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age, Melbourne. The Style column celebrates unique homeware and accessories, particularly ones with great textures and shapes. In the store she wanted to reflect her Swedish heritage, thus 'Stil' was born, which is Swedish for Style.
Another big influence is the design destination Japan. There's long been a synthesis between Scandinavian and Japanese design - it even has it's own blended name - 'Japandi'. Both cultures value natural materials, good quality craftsmanship, simplicity and a celebration of imperfection. Nordic countries and Japanese style aren't the only areas of focus in the range. Pieces that fit the Japindi brief have also been sourced from Switzerland, India, Italy and of course Australia.
Stil Store is a family business. There is lots of help from her cartoonist husband
John Shakespeare, her
art-museum guide mother and her highly aesthetic son, who is too young to officially work. He's currently 14 years of age, but since the age of 5 he has been offering
valuable curatorial guidance.
