Interview | Page Thirty Three.

Bianca Riggio and Ryan Hanrahan of Page Thirty Three in their studio.

Page Thirty Three’s studio space on the left with Money Duffel Bag next to the red door. On the right are their brilliant Wooden Milk Crates.

Ryan Hanrahan and Bianca Riggio from Page Thirty Three are ‘that’ couple. You know the kind – young, talented, interesting, stylish, clever, spirited, driven… did I mention madly in love and amazing looking? Yes, well – that sort of stuff definitely shouldn’t be allowed and I’m almost tempted to roll my eyes at them in envy, but I won’t. I happen to really like what they are doing so I am going to tell you about that instead.

Page Thirty Three was formed in 2010 as a true reflection of Ryan’s and Bianca’s minds. Even the opening opening line on their about page “Welcome to the inside of our brains” says so. I really love that. Ryan and Bianca’s work has already gained a significant amount of exposure due to their ability to blend various elements – design, art, humour, irony, functionality and the street. Their products are stocked in a number of fantastic retailers around Australia (one of which was featured in my post on Monday just this week – remember those cinematic boxes I mentioned?) Following the great success of their first year in business, Page Thirty Three recently acquired a new HQ (300 sqm warehouse space), released their new collection titled ‘Entertaining the Myth’, and launched their new website and an online store. Oh man, have these guys have been super busy or what?

x dana

The Burning Bank incense burner. Yes!

Studio space. Photo by Roberta Daves.

Hello Ryan & Bianca, welcome to yellowtrace and thank you for taking the time to e-chat. Could you please give us a quick introduction on yourselves and Page Thirty Three?

We are Sydney based designers who run the object design label Page Thirty Three. Our backgrounds are entrenched in fine arts, but we constantly gravitate towards design. Page Thirty Three is a complete extension of us. It is our love child.

When did you first decide to start your practice and how did you go about doing this?

When we met it was instantly apparent that we had a similar angle of vision… the same skewed mashed up angle, and it sort of morphed from talking about things, to talking about making things, to finally making them. The ideas have always been the easy part, bringing them into a commercial reality is where the challenge begins.

Bianca just said about herself ‘ I’ve always been a day dreamer’, and it’s true, we both daydream a lot. We think it’s pretty important for creativity.  As a relationship, both personally and professionally, we really have no boundaries. No idea or conversation can be too far out or seemingly irrelevant. We have talked about this a lot, and it really is key. When you have no fear of conversing as a stream of consciousness, when you let go of inhibitions and of caring about what people are going think, you really open yourself up to a more creative and enriched life. We have found that through breaking down personal barriers, we can be more creative and successful professionally as well as personally.

Cinematic Light Box with interchangeable letters so that each display can be personalised.

The Essential Oil burner with references to classic science aesthetic. Tasmanian Oak hardwood base and glass flask.

How do you go about establishing a concept and an overall direction/ look & feel for your collections? Do you have a certain process that you always follow?

We basically collect things we are drawn to, from pictures, to objects, to ideas, to recipes, basically anything with an element of intrigue. Over time all these things mash together and develop into a new way of seeing. In a philosophical sense they create a new idea about how you want to live your life, your projected vision… how you see your perfect Utopian life. I mean, we all do that, we all sit around imagining our life when we have more money, more happiness, the perfect house, spiritual enlightenment, inner peace. That is such a funny mash-up, but its true.  We really both do that a lot, I suppose it goes back to the daydream thing again. We think that when you have a clear vision of how you want your life to be then you automatically create objects that fit into that idea.

For example with our science themed Essential Oil burner, we have both been hooked on the therapeutic benefits of essential oils. Last year when we started Page Thirty Three, we were in a crammed little flat, in crammed little Bondi, trying to work, study, create, store products, be in love, stay healthy, look good, have money, and be successful, all in an enclosed time period, and it was really hard. It was the simple rituals we found that kept us afloat. From freshly brewed herbal teas to soaking in hot baths, to burning essential oils. It’s funny when you strip everything back, you start to find the simple things that give you actual feelings of happiness and comfort. We really found these things became an essential part of our lives. So, when we began to design, it was only natural that these things were in our minds eye. We both love test tubes and flasks, and so when we walked into the science supplies shop, all we could see was potential oil burners. It all feels so simple at that point, then you have to spend the next 9 months trying to refine and perfect it!

Ceramic jigsaw plate.

What you are seeking to portray in your work? Is there something which is fundamental to your practice – your philosophy and your process?

We have delved into this in the above questions, but in a nutshell, design for us should be unique and interesting, it can be fun and humorous, or simple/functional/beautiful, but most importantly we love double meanings, and the combination of one genre with another.

Our basic design principle is simple, and that is to ‘design by intrigue’, and also to keep it light and positive.

What was one of your biggest lessons learned since starting your business? Do you have advice for others who wish to follow in your footsteps?

Things take time, so let them. There is a natural order of growth, and you can work really hard, and learn quickly, but sometimes the harder you push the harder your path becomes. So our advice is to work hard, but be reasonable about expectations, because the most important thing we have found is to enjoy the process.

Also, break down goals into smaller achievable parts, otherwise everything can just swallow you up. This is really important, especially when you are running all aspects of a business.

Wooden Milk Crate can be used as a seat, shelving, side table and storage unit.

Who or what are some of your influences? What other designers, artists and creatives in general do you admire?

Marcel Duchamp. ‘Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp’ is the best book ever written.

We are also inspired by rubbish on the side of the street, and whatever is in our surroundings, whether it be the bush when we go down the coast, or the metal workers next door to our warehouse when we are in Sydney. Some of the Beautiful Losers, like Margaret Kilgallen are also really inspirational, firstly because they are great artists, but also because of their DIY approach to art. You don’t need a degree, you just need passion.

What are some of your methods to staying motivated, focused, and expressive?

Trying to live a holistic lifestyle, making time for each other, daily routine, Vedic Meditation, healthy eating and exercise. Also we always try to remember to walk away, it’s easy to get too caught up in things that seems super important at that moment. Walking away helps keep everything in perspective… especially when dealing with production!

Studio bookshelf with the beautiful essential oil burner.

Is there something professionally you would like to try that you haven’t done yet? What would be your dream creative project or a collaboration?

Sooooo much, we have only just begun. We would like to focus more on fine arts from an individual perspective, however from a business sense, we would like to work on some interesting one-off pieces, and also collaborate with people and companies in other genres.

We would love to work with a company like Patagonia, as their core environmental philosophy is so great.

What are you working on at the moment?

Getting healthy! Spending some time at the beach! It’s been a hectic 12 months, so we are trying to find more balance in our lives.

Besides that and finalizing our new website/on-line store, and managing production and sales, we have been working on our new design space. We moved in 6 months ago, and it has been a huge job, but something we have loved, and continue to love! Open space = Open mind. It’s so fun putting thoughts and ideas into practice, and also having the space to play! We have built a joinery, design studio, art spaces, and garden on wheels.

The Garden on wheels has been our most recent project, which we can roll around the warehouse following the sun. We have built the boxes from old pallets collected off the side of the road in our neighborhood.

Fly’n Vee Flyswatter “gives everyone the chance to live out their dreams of smashing a guitar to bits on stage. ” Hilarious.

What’s next – can you share with us your vision and some of your goals?

We have just finished our second collection, Entertaining The Myth, which releases this week. That has consumed us for the past 12 months, and we are really proud of our finished pieces. We have tried to shift our focus toward Australian made, and also started to produce objects not only from recycled materials, but also from re-used materials, in order to break the energy flow. This is what we will be focusing on more heavily over the next 12 months. It is definitely a work in progress, and definitely a difficult transition. It is really hard to produce in Australia, but is something we are determined to do. We have been slowly changing to smaller production runs that we do ourselves, or with people nearby. 5 of our 13 products are Australian made, and we hope to increase this percentage gradually over the next year or two.

We have also just completed some creative styling work for a couple of friends, which we really enjoyed, so we have now expanded our parameters to include creative direction, styling and holistic branding. We are excited about working with like-minded people on upcoming projects.

Most of all we are really looking forward to working on some art. We have been staring at our new studios for a couple of months now, and have been too busy to get to them. I think finally we can get our brushes wet. Also lots of tea breaks.

Bianca and Ryan hanging out in their studio.

Let’s Get Personal.

What are the qualities you most like about yourself?

R: I’m a nerd. I like to think, and break things down, and work out how they are made. I have a thirst for knowledge.

B: Good sense of humor, willingness to work hard & my ability to communicate with others.

Apart from your work, what other interests or hobbies do you have?

R: It’s all one for me. Though I love surfing and coffee also.

B: I really like to cook & I am very interested in nutrition, so I try to join the two i.e. Make healthy food taste good! I also really enjoy having a flick through anything pictorial; art books, zines, blogs, photos etc. I also practice yoga & meditation as part of my daily routine. Keeps me feeling human.

What is your most treasured belonging?

R: Binx, and my hard drive.

B: A ring that Ryan gave me; it was his great grandmothers engagement ring & a photo I have of my nonno (grandpa) from the 40’s in Venice.

Ryan in the Page Thirty Three studio.

What’s one thing other people may not know about you?

R: I paint by deleting the things I hate.

B: Most things to be honest. I am a pretty private person. I can count the people close to me on one hand (& I wouldn’t be using all of my fingers). Another fun fact is that I have nearly died about 5 times, drowned once, hit by a car twice, & fallen off/out of just about everything you can imagine.

It’s not very cool, but I really like…

R: Hiding in a doona cubby watching documentaries on a Friday night.

B: That person on the bus that is singing on the top of their lungs with their head-phones on; or people who are so far into what they are doing that they have no sense of social ‘normalcy’. So refreshing!

In ten years I’d like to be…

R: Happy growing vegetables.

B: Wiser… have more patience, be healthy! I’d like to be surrounded by things a have collected & created that remind me of a certain time, place or experience. Oh and id also like to have my own glass house herb garden.

More views of thePage Thirty Three warehouse studio space. Loving it.

[All photos by Bianca Riggio unless otherwise noted.]