It was a pleasure to be interviewed by the Victor Harbor Times featuring news about local people in the Fleurieu.
by Emma Heidenreich, Victor Harbor Times
07/02/2023
Lachie is a warm and knowledgeable building designer who started his own company – Harmonic Design – in 2019, from the studio space at his Japandi (Japanese/Scadanavian) inspired home in Normanville.
Born in 1979, the son of a language teacher and a journalist, he had a family that fostered his creativity and love of technology and design from a young age.
“I loved black and white photography, I picked up Dad’s old film camera and I think my parents thought I was heading for a career in photography,” Lachie said.
“I was also a bit of a computer geek, I loved playing around on Photoshop and all the different design software that was coming out.”
Raised in Mount Pleasant, his family would holiday in Myponga – some of his earliest and most treasured memories are of the Fleurieu coastline.
“To this day, it is still my favourite landscape in South Australia, I love the way the hills meet the sea,” he said.
It is this landscape in particular from which Lachie draws much of his design inspiration.
“I love the Australiana style, some of the rural homesteads in the region, even the shearing sheds in the hills and their use of galvanised iron are so interesting to me,” he said.
“This aspect has come to define my style a lot. I enjoy the twist of a modern urban style transposed within a regional landscape and often it’s the juxtaposition of different forms interacting with one another that makes each composition sing.”Lachie moved to Melbourne when he was 21 to study Building Design at RMIT University.
“Adelaide has come a lot further since I studied, but at the turn of the millennium Melbourne really was the centre of design culture in Australia,” he said.
He studied for two years, learning the ins and outs of design, including hand-drafting on drafting boards. This skill remains relevant in his ongoing practice.
“I am heavily weighted towards technology in my work and it is amazing, it makes so much possible, but I still conceive of design ideas with paper and pencil,” he said.
For the next 16 years, Lachie worked in Melbourne, inspired by the aforementioned juxtaposition between Australia’s architecture royalty – names like Nonda Katsalidis and Glenn Murcutt, prize-winning architects who sit at either end of the classic-modern spectrum.
“I worked for a range of large and small architecture firms, but by far the job I enjoyed most was my last job in Melbourne with Ashton Raggatt McDougal (ARM),” he said.
“ARM has a really interesting culture and approach to design, they put meaning into their designs, weaving stories and conceptual ideas in a very literal way,” he said.
Locally in Victor Harbor, ARM has been engaged to undertake Victor Harbor’s Arts & Culture Centre.
“Harmonic Design is yet to be tasked with a design or project that allows me to fully apply everything I learned with ARM, but running a business is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Lachie said.
In 2019, Lachie returned to South Australia.
[ We’ve done a lot in the last few years. “We got married, built the house in Normanville and started Harmonic Design,” he said. ]
The Scandi style that Lachie has utilised in the design of his home is distinctly juxtaposed with a light and airy interior – it aims to celebrate its coastal situation, with a beach house format that’s focused on views outward.
“Our home has big windows to let in the natural sunlight and heat the home passively in winter, big windows facing the sea and a roof overhang which helps to keep the internal climate cool in summer,” Lachie said.
On running his own business, Lachie said he was lucky to have had the experiences he’s been afforded that have shaped his design and business approach.
“I was always motivated to work for myself, I love the creative autonomy and empowerment it gives me – thankfully, I’ve occupied two homes that I’ve designed already, which allowed me to learn important lessons in preparation for designing for other people.”
Harmonic Design currently has several projects in the pipeline, including a hotel in Port Elliot, which Lachie was excited to see come to fruition.
His daughter, Rheia, is growing up quickly and while he juggles work and family life, Lachie said he is grateful for the peace and calm of the ocean waves and the coastal aspect that their Fleurieu lifestyle affords.
“I think we’ll stay in the Fleurieu for a while yet,” he said.
Original article here online: Lachie McEwen on family, business and his Normanville Japandi home