From Couture to Craft: Inside Jillian Dinkel’s Innovative Interior Design
people • DESIGNERS
Jillian Dinkel is a Sydney-based interior designer known for her transformative take on heritage homes, where old bones meet modern soul. With roots in fashion at Condé Nast New York and a decade spent styling stories for VOGUE and GQ, Jillian brings an editorial sharpness and a deeply intuitive design sensibility to every project. Her boutique studio reimagines period properties with precision and poetry, preserving history while crafting spaces that feel personal, layered, and effortlessly current.
Through thoughtful collaboration, artisanal detail, and narrative-led interiors, Jillian Dinkel Studio has emerged as one of Australia’s most compelling design voices, with features in Architectural Digest, Vogue Living, and The Local Project
Words: designeers
june 2025
WEBSITE: jilliandinkel.com
INSTAGRAM: @jilliandinkel
DESIGNEERS
Your work beautifully bridges contemporary design with historic architecture. How do you approach restoring heritage spaces while ensuring they feel fresh and livable?
Jillian Dinkel
I’m always thinking about how to create balance and that very delicate tension between old and new, an approach rooted in true restoration architecture that respects heritage while remaining fresh. There’s something really special about a space that honours its past while feeling completely relevant to how we live today. At the end of the day, it all comes back to our clients, their story, their unique requirements, and the life they want to live. Our job is to translate that into an environment that elevates their everyday.
DESIGNEERS
What inspired you to transition from fashion into interior design, and how does your fashion background shape your design approach?
Jillian Dinkel
Though they might seem like very different worlds, my fashion and interiors careers have felt more alike than not, especially when my goal is to pioneer innovative interior design that surprises clients. Both roles involved translating a creative brief into something tangible while keeping a sharp eye on detail, budgets and timelines. I’ve worked across global time zones with high-profile clients in both industries, so the energy feels very much the same to me. The most enduring aspect has been the need to anticipate and execute under pressure. That skill is just as critical in interiors as it was in the fashion world.
DESIGNEERS
Craftsmanship and materiality are at the core of your aesthetic. Are there particular artisans or suppliers you love working with?
Jillian Dinkel
Far too many to name! I’m always drawn to working with makers who are making anything by hand and creating something that feels personal and one-of-a-kind—this focus on bespoke residential designs is what defines our studio. Depending on my clients and project brief, that could involve DeGournay’s hand-painted wallpapers, or the hand-finished lighting at Apparatus Studio, or working with my favourite stone masons and metalworkers who bring our custom ideas to life. My clients don’t want their homes to look like anyone else’s, so finding the right people to help us deliver that unique vision is important to me.
DESIGNEERS
Many of your projects have a rich layering of textures and natural materials. What draws you to these elements, and how do they shape the mood of a space?
Jillian Dinkel
There’s something really grounding about working with honest materials. I’m not interested in anything that’s pretending to be something it’s not! I love materials that shift and age with time and that develop the patina of the stories of the people living there. I think a home should evolve with you and reflect your shared experience.
“There’s something really special about a space that honours its past while feeling completely relevant to how we live today.”
Jillian Dinkel
DESIGNEERS
You’ve worked across Australia and internationally. How do different cultural influences impact your design perspective?
Jillian Dinkel
It’s undeniable, the way we live in Australia is wholly different from life in the UK or America. My design team represents all three of these locations, and our work reflects that mix of perspectives. We’re always thinking about how spaces support the way our clients actually live day to day, and that global lens really helps us bring a unique perspective to our designs.
DESIGNEERS
If you could design a dream home anywhere in the world, where would it be, and what would it look like?
Jillian Dinkel
I love old homes, so anything, anywhere, with a lot of age and architectural character gets me excited. It’s when I come most alive. So it’s really more specific to the property than a global location. I would be equally energised by a heritage-listed house in Sydney or a centuries-old terrace house in London.
DESIGNEERS
What’s your favourite hotel in the world from a design perspective, and what makes it so special to you?
Jillian Dinkel
I always opt for a hotel that feels immersive. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Amangiri in Utah and Laucala Island in Fiji for their connection to the land and attention to detail. When I’m visiting a city, I like to stay at a boutique hotel, again for the attention to detail as much as the design. I recently stayed at the Chateau Voltaire in Paris and loved the experience. Every detail is intentional. It’s that immersive quality I’m always chasing in our studio’s work too.
DESIGNEERS
Beyond interior design, what are some personal rituals, experiences, or places that inspire your creativity?
Jillian Dinkel
Wellness has become more central to my life in recent years. Meditation, movement, and making space for stillness have become really important. I began my career in New York, and my nature is to keep up that go-go-go hustle pace, so sometimes I have to completely disconnect for a week in nature to achieve that balance. The reality of interior design practice is such that I spend most of my time creating in digital space, so carving out time to create things with my hands outside of work helps me reconnect to that tactile, intuitive part of creativity. It keeps my spark alive.
DESIGNEERS
What’s next for you—any exciting projects, collaborations, or creative directions you’re currently exploring?
Jillian Dinkel
Our studio has a few beautiful residential projects across Australia in construction, and we’ve designed our first multi-residential development, which is a really exciting new chapter for us. We’re also creating our first product line in collaboration with one of our favourite makers. It’s been a long-held dream of mine, so it’s exciting to see that starting to take shape.
