This week on our Home Life Series, we’re visiting the Melbourne apartment of Abbey Rich, an artist whose playful, bold work transforms public spaces. Their home is a study in intentional design — from a west-facing sixth-floor outlook that fills the space with light, to furniture built by family and curated second-hand finds that carry stories of travel and creativity. Every corner reflects Abbey’s focus on function, craft, and personal treasures, showing how a small space can be thoughtfully layered and lived in.
Keep reading to discover how Abbey balances practical living with creative inspiration, and why their apartment feels like an extension of their public art practice.
Hi Abbey, thank you so much for welcoming us into your home! Can you introduce yourself, who you are, what you create, and what a typical day in your world looks like?
Thanks so much for coming! I’m a public artist, creating joyful work for people to play on, sit on and look at. This year I’ll spend half the year travelling for work and the other half here at home. When I’m at home my sweet partner brings me coffee and breakfast in bed and we hang out for a bit before either cycling, walking or driving to our shared studio less than 2kms away.
For the past 8 years I was usually out of the studio painting walls but these days my practice is almost entirely sculpture. So my days in the studio look quite different. It’s a lot more time on the computer, organising the engineering, the soil testing, chatting with or visiting my team of fabricators. It’s more admin than ever before. But our studio is next to the merri-creek so I take little breaks when I can. Chat to my studio mates over coffee and eat whatever over the top lunch I've made Sam and I for the day. Then go home, go for a run or a swim and then often cook dinner for friends or go to someone’s house or out somewhere.
Your creative journey has taken you from textile design and tattooing to murals and large-scale sculptures, with projects in Tokyo, Frankston, and beyond. How have these experiences shaped the kind of home and environment you want to live and create in?
I think it’s all connected hey, it definitely has shaped my home and perhaps the desire for utility. A lot of what I do is about making spaces feel better, through a mural or a sculpture so of course it has seeped into my home life. I keep only a handful of my works and you’ll see the painted stool and a single painting of mine on the wall. The travel I’m able to do for work has impacted my home a lot, picking up pieces around the place and being inspired by the way people design their spaces in different parts of the world. I’m headed to Portugal next month for a residency and I’m excited to see what inspires me there!
Your work transforms public spaces with bold colour, pattern, and playful form. How did you get into this field, and what do you love most about creating public art?
Public space is for everyone, it isn’t just for rich collectors who love gallery hopping, it is for young, old and everyone in between. I started out in fashion and a few years into that, Bailey Nelson the glasses company asked me to paint a mural in their Gertrude Street, Fitzroy store. It was hard work but I fell in love with the potential of it instantly. Having an impact on how space feels is huge, I can take something that already exists and make it feel better. I can work with communities, with collaborators and with the space itself. I’m obsessed with how public space is used, designed and built - I want to be involved in that process. I hope someone feels a little happier after they see my work.
You’ve collaborated on some incredible projects - is there one experience that stands out the most, and can you share your favourite story from it?
A hard one to decide on! I think my first real sculpture project will always hold a dear place. It can be found on Hotham Street in Cranbourne. Chris from Casey Council gave me a lot of freedom and trust, I had no public sculpture to show yet he trusted me to design a handful of pieces to accompany large ground murals I installed along the strip. I designed a big flower bench chair, some flower tables and a big wavy shade structure to sit atop the bench chair. It was such a grey area before and once it was complete I watched kids engaging with it all having a wonderful time. My career would not exist without arts workers in councils taking a chance on me and I’m so privileged to be able to create the breadth of work I do and collaborate with wonderful people.
What drew you to your current home, and what was it about this space that made it feel like yours the moment you found it?
Before this, I had never lived in an apartment and so I was nervous about the dynamics of shared space like this. But that is my favourite thing about this building, we share a laundry on our rooftop and a well organised bin room downstairs and the slowest elevator of all time. All of these things mean you have to interact with your neighbours a lot and I love it. We all care about our building and each other, it sounds dorky but it is wonderful. We face west on the 6th floor and are flooded with natural light. I've witnessed thousand(s?) of sunsets from these windows and each one is unreal. The building is well built so it doesn’t get too hot in the scorching sun or too cold in the winter. I could go on and on about how much I love this place.
As someone who makes functional and playful public art, do you think about “function” or interaction when choosing furniture, layout, or objects at home?
Our apartment is quite small by Australian standards and that has shaped how we use the space. Everything needs to function well and I love making those decisions through the layout and furniture choices. A lot of the furniture is either second hand or built by my Dad, sometimes with my assistance or probably more hindrance haha. I don’t think I’d ever live in a house again, the utility of an apartment suits us well. Everything has to be intentional and as such I think you develop a better relationship with ‘stuff’ because to stay, it has to really work hard.
What are three objects or design elements in your home right now that feel most you, and what stories do they tell about your creative world?
Um, almost impossible to answer - there are so many things! But probably my favourite objects are; a picture frame with two old photobooth photos of Sam and I from the year we met, all our bowls/plates etc either made by our friend Sophie Harle or collected on trips overseas and the dining table made by my Dad and painted by me. These objects are the most me and I think this says that my two favourite loves are Sam and food, which if you ask anyone in my life they’d probably say was spot on.
What are your top 3 personal treasures in your home?
A note scribbled from Eileen Myles that Sam slunk away to ask for me when we saw them talk in New York, a little paper mache angel from a market in Mexico City and Sam, I feel so lucky we get to share a home, studio and life together.
