Hi, I’m Kathryn, founder and principal designer of Studio Halo & Fitz.
I design warm, characterful homes for people with enough lived experience to know what they love, but perhaps not enough time or direction to land it. I work in person from my base in St Kilda across Elwood, Albert Park, South Melbourne, Prahran and nearby inner-Melbourne suburbs, as well as through E-Design anywhere in Australia.
Travel is in my blood, but I’m also a bit of a homebody. My home is my haven, but my best self shows up somewhere between a linen-covered daybed and the scent of salt drying on sun-warmed skin, when I’m away from the everyday grind.
That’s the holiday magic I chase in my own home — and the feeling I help others bring home too.
Interior storyteller. A steady eye. A global resort heart.
Meet Kathryn
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I grew up between Australia, England and New York, so moving house, and making a new place feel like mine, started early.
As an adult, I spent eleven years in Gibraltar, Spain and Costa Rica: places where light, texture and patina matter more than trends, and where homes are built around how people actually live. Long lunches. Shade in the afternoon. Doors open to the evening.
My last stop, Escazú, Costa Rica, was the one that rewired me. A sunlit apartment, a wide terrace, mountains all around, and that hush at the end of the day that settles you before you’ve even sat down. It taught me that a room can change how you feel before you’ve consciously noticed a single thing in it.
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Coming home was harder than leaving.
I moved into a one-bedroom rental in St Kilda, unpacked eleven years of things I loved, and it didn’t feel like me. Everything was lovely on its own. Nothing added up.
So I started small. A palette that let the light in. A few pieces that meant something. Moving things around until they belonged together. Then friends started walking in and saying, “This is so you.”
That’s when I understood what I wanted to do. A room can look good and still not feel like yours. When a space works, you feel it in your body. When it doesn’t, no amount of nice things will fix it.
It also taught me something I’ve held onto ever since: renting isn’t rehearsing. That rental deserved care, and so does yours.
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Before interiors, I spent more than twenty years in PR and communications. Most of that work is listening for what people actually mean when they can’t quite say it, then making it clear.
It turns out that’s most of interior design too. So every project starts with your story, and the Pinterest board comes second.
I retrained with the Interior Design Institute in 2024 and opened Studio Halo & Fitz in 2026, swapping media briefings for mood boards.
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When you work with Studio Halo & Fitz, you work with me. The person you meet on the first call is the person who hears your story, chooses every tile, holds every decision, and answers every question until it’s finished. No juniors. No handoffs.
I’ll tell you what I think, including when something isn’t working. And I’ll never ask you to get rid of the things that matter to you. The question is always what still belongs, and where.
Paradise found. Coastal beach house, Costa Rica
Sunrise mountainview from my home on the hill - Terrazas de Escazú, 2017.
The best holiday version of you, but on a Tuesday.
Studio Halo & Fitz brings globally inspired interiors home through patina, purposeful pattern, and materials that get better with time — so your space feels collected, and deeply liveable (not styled for show).
If you’re tired of trying to get there alone with 48 tabs open and a cart full of maybes, I’ve got your back.
20 Minutes · Free · No Pressure