Designer and artist Stephen Ormandy always knows what the ocean is doing. ‘It’s a very fickle business, surfing, because it depends on so many elements – the swell, wind and tide. You’re always trying to pick the optimum moment to go for a surf.’
Stephen also recognises the ever-changing elements that make up our daily lives. ‘No day is exactly the same – some days I’m up early, some days I sleep in, it’s a bit of a mixed bag really. But there’s got to be good coffee, that is crucial.’
Unlike the surf, Stephen’s approach to business is far from fickle. As creative director of Dinosaur Designs along with his wife Louise Olsen, Stephen’s creative output is characterised by large doses of passion and drive. From starting out at Paddington markets in 1985, to launching a store in New York, fuelled by an intensely creative approach to business, Dinosaur Designs’ resin-based jewellery and homewares have reached cult status across the globe.
Stephen and Louise met on the first day of art school because both their surnames started with ‘O’. Nearly thirty years later, their daughter Camille has almost finished high school, and Skipper the family dachshund rules the household.
For Stephen, striking the right balance between his business, his own independent art practice, and family is simply about embracing a necessary fusion.
From his morning surf, dealing with procrastination, to what he has learned about the artistic process, Stephen shares both the remarkable and the mundane elements of his daily life.