This Fashion Founder Never Has to Leave Her Bali-Inspired Oasis in the Hamptons
Fashion founder Natalie De’Banco’s vision was simple but specific: Build a retreat in which to be creative. When she moved to New York City six years ago, she quickly realized it’s “a very crazy place.” So she would fly off to Bali twice a year to find some solace and to design collections for her celebrity-beloved fashion brand Bronx and Banco. In her search for a creative retreat a bit closer to home, she soon landed on the east end of Long Island.
Never energetically far from her native Australia, De’Banco explains, “growing up by the ocean, I would always go close to water, and that’s when I would come up with my ideas,” adding, “but we also have beautiful nature like trees and woods. East Hampton completely reflected that.”
The house De’Banco found was dated and hardly an architectural gem, but it had potential—and a tree. “When I saw that gorgeous pink cherry blossom in front of the house—it was on my birthday—I think that was when I made the decision.” A new home en situ on a great piece of land but calling to be reimagined demands a skilled designer. De’Banco discovered AD PRO Directory firm Helena Clunies-Ross Design on Instagram. A former interior designer herself, she felt an instant kinship with Clunies-Ross. “Her aesthetics were the closest to what mine were. I thought, ‘This is going to be a perfect match.’”
Custom windows by Weather Shield opened up the space for an indoor-outdoor living feel. “We really wanted to celebrate the beautiful trees in the garden as part of the interior. It evolves throughout the seasons,” Clunies-Ross says. The counter stools are by Howard Elliott, the cabinets are by Nella Vetrina, and the black stained oak with bronze pendant light is bespoke by Helena Clunies-Ross Design.
The walnut dining table was created for this space. The pendant lights are also bespoke Helena Clunies-Ross Design and feature antique brass. The black stained oak timber slats conceal a staircase that leads up to De’Banco’s office.
Clunies-Ross is used to working from the ground up, so delving into extensive renovations felt like par for the course. “It’s almost a brand-new home. We added a whole side onto the house. We reimagined all of the windows, most of the architecture, and extended the basement. We spent a lot of time on the main façade” the designer explains. Before taking the virtual sledgehammer to the space though, she says, “what drew me in was really how removed it felt, very much in the forest—the pine trees were so calming, so beautiful. Our focus became, ‘How can we connect the inside and the outside?’” And of course, keep that cherry blossom tree alive with the help of some extensive digging.
While the choice of home style was a nod to her Australian roots, the design ethos centers De’Banco’s creative escape: Bali. “I wanted something super unique, a place where people feel like they’re not in the Hamptons.” This was achieved through natural materials, adding larger windows to let natural light in, some strategically placed wood paneling with timber slats that hint at a Southeast Asian vibe, and the dramatic tones. “It’s very soothing. It’s a lot of dark greens, a lot of brown and cream colors, nothing too bright—it just makes you feel relaxed,” De’Banco says.
