This year has felt like a total blur. As I started writing this, I thought to myself… wait, what actually happened this year!? After scrolling through my camera roll to jog my memory, it turns out… a lot happened.
We’ve dubbed 2025 our Year of Resilience. There were definitely a few bumps along the way, but there was also an abundance of magic.
We pulled off some truly unforgettable photoshoots, designed tonnes of new products (I’m proud of every single one), hosted warehouse sales with record-breaking crowds, welcomed many new team members, continued our Heart-to-Heart house tour series - meeting some of Melbourne’s most inspiring creatives and seeing inside their beautiful homes. We celebrated our 12th Birthday and shortly after… we opened our very first Sage x Clare store in Lorne - which nearly broke me, but we did it! Our list of stockists grew rapidly, we sent out countless orders across the globe and still, nothing compares to seeing our designs light up your homes.
One thing I’m especially proud of? The culture we’ve nurtured at Sage x Clare. Growing a team and keeping a workplace feeling creative, kind, and joyful is no easy feat - every single person on this team is to thank for that. I feel so lucky to work alongside such a hardworking, generous and wildly creative bunch.
I’m grateful to the Sage x Clare team for all their incredible work this year, to our wonderful stockists and to you, our amazing colour-loving community. Every comment, email, phone call, and DM does not go unnoticed - we are constantly blown away by the whole lotta love you show us. So, thank you, 2025! There’s so much more I could share, but here’s a few highlights…
JANUARY
January was scorching hot and we consumed more Zooper Doopers at HQ than I care to admit. We returned to the office feeling refreshed, energised and genuinely excited for the year ahead. That post-holiday glow didn’t last long, though - we hit the ground running and January was BUSY. With several major photoshoots taking place, there was lots of careful planning happening behind the scenes.
Our first photoshoot of the year was a flat lay extravaganza with the one and only Jonathon Griggs. Capturing hundreds of individual products for our website imagery? Is no small feat but there’s truly no one else we’d rather do it with. Jonathon brings the good vibes every single time. We also kicked off our first Heart-to-Heart house tour of the year with Aurelia St Clair. In 2025, this series evolved in a new direction and you absolutely loved seeing our pieces styled in real, inspiring homes. Paired with thoughtful conversations about interiors, architecture and life.
Later in the month, we arrived at Tali Roth’s unforgettable family home to bring the world of Margot to life in our first lifestyle photoshoot of 2025. It was one of those spaces that instantly takes your breath away and the perfect setting for our Margot collection. Every tiny detail was impeccably curated - from the Gucci wallpaper that stole our hearts, to the truly show-stopping artwork lining every wall and every piece of carefully curated furniture.
These photoshoots would not be possible without the help of the entire Sage x Clare team AND special mention to the amazing duo that is Armelle Habib and Sara Wilkosz. As well as the Queen of glam - Ash Morales, I love our photoshoot family.
FEBRUARY
Woah. Summer was hot and the photoshoot chaos well and truly continued because our Autumn/Winter collection? She was a beast. After completing the largest lifestyle shoot of them all at Tali Roth’s home in Jan, we brought Margot to life again at Ben Mooney’s eclectic apartment above Ma House Supply in Collingwood. The final Margot location was the serene sanctuary of artists Camille Laddawan and Roslyn Orlando, better known as Collingwood House.
Photographing such a large collection in 30+ degree heat, day after day, was utterly exhausting. Many cans of Coke were consumed. That said, Margot still stands as one of my favourite collections to date - the colour palette was truly phenomenal and absolutely worth every sweaty moment.
We then ticked off our apparel photoshoot in Richmond, which is always a fun day. Our senior designer Emma deserves a gold medal for her next-level fabric draping skills on set. As soon as the Margot shoots wrapped, we launched into our first warehouse sale of the year and were completely blown away by the turnout. It was our biggest warehouse sale yet. There’s nothing quite like meeting the Sage x Clare community in person and hearing about the love you all have for our designs.
We also refreshed the showroom with all things Margot, buzzing with excitement to finally share it with the world and wrapped up the month with a Heart-to-Heart with the wonderfully creative Evie Kemp, followed by founder of Ernest & Joe, Mia McDonald.
MARCH
Anyone who knows me well knows I’m not exactly itching to be in front of the camera. So when Bon, our content creator, suggested we start doing regular content days at my home in 2025, I was a little… petrified. While being on camera will probably never feel entirely natural to me, I’ve genuinely loved sharing more interior styling content and tips from my home with you throughout 2025.
We also received so much love for our Easter capsule, especially the felt slippers (clearly a crowd favourite). It was a joy to catch up with Tali Roth for our Heart-to-Heart series, perfectly timed with the release of our Margot collection. On the blog this month, we also featured Aboriginal artist Bayley Mifsud, also known as Merindah-Gunya, followed by ceramic artist Tantri Mustika.
As Margot began making its way into your homes, we found ourselves endlessly scrolling through our tagged photos on Instagram which is one of the best parts of launching a new season. With every collection, our incredibly talented graphic designer Sarah creates the artwork for the signature stickers placed on your orders. Seeing a colourful batch of stickers arrive in the warehouse for a new collection never gets old.
APRIL
With more content being created in my family home, we had lots of questions about the decor coming through, so we made a list of my favourite things on the blog, you can read it here.
A special mention to the office angel that is Aimee, our Wholesale and Trade Account Specialist. This woman is a gem! Honestly, every office needs an Aimee in their life. Aimee is always making sure we get our 3pm sugar hit and for the month of April? We devoured countless Cadbury mini eggs… can someone tell me… why do the mini eggs taste so much better? Also, the Easter pyjama regrams flooding our feed in April? ADORABLE. Along with all the Margot magic in your homes too, it’s so interesting to watch the colour combinations you choose and how you style your Sage x Clare goodies.
Image credit for the last two images: @shorttecake and @al_and_imo
With many introverts on the Sage x Clare team, we collectively decided to scrap the tradition of singing Happy Birthday for team Birthday celebrations. And honestly, who likes 40+ people screaming Happy Birthday at you? (not any of us, haha). Arguably the biggest highlight of April? My family welcomed sweet Bingo to our home AKA: the office therapy puppy.
MAY
We were incredibly lucky to feature Sophie Walker on the blog for a special Mother’s Day Heart-to-Heart - one I’ll always remember. Soph, the founder and host of Australian Birth Stories, brought such depth and honesty to the conversation. Not long after, our content creator Bonnie was squealing with joy when she spent the day with social media sensation Paris Wycherley. Our DMs went into meltdown over “that red knit” - AKA: our handcrafted Marlon Jumper, which very quickly became my new go-to wardrobe staple for 2025.
The content days at my home continued and you absolutely loved the vlog-style wrap-ups from behind the scenes. The most unexpected star of the show? My homemade iced coffee. Who knew. I was also slowly getting the hang of the art of a voiceover - after doing everything in my power to avoid it, of course.
And then came the unboxing of our Remi Tufted Runner. Those rugs flew off the warehouse shelves and went on to become our most popular rug of 2025. If you managed to snap one up before they sold out, consider yourself lucky.
JUNE
It felt like the Sage x Clare team grew with every passing month, new smiling faces constantly popping up in the hallways. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Sage x Clare truly attracts the kindest people. With our office and warehouse teams working in separate areas at HQ, I can sometimes go days without crossing paths with everyone, so I really came to cherish the coffee-break catch-ups, shared lunches and team celebrations scattered throughout the year.
In June, my dear friend Fiona Killackey - founder of My Daily Business and an incredible business coach, featured in our Heart-to-Heart house tour series. Fiona’s charming mud-brick home was adored by the Sage x Clare community (no surprises there). It was bursting with character and paired so beautifully with Margot, a perfect match. We were also honoured to catch up with Ursula van Schoonhoven, co-founder of House of Orange. We’ve been loaning their incredible furniture for years and are big fans of everything they do.
Outside of work, we celebrated a big milestone: my mum’s 70th birthday. We marked the occasion with a family holiday to Vanuatu, staying at the beautiful Aore Island Resort - a spot my sister Jem discovered and absolutely nailed. It was the perfect setting for a family getaway and the natural beauty of Vanuatu completely blew me away. You can read more about that special trip here.
JULY
We accomplished a massive achievement in chilly July - a seven day photoshoot at Tuerong Farmhouse, the home of our Isla collection. This home, inspired by French mid-century chateaus, Spanish haciendas and Californian ranch-style properties - was our dream destination to bring our spring/summer collection to life. With each and every photoshoot, I am blown away by the skills of our team. Which of course, extends to our photoshoot family members - Armelle Habib and Sara Wilkoz.
In honour of the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC Week, we caught up with Bayley Mifsud for the second time in 2025. Bayley spoke about - the power of storytelling, art, the importance of culture and how we can all play a role in supporting Indigenous creatives and communities. Bayley also recorded a video with Bonnie that was shared internally for our team, to spread awareness about the importance of NAIDOC Week, she also did a reading of her book Yakeen ‘Dreaming’ which was so special.
Then came two truly unforgettable Heart-to-Heart interviews in July. Firstly with Erika Geraerts, founder of Fluff. We couldn’t get over her dreamy loft-style Collingwood apartment… a treasure trove of vintage finds and mesmerising artwork. Then later in July, we hung out with Melbourne interior stylist, Bertie Coad. Like me, Bertie has a deep love for trolling Facebook Marketplace and vintage stores. We continued to feel so inspired by these house tours and the conversations about creating homes with heart.
We hosted our second warehouse sale of the year and this time, the turnout surpassed even the first. Watching pieces fly off the shelves and seeing so many of you come by was truly mind-blowing.
The few days of July was BUSY. We held a stall at Life Instyle at the Royal Exhibition Building, where our stockists got the very first peek at the Isla collection. Watching their eyes light up was the ultimate confirmation, we just knew Isla was going to be something special.
AUGUST
By August, I was well and truly over the gloomy Melbourne winter and all the sickness doing the rounds in our household. I started feeling really, really burnt out, and as it turns out, my glandular fever had returned, bringing along chronic fatigue and low iron for good measure. Yup, I was absolutely exhausted. All I wanted was to be with every other person on my Instagram feed, eating pasta on the coastline of Italy. I made a pact with myself to slow things down, improve my bedtime routine and gently work on getting my energy levels back up. I even quit coffee for a few weeks… although that one didn’t quite stick.
Our August Heart-to-Heart house tour featured the wonderful Alison Inverarity - architect, model and content creator (and mum to our incredible nanny, Heli). Alison’s home was filled with pieces from our Margot collection and felt calm, thoughtful and beautifully lived-in.
We wrapped up the month with our Isla apparel photoshoot, unveiling a wave of exciting updates to our clothing designs. And once again, Emma worked her magic with those impeccable fabric-draping skills.
SEPTEMBER
On the very first day of September, we kicked off a two-day photoshoot down the coast in beautiful Breamlea to bring our Isla Resort Capsule to life. The brief? Sun-drenched, island-inspired bliss. What the weather delivered? Grey skies and heavy cloud. Still, our creative dream team pulled through, as they always do. The home itself was absolutely stunning and the perfect backdrop for these colourful summer staples.
September also marked the long-awaited launch of our Spring/Summer collection, Isla. It was such a special moment to be able to finally share it with you! It always feels refreshing to deck out our showroom (thanks to Ally) when a new collection lands and talk through the designs with the wider team as well.
One of the most-loved Heart-to-Heart conversations of 2025 was with Ben Mooney - collector, curator and shopkeeper behind Ma House and Ma House Supply Store. You might recognise his space from our Margot photoshoots in February. Not long after, we wrapped our Isla apparel photoshoot, unveiling a wave of exciting updates to our clothing designs. And once again, Emma worked her magic with those impeccable fabric-draping skills. We also fell in love with the ever-clever interior stylist Jess Hislop, who inspired so many of us when she shared her story of trading city life for a quieter, country pace.
And finally, it was time for our annual festive photoshoot at my home. I’m not sure whether it was the wild wind or kids running on pure sugar, but the day felt… challenging. All I wanted was to curl up and go to bed. That said, we had so much fun getting creative with our cult-favourite advent calendars and we couldn’t wait to share our handcrafted festive decorations with you.
OCTOBER
To celebrate the release of our Isla collection, a truly massive effort from the entire Sage x Clare team, we hosted a memorable team lunch at HQ. Think: a long Mediterranean feast, followed by an Isla team showing and a very competitive quiz.
The content days at my home continued, and with them, a growing fascination with my iced coffee recipe. I was quietly very proud of myself for planting a veggie patch and adding plenty of new greenery in time for spring. T-shirt weather returned, my energy finally started to lift, and it felt like things were turning a corner. From day one, your love for Isla was strong and before long, photos of the new Isla designs were flooding in.
On the blog in October, we shared a Heart-to-Heart with Lucienne Van Sebille - stylist, furniture collector and founder of Mon House, followed by a chat with Ben Russell, founder of Goodbye Gas and BREC, and his wife Georgia Cato, a doula and yoga teacher. Both interviews were full of inspiring interior tips and took place in breathtaking mid-century homes, designed by Alistair Knox.
NOVEMBER
Over to November, which absolutely took the crown as the biggest month of them all. Why? Because we opened our very first Sage x Clare store in Lorne, Victoria. True to form, I commit first and figure it out later, so when a glorious little space came up for lease, I jumped at the opportunity. I had no idea how we were going to pull it off, but thanks to the best team in the world… we did.
The weeks leading up to opening felt like something out of The Block. The night before, we stayed up until 2am putting on the final touches. And then, on the 1st of November, we opened the doors to so many smiling faces, it was a dream come true. Every single road trip back and forth down The Great Ocean Road was worth it and your excitement for the new store only continued to grow. Bring on summer in Lorne!
On the blog in November, we had a very fun festive-inspired Heart-to-Heart with Imogen Roberts, who runs Al + Imo with her husband Al, you’ve likely seen them in our content over the years. This festive interview had me SO excited to decorate the tree. Then, we shared a heartfelt chat with Tild Simpson in her sunshine-soaked Melbourne home. Her Minnow glass creations paired with our Isla collection? A perfect harmony.
DECEMBER
HOW on earth did December arrive so quickly?! We teamed up with Sunnymead Hotel in Airy’s Inlet and IPSOS Restaurant & Bar to bring you an exciting giveaway to finish the year off with a bang. Across the months of November + December? been such a joy to watch our festive decorations find their way into your homes, and yes, the carols have been on repeat. Then we caught up with Jenny Cui - co-founder of Rhino Rhino, we had a blast styling her home with the Isla kids + baby treasures and learning more about the beloved Mr. Maria lamps.
On the 4th of December, the Sage x Clare team headed to Sassafras for our annual Christmas party. It was one of those feel-good nights where you go to bed with a smile plastered across your face. Our Christmas party traditions are a highlight: a speech from Chris and me, a very competitive round of Sage x Clare trivia, and, of course, finishing the night with KK/Bad Santa. My husband Chris was the one who declared 2025 “the year of resilience,” and I couldn’t agree more. There were plenty of curveballs thrown our way, but we rallied together and came out stronger. I’m endlessly proud of every single person on this team and everything we achieved. The love and excitement around our Lorne store has been overwhelming and such a beautiful reminder of our why - to bring joy into people’s homes and lives.
And that, my friends, is 2025 in a nutshell. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready for a Chrissie break and some horizontal time on the beach. Thank you for all your support this year, we love you all dearly.
With a whole lotta love xx