Tastemaker, convention-breaker and vivid dreamer, Sibella Court could fill a library with the ever-growing chapters of her illustrious career. Nurturing an avid curiosity for the intricacies of the natural world since she was small, Sibella has evolved light years beyond the young girl beachcombing for treasures on Australia’s East Coast, collecting interior design, product development, television hosting, styling and many more feathers in her cap along the way. 

Her eye for detail that informs a lifelong collection of curious, beautiful and time-worn artefacts is matched by her appetite for knowledge and inspiration, all of these attributes propelling her towards a history degree before establishing herself as a stylist of her own company at 21. This coincided with a stint as contributing editor of Marie Claire Lifestyle, and a formative period of illumination care of the powerhouse editors of the ’90s lifestyle magazine golden age. Here, she was defining the emerging vernacular of Australian style, but her adventurous spirit saw her seeking new horizons. 

With a one-way ticket to New York in hand, Sibella commenced her endless era of exploration. Concepting and styling for the likes of Jo Malone, Donna Karen, West Elm, Saks Fifth Avenue, Crate & Barrel and Bergdorf Goodman, Sibella was also immersing herself in the multi-sensory, every-touchpoint-considered residential, hotel, cinematic and dining experiences Manhattan had to offer. 

But New York wasn’t the only cultural capital honing her aesthetic. Dispatched around the globe by Travel + Leisure, Departures Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and other internationally recognised magazines, she was curating an imaginarium of references, resources and reminders of every striking space she encountered.

After a decade of this enrichment, Sibella headed back to Sydney, establishing her own bricks-and-mortar imaginarium with The Society Inc. store in Paddington. Part seasonally evolving shop, part museum-esque collection, part petite boutique accommodation, The Society Inc. brought a slice of entirely new immersive retail to Australia. And this same dedication to creating spaces that made people feel saw Sibella stride forth into hospitality design. 

Her collaboration with Merivale on game-changing food and beverage destinations including MsG’s, Mr Wong and Palmer & Co heralded a new age for Sydney’s hospitality industry. Far beyond the white tablecloth, these wonder-filled, no-detail-ignored venues not only redefined the benchmark for Australian experiential design, but saw Sibella’s unmistakable hallmark garner global recognition and inform many new hospitality iterations, including Hotel Palisade, Watsons Bay hotel, The Oaks and Joe’s Pub. 

At this time she became an award-winning author, with titles including Etcetera etc: creating beautiful interiors with the things you love, The Stylist’s Guide to NYC, Imaginarium, Bowerbird: creating beautiful interiors with the things you collect, Nomad: bringing your travels home, Gypsy: A World of Colour & Interiors, the latter two partially influenced by her role as a muse for Anthropologie. And, as her star continued to rise, the demand for her talent increased, clear through her work as a judge on an interior design TV show. With this first foray acting as a foundation, Sibella went on to host ABC’s Restoration Australia – a role that let her passion for Australian history and heritage trades shine. 

From here, it was a natural progression to honor this love of trades in a new way. Delving deep into product design, Sibella worked to fill holes she saw in the market and drew inspiration from endless hours scouring flea markets around the world and her reverence of various metals’ form, shape and personality to design, develop, and travel to India to prototype every one of the close to 2000 products created over a 15-year period. Building on her family’s personal connections in India to forge lasting relationships with a range of master craftspeople, Sibella simultaneously added another string to her bow and has active collaborations with the likes of Eco Outdoor, Materialised, TeraNova, Molmic and Murobond on other product ranges. 

It is her love of collaboration that ensures Sibella builds lasting relationships in many fields. Now, with The Society Inc. closed, she is primarily focused on numerous interior design projects in vastly differing scales, and she’s near-decades into ongoing creative partnerships. Bullo River Station is a nine-year labour of love working on a 12-bedroom homestead and cattle station, a residential collaboration with Durbach Block Jaggers Architects in Kirribilli is well worth noting, and there’s a long list of meticulously curated and renovated spaces developed for many private clients – these are but a taste of the wealth of Sibella’s creativity. 

As Interior Design Ambassador for Billy Blue College of Design, she now shares her creativity with the next generation of talent in the hope that more people create immersive spaces that spark curiosity and invite awe – the same glimmers of joy that she felt as a young girl collecting precious shells on the sandy shore.