FIVE MINUTES WITH

Five minutes with Mary Justice Thomasson

Apple Lee speaks to the founder of Mary Justice Designs

You could say Mary Justice Thomasson is as multi-faceted and entertaining as her newly released range of luxury home decor and fine art furniture. Thomasson moved to Bali in 2003 after a two-decade sojourn in Hong Kong as a broadcast journalist, travel writer and PR maven. Having lived a vivacious life traversing the world, she is well-prepared to unleash her talents as a designer with her new adventure Mary Justice Designs.

In her Bali studio, Thomasson creates heirloom quality furniture that combines her love of decorative arts and her first-hand experience voyaging through Indonesia. Her recipe of using furniture as the canvas for expressive storytelling goes back to the days when she studied European and Fine Decorative Arts at Christie’s London.

“It has always been my dream to create beautiful hand-painted furniture that tells a story. I’ve always harboured a deep fascination for storytelling, which my travel writing and journalistic career offered me. But I also carry a lifelong desire to design and create art, having been surrounded by it since my childhood,” she says.

Thomasson’s father was a geologist and her mother and grandmother both specialised in antique furniture and accessories from around the world. Growing up in London, her family home in Chelsea was always filled with lusterware jugs, masons ironstone, bible boxes, Windsor chairs and cricket tables, instilling in her a keen eye for aesthetics from a young age.

Mary Justice Designs focuses on handhoned furniture pieces that are built to last. Made with sustainable FSC-certified teak and mahogany, the collections feature an assortment of paintings depicting birds, butterflies and jungle scenes inhabited by cloud leopards and underwater seascapes. These paintings are executed by an in-house illustrator, then painstakingly drawn onto gessoed wood by a master artist using a 16th century technique that requires nine to 12 brushstrokes to produce the equivalent of one brushstroke on canvas. Each piece takes up to four weeks to complete and is given a hard wearing finish to make it water-resistant and spill-proof.

As everything is done by hand, each piece is unique and the designs come in a limited edition of 15. Each work of art can be customised with the future collector’s name and are signed by the artists.

What makes Thomasson’s designs stand out is their craftsmanship and multifunctionality. There are tilt-top tables that display like a work of art when not in use; butler tables with removable nesting trays; and rotating trays for dining tables. “I’ve designed my creations to be useful everyday pieces that are beautiful to the touch and visually vibrant. Their meaningful stories not only spark conversations, but inject personality into any interior,” she says.

Mary Jane Designs will release a new home accessories range for the Christmas gift season. maryjusticedesigns.com