The Latch has partnered with Set For Life to spotlight incredible Australians who are pursuing hobbies, side hustles and passions that feed their souls and enhance their lives. All our “Lifers” have the same thing in common: they’ve followed their dreams down a path to find true fulfilment.
If there’s one furniture piece that’s currently on my wish list, it’s literally anything from Gesso House. Founded by Sydney-based husband and wife duo, Daniel and Vanessa Treccase, Gesso House is a marriage of skill and passion — two things they have in spades.
Known for its striking polished plaster furniture, all custom-made for the discerning consumer, Gesso House was created for the same reason that so many creative businesses are — from a desire to create beautiful pieces for their own home that they couldn’t find anywhere else.
“Together, we designed and crafted a square side table with a lightly textured, smooth polished plaster finish,” Vanessa tells The Latch.
Like many people who embark on creative side-hustles, Vanessa and Daniel are still juggling their full-time jobs with running Gesso House, admitting that having the creative business on the side of their day jobs has enhanced their lives, hugely.
“It’s certainly a juggle, but incredibly rewarding and we both truly love working on Gesso House,” says Vanessa. “Crafting furniture for like-minded clients and growing our business is so fulfilling for us both. Being partners in life and business certainly has its good and tough moments, but communicating with one another and being each other’s support system is paramount.”
Daniel is a plasterer and gyprocker by trade, with more than a decade of experience in the industry, and Vanessa is a PR and communications expert. So, after making a few bespoke pieces for themselves, as well as their family and friends, they decided to soft launch Gesso House on Facebook Marketplace in 2020 to see whether it had legs as a company. Turns out, it did.
“Now, we’re designing and crafting bespoke objects for homes around Australia,” Vanessa says. “What started from a humble side table has expanded to include objects around the home including dining tables, consoles and coffee tables.”
The Gesso House ethos is to give Australians access to special, tailor-made furniture for their homes that leans heavily on European design — all the better that each piece is created by local artisans, with top-quality materials and finishes, right here in Sydney. They’ll often go the extra step of installing the furniture in your home or office, so they can get real-time feedback (and no doubt see the joy on people’s faces when they see it arrive).
Every piece Gesso House creates is undeniably chic, and the brand’s timeless yet contemporary designs draw heavily from Daniel and Vanessa’s Italian and Croatian family heritages. They’ve become renowned for their “sophisticated imperfections, organic textures, and handcrafted natural shapes,” Vanessa says, adding that their furniture is truly bespoke, where no two pieces are exactly the same.
When I asked Vanessa about their plans for Gesso House over the next year, she teased that they have an incredible collaboration with a renowned Australian furniture brand on the horizon (but more on that in good time). In the meantime, they’re making plans for new collections, including adding new homeware and decor items to their repertoire.
Just this month, Gesso House relaunched to give us all the option to shop and browse directly through an online store for the first time — and you’d be crazy not to.