Cassie, Peter, Yuri & Dash

Tell us a little about yourselves.

CASSIE: We're Cassie and Peter, and we live at Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi with our son Yuri, who's four, and our greyhound Dash, who's 12. Our business, Hound & Bone Studio, is in a commercial space downstairs.

What is Hound & Bone?

PETER: We're fine art printers. The easiest way to explain it is: if it goes in a frame, we print it.

CASSIE: We work predominantly with artists, illustrators and photographers, helping them reproduce and print their work. That can include scanning artworks, colour matching, creating digital reproductions and producing limited-edition prints.

PETER: I come from a visual arts background, so artwork reproduction has always been a big focus for us.

How did the business begin?

CASSIE: Hound & Bone actually started in our lounge room on Talbot Street in Brunswick. We had one printer and thought, if we wait for a shopfront, we might never do this. We didn't have the capital to go all-in from the start, so we built the business slowly and steadily.

After that, we spent ten years in a studio just up the road before moving here.

What makes your approach different?

CASSIE: One of the most important things to us is giving people time.

We work primarily by appointment because we don't want clients to feel rushed. Printing can be quite personal and there are often a lot of decisions involved. We want people to feel comfortable asking questions and to understand what's possible.

When we started the business, we wanted to make sure we were generous with our time. The best way to do that is by planning for it.

PETER: Sometimes people arrive with a very clear idea of what they want, and sometimes they don't realise what options are available. We love helping people explore different papers, finishes or ways of presenting their work.

You've lived and worked in the same building before. How does it feel at Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi?

CASSIE: Before we had Yuri, we couldn't wait to separate work and home life.

Once Yuri arrived, that completely flipped.

Living close to the business makes family life so much easier. If one of us needs to stay back to finish a job, the other can head upstairs with Yuri. If something unexpected comes up, we're both still close by.

PETER:The difference here is that there is real separation. We can close the studio door and go home, whereas in our previous place we always had to walk through our workspace. It's the best of both worlds.

CASSIE: The convenience of living and working in the same building, but having separation ... is a total game changer.

What drew you to Nightingale?

CASSIE: We'd been aware of Nightingale projects for years and really connected with what they stand for.

We wanted to buy a home, but a standalone house wasn't realistic for us financially. Apartment living genuinely suits us, and if we were going to buy an apartment, we wanted it to be somewhere we trusted.

The fact that the building was designed by Kennedy Nolan definitely helped too.

What do you love most about your apartment?

CASSIE: The building feels incredibly considered. Every day we notice little details, the way the light moves through the apartment, the views through doorways, the materials and the different perspectives throughout the building.

We also love that we were able to make the commercial space downstairs work for us. A friend helped us design the space. We kept things flexible and simple because we know our needs will continue to evolve over time.

Has moving to Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi changed your sense of community?

PETER: Absolutely. At our old place, our neighbours were mostly other business owners. We saw them every day and had great relationships with them, but it wasn't the same as living in a residential community.

Here, we actually know our neighbours. People share things, help each other out and stop for a chat. There's a real sense of connection.

We also have a great relationship with the other commercial tenants in the building. It's nice knowing the people running businesses around us and seeing familiar faces every day. Sometimes I'll walk Dash in the evening and see one of the neighbours still working away downstairs, and it's a good reminder that we're all here together.

CASSIE: It feels quite rare these days, and it's something we really value.

What has apartment living been like for Yuri?

CASSIE: One of the things we both wanted was for Yuri to grow up around lots of different people.

Apartment living creates opportunities for everyday interactions with neighbours of different ages, backgrounds and experiences. We think that's really valuable.

I lived in Germany for a while and that kind of community-oriented apartment living is very normal there. We wanted Yuri to have that experience here too.

YURI: My favourite part is the rooftop.

We have to ask about Dash. How did she become part of the family?

CASSIE: We both grew up with dogs, but for a long time our lifestyles didn't really allow for having one. As soon as we started Hound & Bone and settled into running our own business, getting a dog was one of the first things we did.

We adopted Dash when she was about three years old and she's 12 now.

PETER: Before we had a greyhound, neither of us really understood why people were so obsessed with them.

CASSIE: We thought they were lovely dogs, but we didn't quite get it. Now we're complete converts.

PETER: There are a lot of subtleties to greyhounds. They're incredibly gentle, funny and full of personality.

CASSIE: Dash has brought her own sense of community with her too. Through greyhound ownership we've met so many people locally, and there are quite a few dogs in the building. It's lovely seeing neighbours out walking their dogs and stopping for a chat. It becomes another way of connecting with people.

How has the move shaped the future of Hound & Bone?

CASSIE: It feels like a new chapter.

We spent more than ten years in the same space, so moving here has been a huge milestone. Having the opportunity to build a studio that better suits the way we work has been incredibly exciting.

PETER: It's also been rejuvenating. For the first time in a long time, it feels like we're not constantly thinking about the next step.