love of collecting, creating and sharing;
a place that will make people smile and
feel happy. I asked Lisa to tell me more
about their vision for The Kompound and
how it came to be.
“The original idea for The Kompound
was actually conceived after a holiday in
Melbourne back in 2012. Louis and I were
so inspired by the creative spirit of the
city and it’s artists and artisans, we came
home dreaming of a special creative
space of our own where we could retreat,
our own little parallel universe to escape
and create!” says Lisa.
“The first draft was quite raw, a
couple of shipping containers linked
together by a roofed area. The concept
has evolved just a little since then! And as
it evolved, we realized that not only was
this somewhere for us to get creative, it
had so much potential to be a creative
space for others – maybe we could
actually help people in our community
who were feeling isolated, disconnected
or just plain bored, to find inspiration
and connect with each other. Our town,
Warwick, Queensland, actually has
alarming statistics for mental issues and
suicide so with the backing of some local
psychologists and counsellors, we also
hope to provide, through The Kompound,
a gateway for people who need that extra
support.
With the help of some amazing
locals who donated their time and labour
to get the site on our five-acre property
prepared and the concrete slab down,
serious work on The Kompound began
in October 2015. Louis and I have spent
every spare moment of the last eleven
months on construction. Louis has thirtyfive
years experience in the building
industry, and we built our own house
nine years ago, so we have done all the
construction ourselves, using recycled
materials wherever possible. We haven’t
asked for or received any type of funding
or grants as we want to have total say
over the project, so it’s our own money,
time and labour plus the incredible
generosity of Warwick people that’s
making it happen. It’s been a really hard
slog (the twelve-metre long steel beams
were particularly challenging for two of
us!) but we’re driven toward a Christmas/
New Year opening.
24 | vintagecaravanmagazine