Danni Murray

When just 18, Danni Murray had to decide between going to law school and entering the working world. She chose the latter and moved from her hometown on the Gold Coast to Sydney. She was soon signed with Vivien’s Models and eventually Ford Model Agency in New York, embarking on a career as a professional high-fashion model.

The next exciting step was being signed to BMG Arista as a vocal recording artist. Danni worked with an Australian producer for two years and appeared as co-host at the Arias, with Bon Jovi, in 1992. Danni is listed as one of the original “pop divas” of Australia. She later worked with producers in the UK as a solo artist and travelled extensively.

Danni was flying back from Australia to the USA when she started talking to an established Manhattan interior designer. Seeing her excitement, the designer offered her an intern position.

The next three years were spent working under the watchful eye of her mentor, whilst studying at NYU. This enabled Danni to learn the principles of a successful design business, along with the opportunity to develop her own unique sense of style.

Meeting an Englishman while in New York, who would later become her husband, another continent beckoned. After settling in Chelsea, London, Danni embedded herself in the UK with the launch of a new business – Star PR. With revenues of over one million pounds sterling in the first year, the agency became one of the London’s largest event management and PR staffing companies at the time.

Married, with one son, Danni soon became pregnant for the second time and made the decision to move the family back home to Sydney. Star PR was sold to a competitor.

During this pregnancy, Danni graduated with honours from the International School of Colour and Design and won a recognition award for one of her designs. A third boy in the family was born the next year. A series of house moves with her growing family brought renovation and client design projects aplenty in Sydney.

Purchasing a magnificent farmhouse in Berry, NSW, allowed her to turn creative theory into practice in her very own property. The finished property was published in several magazines and later sold.

Soon after, Danni decided to take her knowledge and start up on her own. She launched The Clifton Club, specialising in luxury accommodation letting, event management and interior design. With nearly 50 homes on the books nationwide, she assisted with interior styling and solely-managed events for high-profile individuals. Building a cutting-edge reputation, more high-end interior/event-based work naturally evolved outside of the Clifton Club.

Tending to her fourth child and requiring a more homebased set-up, Danni consolidated her work as a successful freelance interior/events decorator and launched her own interior design business in 2011, ELK&MAPLE. Her style is upmarket “homely”, with a passion for colonial, folk and country American architecture.

Her design business gained momentum and in 2014, Danni introduced her own homewares collection, called SYRUP. A gap in the market presented itself while she was trying to source fitting products to include in her interior design projects.

After a two-year development process, the wares were launched at a trade fair in Sydney and later featured both online and in her pop-up store “Teepee. The Store”, on the Upper North Shore, which traded for one year. The design business Danni manages under the banner of Teepee Creative is celebrating nineteen years in business this year.

She resides on a semi-rural property on the Northern Beaches with her husband, four boys, chickens, horses and a dog named Daisy May.