10 Years of Canvas House

This month marks 10 years since I took possession of a tired warehouse on Buckhurst Street in South Melbourne and started swinging a sledgehammer.

I had a business plan. I had a business partner. I had spent two decades running events from the client side, and probably attended a few too many corporate offsites along the way. But I was walking into an entirely new industry. And drawing on my experience working at Maccas in Mornington when I was 15 was going to be a tall order.

My interior designers, the ones who had helped me plan the previous space, took one look at the warehouse and bowed out gracefully, wishing me luck.

But I had a vision, two decades of understanding what makes a great event from the other side of the table, and an unshakeable feeling that Melbourne deserved something better.

Ten years later, Canvas House has hosted hundreds of events. Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull over the years during the Melbourne Grand Prix. Asahi, KPMG, MECCA and Colgate strategy and training days. Range reviews with some of Australia’s biggest FMCG groups, Chanel activations, intimate weddings, christenings and celebrations of life. We have laughed, we have cried, we have celebrated. We have weathered a global pandemic, a business partner walking out, and a financial landscape that has tested every small venue operator in the country.

This is the story of how it all happened. And honestly, it almost didn’t.

The Space That Was Never Meant To Be

Here is something most people do not know. Canvas House was my Plan B.

For months, I had been working on a completely different site in South Melbourne. I had engaged interior designers, builders, the works. Mood boards were locked in. Artwork and furniture pieces were about to be ordered. We were literally one day away from signing the lease.

Then, at the last minute, a friend suggested I check in with a builder she was working with, just to get a second opinion on some advice I had been given about gaining dispensation under disability access requirements.

That phone call changed everything.

The builder told me the advice I had received was incorrect. The site I was about to commit to had problems that would have been incredibly difficult and expensive to resolve.

I went home that night feeling completely disheartened. Months of work. Mood boards. Relationships with designers and builders. All of it, gone.

But I am not someone who sits still for long. So that same night, I logged on and started searching. And there it was. A listing for a warehouse space in South Melbourne that I had missed, because it was somewhat of an ugly duckling, or maybe because I was so focused on the charming features that already existed in the other space that I had blinkers on.

The next day, I was doing my first walkthrough of 137 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne.

Walking Into Thoroughbred

The space was called Thoroughbred back then. It had been an event space of sorts, but it looked nothing like what you see today. It was rough. It was dark. I mean, let us face it, it was downright ugly, and not a functional layout. The kitchen was on one side of the building, now our storeroom, while the dishwashing room was on the other side of the venue. Most people would have walked straight back out.

I brought my interior designers along for the walkthrough, the same ones who had helped me on the other space. They looked around, looked at each other, and politely wished me all the best. They were not coming on this journey.

But I knew. The moment I walked in, I knew this was my space.

Anyone who knows me knows two things. I love a challenge, and I love to prove people wrong.

A few weeks later, the lease was signed. The challenge was set.

Sledgehammer Days

What followed were some of the happiest days of my life. And I mean that.

I had a vision for the space, but I did not truly know what I was working with until I started the demolition. I picked up a sledgehammer and started smashing things up, and with every wall that came down, I discovered more of the beauty that lay beneath.

Dark green plasterboard came off to reveal the original brick walls that are now one of Canvas House’s signature features. Mirrors came down. False ceilings were ripped out. I jackhammered the screed off the concrete floors, smashed through walls, and slowly uncovered a warehouse with extraordinary bones. Six metre cathedral ceilings, exposed steel beams, and the kind of raw character that no amount of interior design could manufacture.

While I demolished, I thought. Every swing of the sledgehammer gave me time to think about how I could bring this space to life and maximise every square metre.

I knew one thing from the start. Every space had to be multifunctional.

When I thought about the bar, I thought, could it also be a kitchen? I had always noticed that at house parties, everyone ends up hanging around the kitchen bench. If I could bring that same ease and casualness to Canvas House, it would set us apart from anything else on the market. So that is exactly what I did. Our main bar converts into what feels very much like a home style kitchen. Warm, inviting, and designed to draw people in.

I knew the greenroom had to work as something more than just a waiting room. So, we installed one way glass, turning it into a space that could double as a research room for focus groups, something corporate clients could not find anywhere else in Melbourne.

And the main event space? I knew it needed to be flexible, easily made bigger or smaller depending on the event. But not with those horrible concertina walls you see in hotels. That was not going to work, especially with six metre ceilings.

I looked up at the truss lines and thought, what if I could pull curtain rigging across those trusses? What if I could move curtains from one truss line to another, making the space bigger or smaller depending on what we needed?

It worked. And it is still one of the smartest design decisions in the venue.

Building It With The People Who Would Use It

Coming from a marketing background, I knew something that most venue owners probably do not think about. I was not just building for the client. I was building for every supplier who would ever walk through that door.

So early on, while the space was still a construction site, I brought in caterers, stylists, and audio-visual teams. And I asked them one simple question. What do you want from a venue that you are not getting today?

Their answers shaped everything. The commercial kitchen layout. The bump in access from the rear laneway. The power points. The lighting rigs. The storage. Every practical detail that makes the difference between a supplier who loves working in your space and one who dreads it.

I was building Canvas House while simultaneously making sure it would tick the boxes for everyone. Not just the clients paying the hire fee, but the caterers, the florists, the photographers, the audio visual technicians. Because I knew that if the suppliers loved the space, they would become my best salespeople.

And that is exactly what happened.

The First Event, And The Toilet In The Middle Of The Warehouse

While I had corporates in mind when I designed the space, it became clear very quickly that weddings were going to be a huge part of our market too.

I reached out to all of Melbourne’s leading caterers at the time, brought them into what still looked like a building site, and me, who looked like a tradie in my steel capped boots, often with a Slurpee in hand, which was as close to lunch as I would get, walked them through my plans, mood boards, and worked every bit of charm I had in me. I knew that these caterers would essentially become my sales team. And after the first few meetings, I knew I was onto something. Within minutes they were talking about clients they could bring into the space.

From there, the bookings started coming. My very first event was a large bar mitzvah. The clients put an enormous amount of faith in me, as did the event manager Nat Roth from P2P and Lazer from Kosher Klassique, who my accountant at the time had introduced me to, and in a venue that, at the time, was still very much a work in progress.

Nat and I still laugh about this. When the clients came through for their final inspection a few days before their event, the toilet was still sitting in the middle of the warehouse. There is a great picture of me sitting in the middle of the venue on that toilet, because it was the only seat I could find, paint splatters all over me, looking exhausted. The venue was full of tradies, the space was full of dust. They went out that afternoon and quietly found a backup venue, just in case.

Fair enough.

But once again, I love a challenge, and I love to prove people wrong.

We worked through the night. I remember washing and polishing glasses until the early hours of the morning, and hearing a knock at the back window There was Lazer, peering through the back doors, rain pouring down on him, just making sure it was all finished.

And when the doors opened the next day, Canvas House was ready.

Come this November, that will have been 10 years ago.

The Name

People often assume Canvas House is a reference to the blank canvas nature of the space. It is a nice thought, but that is not the story.

When I was searching for a name, I knew I wanted it to reflect something deeply connected to South Melbourne. The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s and became known as Emerald Hill. Then, during the Victorian Gold Rush of 1851, a tent city called Canvas Town was established right here. Home to tens of thousands of migrants from around the world who came together in search of a new life.

When I learned that history, the name came immediately. Canvas House was a way to pay homage to the area, and to celebrate the purpose of the space, which is bringing people together. I knew House had to be part of it, because I wanted people to feel like they were coming into someone’s home.

That spirit has not changed in 10 years.

The Week Everything Nearly Fell Apart

I should be honest about something, because I think it matters.

A few weeks after we opened, my business partner at the time decided she did not want to be involved in the business anymore. Looking back, I think she realised that this hospitality world of long hours, working most weekends, was not for her, and that she was better suited for corporate life after all.

That was difficult enough on its own. But there was also a significant outstanding builders’ fee that was going to be covered by my partner. When she walked, the money walked with her.

I had to go to the builder, the same person I had worked side by side with for months, the person who had watched me swing a sledgehammer and bring this vision to life, and tell him I could not pay the bill.

He looked at me and said he had seen how hard I had worked. He had seen what I had turned this space into. And he offered to convert the debt into equity.

Then another friend stepped in to support the business, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Was it good luck? Good management? Hard work? Probably a bit of all three. But I think it was also something else. The relationships I had built by showing up, working hard, and being honest about what I was trying to create. People believed in Canvas House because they could see how much of myself I had put into it.

Then Came The Pandemic

I remember it clearly. It was Grand Prix weekend, and I was flying back from Sydney. My phone started beeping. Cancellation after cancellation was coming through.

It was the start of the coronavirus pandemic. None of us knew then what was ahead.

As an events business in Melbourne, we were among the hardest hit. Not just in Australia, but arguably anywhere in the world. Melbourne’s lockdowns were longer and stricter than almost any other city, and the events industry was one of the last to reopen, with what felt like a hundred stop starts in between.

That first night back in Melbourne, my landlord called. She said five words I will never forget.

Nash, I want to help you.

That phone call was probably one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. And I think it was also one of the greatest acknowledgements of the hard work I had put in over the years, because she had seen me on the tools from day one, jackhammer in hand, paintbrush in the other, turning this space into something special.

Without her support over the next two years, I honestly do not know if Canvas House would have survived. It was tough. With her help, it was manageable. Without it, I am not sure I would be writing this today.

I am so grateful to her and her family. To this day, we catch up regularly. After the pandemic, I pulled together a beautiful dinner at Canvas House for her and her family, prepared by Ian Curley, one of Melbourne’s finest chefs and a great friend, as a small gesture of thanks for what they did to keep us going.

What 10 Years Has Taught Me

The industry has changed enormously since I opened those doors. Many of the caterers who were in the market when I started have since left. The financial landscape has shifted. Client expectations have evolved. And of course, the pandemic rewrote every assumption about what an events business could survive.

We have changed too. We have moved from being purely a venue hire business to now providing in house support and catering options as well. We have adapted. We have evolved.

But one thing has remained absolutely true from day one. We are authentic to our brand.

When people walk into Canvas House, the first thing they say is that it has a great energy and a great feel. I think that comes partly from the space itself. The ceilings, the light, the brick, the warmth of it. But I think it comes equally from the team. A lot of love has gone into this place, and people can feel it.

We are a small, senior team. We do not have layers of management or inexperienced staff slowing things down. When you deal with Canvas House, you are dealing with people who can make decisions, who care deeply, and who treat every event as if it is happening in their own home.

That has always been the vision. That has always been the brand. And 10 years in, I am more committed to it than ever.

What I Have Gained That No Corporate Career Could Give Me

I will be honest. I would probably have earned more money if I had stayed in corporate. But I would not swap the last 10 years for anything.

Because of Canvas House, I have formed a tribe. My chosen family. Some of the people who are now my nearest and dearest came into my life because of this venue. People from different age groups, different backgrounds, different walks of life. I have been to their weddings. I have celebrated the births of their children. I have travelled overseas with them.

And I have been able to make decisions and choices because they were the right thing to do, not because they made the best financial sense or because management told me to. Donating my time, my money, and the venue to causes and people who needed it. Making a real difference in ways that a corporate career simply would not have allowed.

That, more than anything, is what Canvas House has given me.

Looking Back At That Other Venue

Sometimes I think about the space I almost signed. The one that fell through the night before I found Canvas House.

It would have been three times the rent I am paying now. It was smaller. It was across several levels, which would have made it impossible to bring cars into the venue for automotive launches, one of the most exciting parts of our business. Noise control would have been a constant issue. Suppliers bumping in furniture and equipment would have been a nightmare.

It would have reduced my client base substantially. And it probably would have ruined me.

I do not know whether you would call that good luck, or whether you would call it following your gut and trusting your intuition. Maybe both. But I believe these things happen for a reason.

The Next Chapter

When I reflect on the last decade, I think about the incredible people who have walked through these doors. T

Ferrari. McLaren. Channel Seven and Channel Nine. Chanel. KPMG. Disney. L’Oréal. MECCA. Penfolds. Famous faces I never expected to meet. And hundreds of couples who chose Canvas House  for their weddings and milestone celebrations. Clients have put some of most important day of their lives in my hands and for that I am grateful and honoured.

And the stories. Too many to know where to start, and most of them nobody would believe. I have almost seen it all. It has been exhilarating, exhausting, and occasionally unrepeatable. People always tell me I should write a book about it one day, and one day I just might.

It has been pretty special. It has been tiring. There is no denying that.

But as I look ahead, I am excited about what the next chapter brings. Who knows what is ahead? The one thing I know is that Canvas House will always be authentic to the original vision. A place that feels like home. Where you are welcomed, comfortable, supported, and looked after in every way we can.

Through flexibility. Through laughs. Through ease. Through love.

That is what Canvas House was built on. And that is what it will always be.

Happy 10th anniversary, Canvas House. Here’s to the next 10.

Nash Ingram is the Director and Founder of Canvas House, a contemporary warehouse venue at 137 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne. After two decades in corporate advertising and marketing, including roles at MYOB, Computershare, Deloitte, Australian Unity, SCA, and Little Ray & Co, Nash built Canvas House from the ground up as the venue she wished had existed during her years in the corporate world.

For enquiries: nash@canvashouse.com.au | 0478 056 390 | canvashouse.com.au