Australian interiors are embracing colour again, with bold furniture, playful patterns and carefully mismatched pieces increasingly replacing the neutral palettes that dominated home design for years. One Australian brand tapping into the shift is Mustard Made, whose colourful metal lockers have become a distinctive storage option for homes, offices and children’s rooms.
The company has spent the past eight years building its reputation around retro-inspired storage, combining practical organisation with the bright shades associated with the growing “dopamine decor” trend.
Mustard Made Builds a Business Around Colourful Storage
Founded by Australian sisters Becca Stern, 35, from Newcastle, NSW, and Jess Stern, 32, who lives in London, Mustard Made began with an unusual idea: turning traditional metal lockers into stylish pieces of household furniture.
The sisters wanted to work together despite living on opposite sides of the world and identified colourful lockers as a product they believed could stand apart in the competitive homewares market.
Colour was central to the concept from the beginning. The Mustard Made name reflects the sisters’ thinking that lockers, like mustard itself, might not appeal to everyone — but people who like them often have strong enthusiasm for them.
The business officially launched in 2018, initially following a wholesale model and partnering with established homewares retailers.
An early appearance at a trade show helped demonstrate demand for the products, with the range selling out and providing momentum for the young company.
Celebrity Fans Help Raise the Brand’s Profile
Since then, Mustard Made has expanded from its Australian beginnings into a multimillion-dollar business with an international customer base.
Its lockers have also attracted several high-profile fans, including Paris Hilton, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Amanda Seyfried, alongside interior designers and homeowners looking for alternatives to conventional storage furniture.
The brand’s distinctive appearance has helped it establish a recognisable position in the crowded homewares sector. Rather than attempting to disguise storage, its designs make cupboards and lockers a prominent part of a room’s overall aesthetic.
That approach fits neatly with dopamine decorating, an interiors trend centred on using colours, patterns and personally meaningful objects to create spaces that feel energetic and uplifting.
Locker Range Expands Across Different Rooms and Uses
Mustard Made’s collection has grown considerably since its launch, with different locker configurations designed for bedrooms, living spaces, offices, dining rooms and children’s areas.
Its main styles include the Shorty, Skinny, Lowdown, Midi and Twinny, offering customers different proportions depending on available space and storage requirements.
The lockers are available across 11 colours, ranging from relatively understated slate through to blush, berry, olive and the company’s signature mustard shade.
Glass-Fronted Storage Adds Another Option
The range also includes the Mixer, a glass-fronted cabinet designed to combine visible display space with the industrial character of the company’s metal furniture.
Its format makes it suitable for uses including dining-room storage, displaying household items or functioning as a statement cabinet in living spaces.
Smaller products can also be used as bedside tables, allowing customers to carry the same colour palette and metal aesthetic through different parts of a home.
Dopamine Decor Drives Demand for More Expressive Interiors
The popularity of colourful storage reflects a broader change in interior design, as households increasingly move beyond beige, white and grey schemes in favour of more individual combinations.
Rather than requiring every piece of furniture to match, dopamine decor encourages homeowners to combine contrasting colours, shapes and patterns while maintaining an intentionally curated overall look.
For Australian households, where practical storage remains particularly important in apartments and smaller urban homes, furniture that combines organisation with a strong visual identity can serve more than one purpose.
Mustard Made has positioned its lockers at the intersection of those two priorities, transforming a product traditionally associated with schools, workplaces and changing rooms into contemporary household furniture.
Eight years after launching, the Australian-founded company continues to expand its range while retaining the colourful metal locker concept at the centre of its identity. As expressive interiors remain popular, its combination of functional storage, retro styling and bold colour provides an alternative to more conventional home organisation solutions.
Cory Weinberg is a contributor to Sproutwired.com, covering a wide range of topics including news, politics, business, technology, sport, entertainment and lifestyle. He focuses on delivering clear, balanced reporting that helps readers stay informed about current events and emerging developments. Cory’s work highlights relevant stories, practical insights and important issues affecting communities and industries, with an emphasis on accuracy, clarity and information that readers can trust.
