As a young girl, Dara wanted to be an archaeologist – fascinated by the history and stories that surrounded her. While working in the tile industry, and inspired by that early curiosity, her passion was set when she fell in love with stone. She recognised that every piece of stone held a different story, combining the beauty and mystery of archaeology with a physical product she could hold in the palm of her hand. She knew then that stone had an energy to it that manmade products didn’t possess and that love of stone became an integral part of Byzantine Design.

While working for others, Dara set up Byzantine Design as a bathroom design business that also supplied beautiful tiles. From here she honoured her passion and shifted the business to focus purely on tiling. What started out as a side hustle is now a purpose-led business that calls Melbourne home, alongside a beautiful retail store in Prahran, supplying and servicing clients Australia-wide. Although that’s not quite the full story.

About six weeks after opening the store in Melbourne, Dara flew to Sydney and fell over while walking through a shopping mall. That fall was the catalyst for Dara’s diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. While many encouraged her to close up shop, she refused, determined to keep her dream alive. Instead, she hired a team to manage the store while she went to rehab to learn to walk again.

This is the story of Byzantine Design and this one of the reasons that makes it so special.

Byzantine Design brings together a community of like-minded design lovers.

We’re about so much more than a simple tile. The materials we fill our spaces with have the ability to affect our every day and evoke a sense of inspiration, modernity or nostalgia. Choosing a tile is not simply about how it looks, but how it feels – the texture of the surface against your skin, its power to transform a room and its ability to incite an emotional response. Our business is in curating beautiful materials to create spaces that make you feel alive. It’s built on passion, dedication and a genuine and lasting love for design.

We work with Australia’s finest stone and mosaic importers to create a unique collection of products and enable custom designs for residential and commercial projects. We pride ourselves on personalised and knowledgeable service and combine this with extensive technical skills and product knowledge that allow us to turn dreams into reality.

We may be biased but we truly believe that Byzantine Design is the most beautiful tile store in Melbourne. Come see for yourself.