Palms, prints and passion

AS a child growing up in chilly England, Anthony Hunt was always captivated by his mum’s tales of adventure in faraway tropical lands.

“My mother, who was born in 1908, spent all the 1920s and ’30s overseas nursing in places like Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka),” he said.

“I grew up with all these wonderful travel stories that excited me. We had a glass cabinet in our home full of trinkets from these places, some of which were carvings of palm trees.”

It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that Hunt has long been drawn to the lush, tropical imagery that now defines much of his life’s work. For decades, he has sold prints at local markets throughout the region — many of them painted by his wife, Jennifer, a former fashion designer who shares his love of the exotic.

The couple, who live in Myocum, immigrated to Australia in 1994 after six years in Portugal. They first settled in the Noosa hinterland before moving to the Northern Rivers in 2000, where Hunt decided to start a print business, Casbah Design, initially focusing on framed European images.

“There were images that I needed that I couldn’t access and Jennifer said, ‘Let me have a go’,” he said. “Now we have 1000 of her images.”

“There’s palm trees in three quarters of our work. They have been our best sellers for nearly 30 years. I have spent my life following the sun and love the natural vegetation.”

The pair supply art and picture frames across Australia, and Hunt also sells directly at seven markets each month, including Bangalow, Brunswick Heads and Byron Bay. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and many of their retail stockists closed, those markets became a lifeline.

“We feel it’s a good way of connecting with the local community and being part of something,” he said.

“I often get people coming to me saying they bought this, that or the other 25 years ago and we still look at it every day.”

The next Byron Beachside Market will be held on January 7.