The Design Files Daily

furniture design

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sudell – Melbourne-based outdoor furniture design



Sudell’s ‘Tablecloth’ table – powder coated laser-cut steel, available in white, red, blue, green and grey.

Tina Sudell is a NZ-born, UK-trained, Melbourne-based Garden and Outdoor Furniture designer! Tina’s first venture into outdoor furniture design was her ‘Tablecloth‘ table, launched at Melbourne’s fringe furniture exhibition in 2007. Since then Tina has been gradually developing this branch of her business. She’s currently in the process of designing new work to add to the range.

Tina’s concept for Sudell is to develop outdoor furniture that will physically withstand the test of time in the outdoors, whilst maintaining ‘artistic flair, colour and passion’, and a sense of timelessness in their design. “Big dreams but a long way to go” she says! I think she’s well on her way :) In the the long term, Tina hopes to collaborate with others to add variety to her range and achieve these goals.

Tina Says -
My foray into furniture design came about by accident really. It was suggested to me and at the time I thought – “noooo that’s not my skill” but the seed was sewn. I was looking around for a piece of furniture for a client and couldn’t find anything that met my requirements. It was then that I realized there was potential there for something new. I found that there was a lot of wood, a lot of not so nicely designed but very cheap furniture from China and some lovely but very expensive designer outdoor furniture. There wasn’t a lot of colour, a lot vibrancy or anything particularly interesting. So I decided to take the plunge.

I couldn’t agree more with Tina about the lack of well-designed, reasonably-priced outdoor furniture on the market! Of course I love the work of the big names like Patricia Urquiola… but I really don’t have the budget to fill my garden with that stunning Canasta furniture range! I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes next from Tina Sudell!

In Melbourne Tina’s work is sold through Kif & Katast in Prahran. Sudell will be exhibiting new work at Design Made Trade in Melbourne in July. Tina also has a blog here.

Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - Gardens, furniture design, landscape architecture, melbourne people Comments (1)
Wednesday, December 03, 2008

New New York – from James Conway

The New Museum, NYC, designed by Japanese architecture firm SANAA

Today we’re lucky to have another dose of international design news from Aus ex-pat James Conway! James’ travels recently took him to the Big Apple, where he found himself pondering the ‘New’ in New York… Enjoy! – Lucy

What’s new? It was a question going through my mind when a project recently took me to New York, a trip which would happily coincide with the US presidential election and the dawn of the new era it recklessly promised. It got me to thinking in that idle, jet-lagged way about the lure of the new, an idea I decided to pursue in a completely literal way by visiting two contrasting museums which, like the city itself, proclaim their newness in their very names.

Neue Galerie exterior. photo – James Conway

Viennese Decorative Arts Gallery, Neue Galerie, New York . Image provided Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York

The Neue Galerie was established in 2001 by billionaire investor Ronald Lauder to raise the profile of 20th century German and Austrian art and design in the US, and is housed in a magnificent 5th Avenue mansion straight out of a Henry James novel. The gallery hit the headlines in 2006 when Lauder purchased Gustav Klimt’s sumptuous, golden Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for a reported US$135 million, the highest amount ever paid for a painting.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt

While it’s difficult to compete with Klimt’s bling blowout, the Neue’s permanent collection also boasts an important selection of Viennese design circa 1900, when the Wiener Werkstätte reasoned that a new century needs new forms. If the streamlined cutlery and boxy chairs on display here look familiar, it’s because we’ve been using variations of them ever since. Their work doesn’t represent a total break with the past – geometric designs prove there was still an urge to adorn, and their expensive products were hardly accessible to the masses – but they were nonetheless enormously influential. The restless upending of received ideas in everything from jewellery to furniture, the move away from superfluous decoration, the collectivist spirit, the belief that good design could change society – all of it would inspire the Bauhaus movement and just about every other design group since.

Top image – Josef Hoffman (1870 – 1956), five pieces from the ‘Flat Model’ flatware service, 1904 – 1908, Silver. Bottom image – Jutta Sika, (1877 – 1964), tea and coffee service, 1901 – 1902, porcelain with stenciled design in red
Images provided Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York

Kolomon Moser, Armchair, Vienna ca. 1903, Beech painted white, woven raffia-string painted black and white. Image provided Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York

Josef Hoffman (1870 – 1956), cupboard from Biach bedroom, 1902 – 1903, painted pined with maple veneer and inlays of black-stained wood, metal mounts. Image provided Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York

Otto Wagner, (1841, 1918), Buffet for the apartment of Otto Wagner, 1898 – 99, solid walnut and walnut veneer, mother of pearl inlays, marble (replaced). Image provided Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York

Keep following this minimalist route and you arrive at something like the New Museum, amazingly the first dedicated contemporary art museum ever built in downtown Manhattan. It looms brightly over The Bowery, a street which was long a byword for urban squalor but which is now yielding to gentrification. The tipping point in that process came with the 2006 closure of iconic punk venue CBGB’s, a couple of blocks away; the opening of this big shiny museum a year later was mere confirmation.

The New Museum exterior, featuring wiss artist Ugo Rondinone ‘s installation – Hell Yes!, 2001


The building, designed by Japanese firm SANAA, makes a virtue of its limited footprint by heading upwards in dramatic fashion. Half a dozen white boxes, wreathed in mesh, are placed on top of each other at awkward angles, as if each floor was delivered as a pre-fab unit and carelessly stacked – you can imagine someone across the road yelling “left, no YOUR left…OK that’ll do.” As with MOMA, extensive street-level glass windows avoid the intimidating air of older art institutions, while also subliminally inferring that art appreciation is something to fit into an afternoon’s shopping. Inside, colour is almost completely absent (though deployed to blinding effect in the elevators). The ground floor shop, which has a great selection of cutting-edge books and artist multiples, is enclosed in a curving mesh which echoes the building’s façade.

The New Museum gift shop. Top image by Dean Kaufman – (s0 sorry can’t remember where I found this image…). Bottom image by James Conway.

New Museum exterior mesh – photo by James Conway

Oh, and there’s some art as well. Both exhibitions I caught there were retrospectives, and didn’t seem to quite live up to the museum’s pithy, self-proclaimed mission of “new art, new ideas”. The punchy, block-colour abstractions of New York-based artist Mary Heilmann, for example, are easy on the eye but hardly life-changing. The titles at least reference her love of music; in interviews she emphasises her passion for punk, and she claims, incongruously, to identify with the short, shambolic career of Sid Vicious.

Mary Heilmann, Surfing on Acid, 2005. Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 122 cm by Mary Heilmann

Mary Heilmann, Lovejoy Jr., 2004, Oil on canvas, 102 x 81.3 cm by Mary Heilmann

The Sex Pistols star is just one of the icons who appear in Elizabeth Peyton’s heavily publicised show, which occupies the third and fourth floors. All her subjects (predominantly rock stars) are rendered as rosy-lipped androgynes in big obvious strokes on small canvasses, framed like snapshots. There seems to be as much animosity as acclaim for Peyton in the art world; the gist of the criticism seems to be “why her?”, i.e. that plenty of artists fresh out of school are doing more exciting figurative work with much less recognition, and moreover that her stock of cultural references hasn’t been refreshed since the 90s. For me the modestly-sized pieces had real charm on their own but made little impact en masse, and considering this was a major show by a hot artist, the wow factor was disappointingly absent.

Left – Sidney, 1995, charcoal on paper, 33 x 27.9 cm, Right – Sid and his Mum (John and Anne Beverley), 1995, oil on board, 43.2 x 30.5 cm – Both by Elizabeth Peyton

Brett and Rob, 1999, oil on board, 35.6 x 42.5 cm by Elizabeth Peyton

Piotr on couch, 1996, oil on board, 22.9 x 30.5 cm by Elizabeth Peyton

On balance, the artists featured in the New were looking less “new” than the bunch of long-dead Austrians uptown. But the museum itself, the shell at least, lives up to its name – it feels radiantly and self-confidently of the moment. On leaving the building, look up and you’ll see a sign by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone which reads simply “HELL, YES!”. While the fat font and rainbow colours suggest a retro hipster appreciation of the 70s style which punk supposedly did away with, in the “yes we can” era the message looks slightly less ironic.

Hell Yes!, 2001, by Ugo Rondinone, found here on Flickr.

And in the event, yes they did. Watching the election results in a packed Brooklyn bar, there was no New York cool disdain on display; when Obama appeared on screen to claim victory the place went utterly, unironically berserk. Not surprisingly his acceptance speech was full of new stuff: new dawn, new energy, new schools, even a new puppy. But just as new and unprecedented was the way people listened, as if meaningfully engaged by politics for the first time.

Facing the next day with a fuzzy head I briefly wondered if it had all been a bourbon-related delusion. Others were similarly disbelieving: hundreds queued round the block to snap up the day’s edition of the New York Times, eager for black and white proof that Obama really was their next president (you can’t frame a website, so new media doesn’t cut it as a keepsake). And on the very same day, Elizabeth Peyton topped up her show with a portrait of Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha, a deft gesture which not only brought her show instantly up to date, but was also probably the first work by a major artist to mark the historic moment.

At last, something new!

Michelle and Sasha Obama Listening to Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention August 2008 by Elizabeth Peyton

Thanks so much James!

Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - Fine Art, International Design, furniture design, international correspondent, international people, international places Comments (1)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Inside Out – RMIT graduate furniture exhibition

RMIT Graduate Tom Zachariassen chats to visitors about the work on display.


Last week I managed to visit a handful of graduate design shows to check out Melbourne’s newest emerging talent. I’ve still got many more shows on my list… November is filling up fast!

Inside Out was the name of the RMIT TAFE graduate furniture exhibition, on display at the Telstra Building in Melbourne’s CBD for only four days last week. I was really impressed by the quality of pieces on show… and was equally charmed by exhibiting graduate Tom Zachariassen, who patiently talked me through the work of each student in great detail! (Thanks Tom!). Highlights below.

Damien Tonelli‘s Africana coffee table stole the show for me – simple yet striking, beautiful sleek lines… it seemed almost Japanese in style, however Damien’s inspiration was African Warrior Shields. Each compartment under the tabletop slides out for storage. He created his piece using both solid Tasmanian Oak and veneer, and finished it with a glass surface –


Samara Whateley‘s work also stood out – extremely accomplished and original. The Cheek to Cheek seat above is adjustable so two people can sit either face to face or cheek to cheek. A playful, striking design that encourages a dialogue between those who use it. The bent plywood pieces are covered in thick industrial felt for comfort and colour.

Samara Whateley again – Oblique P entertainment unit in Jarrah veneer and white painted surface. Love that great geometric detailing on the front doors.

The Vertical Fold Chair by Stefan Torre doubles as additional seating for house guests and a focal point for any feature wall. The chair’s clever design ‘borrows’ from lesser structurally dependent components to become fully self supportive with the aid of state of the art Rare Earth Magnets and piano hinges. Special thanks to Eveneer (specialists in environmental reconstructed timber veneer) for supplying the Euro-Sable veneer used on the faces of the chair. Contact the designer at – stefantorre@hotmail.com


Captain’s Chair by Justin Hermes in Mountain Ash solid timber, sourced entirely from reclaimed industrial waste.

Tom Zachariassen‘s Scrambled Eggs side table has various hidden components that can be pulled out to increase the surface area of the table top. He was generously sponsored by local timber suppliers Cabinet Timbers in Port Melbourne who supplied materials for him to complete this project – snappy_tom@hotmail.com

ps) must apologise, some of these shots are a quite washed out… my camera seems to have locked itself onto a very strange setting and I just can’t seem to fix it…

Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - furniture design, melbourne people Comments (4)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Interview – Trent Jansen

Trent Jansen‘s highly acclaimed Pregnant Chair for Moooi

extremely cute concept sketches for the famed Kissing Pendants!

…those beautiful Kissing Pendants (again!), which recently won the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award 2008.

I was so excited to meet Australia’s designer-of-the-moment Trent Jansen recently at the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Awards in Melbourne. As one of the recipients of the Design Discovery Award, I was expecting Trent to be inundated with media and networking professionals all evening… but the event was thankfully very low-key, and I was pleasantly surprised to see him lurking in the shadows, and generally keeping a very low profile!

There is so much to like about Trent. He’s thoughtful and so modest in conversation about his work. Despite the accolades following his success with the Pregnant Chair in Milan earlier this year (which is being produced by Moooi), and the recent Design Discovery award for his stunning Kissing Pendants, he seems utterly unaffected by all the media attention and new-found notoriety. At just 26 (I think?), he’s polite and quiet, and during our conversation, asked as much about me as I did about him!

Trent’s clever, playful designs are such a breath of fresh air for the Australian design industry. His pieces perfectly reflect the designer himself – relaxed, slightly quirky, instantly warm and friendly, and entirely unpretentious! I know I’ve said it before, but I really am convinced we’re looking at the next superstar of Australian design here – watch this space!

Just found this great little promotional video about COFA graduate Trent on Utube… it gives a fantastic insight into Trent’s work and design ethos. My interview below!

Tell me a little about your background – what did you study and what path led you to what you’re doing now?

I studied the Design Degree at the College of Fine Arts at the University of NSW in Paddington, Sydney. I am not sure how I ended up doing what I am doing. I have wanted to be an architect since I was very young, but went to university to study graphic design. Luckily I enrolled in a multidisciplinary design degree and at some point I become interested in object design.

You’ve become very well known in the design world in the last year or so, and are getting a lot of media attention currently in the wake of your success with the Pregnant Chair in Milan. However, you’ve been plugging away for a lot longer than most people probably realise! How do you feel about this sudden peak in media interest, and is there a sense of pressure to keep the ball rolling?


I guess that the attention is nice I guess, but I do not feel any pressure. So long as I am happy with the work that I am doing, that is the most important thing.

The world of the solo industrial designer is a bit of a mystery to me and many people… What motivates you at the start of a new project? At this stage in your career, how much of your work is self-initiated, as opposed to being specifically commissioned or funded externally? How do you know what to be spending your time on!?


I am not sure what motivates me, I think it is my short attention span. I get bored really easily and I am always looking for the next project or the next place to move on to. I like to always feel like I am moving forward. The motivation for my projects comes from a desire to design worthwhile, sustainable objects to provide thoughtful and long-lasting alternatives to the junk that exists in the world.

A selection of Trent’s Sign Stools, created from recycled street signs. Top left – the Sign Stool Limited Edition, designed in 2004. The other styles shown here are Sign Stool 450, a more recent take on the original version, designed for manufacture on a larger scale.

My time is pretty evenly divided up between self motivated projects, commissions and teaching design at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW. It is often hard to decide which of these takes priority, as they are all important to me. I can not take time away from my self motivated projects, as these are the projects that most strongly represent my values and philosophies as a designer. I can not take time away from my commissions as people are counting on me to deliver a project on time, meeting their expectations. And I can not take time away from my teaching preparation because my students expect a lot of me and they are ruthless if I am not prepared. So I guess I just work longer…

Do you feel at a disadvantage as a designer by being based in Australia? What challenges have you faced by being based so far from the established design hubs in the UK, Italy, The Netherlands etc? Do you feel drawn to base yourself ‘closer to the action’?

I think that Australia’s distance has its advantages and disadvantages as a designer. In the past four years this distance has been a huge advantage for me. There are not so many people practicing design in Australia, but there are still some great organisations advocating for Australian design, making it easier to be noticed, published and recognised. The problem with the Australian design industry is what comes after this. Australia lacks the history of quality makers and manufacturers and the general culture of design that exists in many European countries. This makes it hard to have work made and even harder to have work sold.

I have spent the last three months in Holland, France and Switzerland and intend to spend the best part of the next eight months in the same area. It is my aim to see how the industry works over here and find out whether there is any advantage to be gained by living and designing in Europe. At this stage I am still unsure of what the future holds, but being a Dutch citizen and working for Moooi, I have a bit of freedom to check it all out before I make a decision.

The desk is one of the workspaces Trent has occupied since travelling around Europe. He spent a week and a half in a wine region called Minervois in the South of France. This was the little room that he had to work in while I was there.

Which designers, artists or creative people are you inspired by?

Marcel Wanders has always been a great inspiration for me. Recently I have been very interested in the work of Theo Jansen (no relation), a Dutch sculptor and genius…

Where else do you turn for specific inspiration when working on a new project – do you scour books, magazines or the web? Do you pay attention to trends in the broader design world such as film, fashion or architecture?

Most of my inspiration at the moment comes from relationships that I observe and experience everyday. The work that I have been working on lately attempts to form long-term relationships between my work and the people that own it. It is an important factor in designing sustainable work to consider the longevity of these objects, trying to create as much time between purchase and disposal as possible. I have a theory that if I can design ‘objects that remind us of ourselves’, these objects will become important to their owner and become a lasting part of their life instead of a disposable thing.

At this point in time I am using personal relationships as the conceptual grounding behind these objects, developing pieces that borrow familiar characteristics from the relationships that are so important to all of us. The Pregnant Chair and Kissing Pendants are perfect examples of this theory in practice. If motherhood is important to you then the relationship that exists between the baby and mother chair will speak to you and remind you of your mother or child. This nostalgic response will hopefully create a special place for this object within your home.

Japanese-inspired textile design (2007 and 2008). Top image – Jansen’s Ichimatsu textile was selected for the Japanese Environment Minister’s traditional Furoshiki (gift-wrapping cloth), designed for use during the 2008 Environment Minister’s Summit in Kobe, Japan. This piece was produced in a limited edition by Japanese company Felissimo. Bottom left – closer view of the Ichimatsu design, bottom right – Shrine. Textiles available through Sekimoto.

What does a typical day at work involve for you? How do you divide your time between designing, building prototypes, marketing yourself and seeking collaboration / manufacturers etc…?


There is no such thing as a typical day at the moment. I have spent the last four or five months living out of a suitcase, so stability is a distant memory for me. When I am in the studio I spread my time between working on my own projects, working on commissions and teaching. This can involve anything from sketching, developing presentations, making models, technical drawing and lots and lots of emailing…

Topple Light (2006) available through ISM objects


What are you most proud of professionally?


Working with Moooi. They are a great company and I feel very lucky to be part of their family.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is being able to do what I love every day.

And the worst?

I can’t think of a worst thing…

What would be your dream project?


My dream project was any project for Moooi. Now I am trying to get involved in humanitarian design projects. I am not sure what or where, but I am beginning to make some in-roads now.

What are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to spending a couple of months in Kiama with my girlfriend and our families over summer.

Where do you shop in Sydney for the tool of your trade? (ie building materials and tools, sketching materials, hardware?)


Most of my supplies come from Reverse Garbage or the Bower on Addison Road in Marrickville. They are always my first port of call because I don’t really like to buy new things where I can help it. Old materials and tools are so beautiful.

What/where was the last great meal you ate in Sydney?

Cafe Giulia most Saturday mornings and Friday lunch-times, on Abercrombie Street in Chippendale, across the road from my studio. By far the best Cafe in Sydney.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

and

Sydney’s best kept secret?

Giulia or the Mitchell Road Auction House, which is also Sydney’s best kept secret. On Mitchell Road in Alexandria, this place is a treasure hunter’s dream I love it and the owner Jeffry is an amazing character…

Trent’s studio in Chippendale, Sydney


A big thankyou to Trent for his time with this interview and all the fantastic images! :) Can’t wait to see what comes next from him!

Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - Australian people, Industrial Design, Interview, Lighting, Sustainable Design, Sydney, awards, furniture design Comments (2)
Monday, October 27, 2008

House of Orange – new furniture

House of Orange latest furniture range – Back to Basics

Very short post today I’m afraid… it’s nearly 1.00am and I am exhausted from a 16 hour day at work! Aggh!

Do you remember I posted about the lovely House of Orange in Armadale a while ago…? They specialise in Dutch home accessories and design pieces… and as you know I’m a sucker for Dutch design of any kind! Anyway, Ursula from H-of-O recent emailed me to let me know about their brand new summer 08-09 Indoor/Outdoor furniture range, called Back to Basics. The pieces are Dutch designed, but handcrafted to order here in Australia (by someone Dutch, apparently!). They’re made from local recycled timbers in a beautiful limewash finish.

The range includes 8 seater to 20 seater tables, cubed seating, lounges and even children’s settings.

The chunky simplicity of these robust timber pieces would work so well in any number of spaces, from eclectic interiors to modern minimalist homes… and of course, would be especially happy outdoors. How about that gorgeous outdoor dining table, perhaps with a collection of rustic pot-plants in the centre, and maybe a cluster of chunky candles in various heights?… oh my mind wanders into styling-land…

I must pay Ursula and Hans a visit again soon!

…love those red clogs that seem to have crept into these shots! details details. :)

House of Orange
2 Kings Way
Armadale
Vic


*PS any other ‘Blogger’ bloggers having trouble with uploading images at the moment? All my shots are auto-formatting to a smaller size that normal… meaning I then have to edit the HTML to re-size them! I am getting so frustrated! Would appreciate any feedback about this from fellow Blogspot buddies…

Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - furniture design, melbourne places, window shopping Comments (2)
Monday, October 13, 2008

Surry Hills Shopping Guide

Surry Hills / Darlinghurst map – double click for a larger view

YES finally here is the Surry Hills / Darlinghurst (and a little bit of Redfern) shopping guide! I so enjoyed exploring this beautiful leafy area of Sydney. It has such a lovely, villagey feel… and so many great shops and cafes to discover. I must preface this post by saying that I know there are places I have left out! (Orson and Blake, Afficionados of the Nod… etc etc). I don’t claim to be any kind of expert after having spent a single week in Sydney! I didn’t get along to every shop I would have liked to… but the places mentioned here are ones I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through, and would recommend to any design-loving Sydney visitor (or resident!).

A word of warning before embarking on a walking tour of Surry Hills – consider your footwear! Like much of Sydney, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst are full of steep hills! Melburnians should be prepared for a serious calf-muscle work-out. (Sydney-siders are probably so used to it they don’t even notice).

1) De De Ce
263 Liverpool st
Darlinghurst

De De Ce needs no introduction really – a fantastic, slick, polished showroom, and an excellent range of designer furniture and home accessories.

For those of us who enjoy a bit of design snooping (me me!), De De Ce also have a fantastic image archive on their website, entitled ‘Projects‘. Here you can search through a library of images of over 1300 stunning residences furnished by De De Ce. (Burley Katon Halliday’s incredible Republic 2 apartments are here).

2) Penny Arcade
15 Foster st
Surry Hills

Penny Arcade interior – LOVE those vintage outdoor lounges with the striped yellow cushions!

Penny Arcade has a fantastic selection of 20th Century vintage furniture and lighting. Much of their range is pictured here. I didn’t realise until visiting their website that they are an offshoot of the Bracewell fashion clothing company, and apparently also showcase new and vintage fashion pieces along with range of furniture? I am confused, as I saw no evidence of this during my visit! Anyway, fab furniture finds… a must see.

3) Spence and Lyda
16 Foster st
Surry Hills

Spence and Lyda’s Missoni fabrics and soft furnishings, and brand new fibreglass Eames shell chairs


The latest eye-catching lounge from Missoni Home… complete with matching cushions, poufs and rug. Nothing if not attention-grabbing! I do love the oversized floral imagery on these rugs… look at the toadstools!

Vibrant pattern, colour and texture from the Missoni Home soft furnishings range

Missoni Home poufs and floral print rug – love this simple, striking design

Spence and Lyda have a fantastic range of contemporary, highly decorative furniture, soft furnishings, textiles and lighting. The aesthetic is uncompromisingly high-end, yet quirky and full of personality. No room for the modern minimalist here! Highlights – a brilliant selection of eye-catching pieces from Missoni Home (love the oversized floral rugs and polka dot textiles especially), and brand new fibreglass Eames shell chairs… which I was so excited by, as I was under the impression they only manufactured plastic these days? I must say I much prefer the fibreglass – such vibrant colours and a texture that just doesn’t compare to the plastic version.

4) Koskela
level 1, Imperial Slacks Building
91 Campbell st
Surry Hills

Koskela’s light-filled 1st floor showroom

top image – stunning spherical globe lights, priced between $95.00 and $148.00 each including either copper, anodised aluminium or powder-coated fitting

More details from Koskela’s stunning showroom – the top image shows beautiful hand-blown glass vases in a soft yellow by Kris Coad

I just adored Koskela‘s showroom, situated on the 1st floor of an old industrial factory building in Surry Hills. Just look at those windows…. and the battered floorboards and ceiling joists! What a perfect space.

Koskela’s own signature furniture range is all designed and manufactured in Australia, and includes an extensive collection of upholstered seating, tables, benches, beds, credenza’s and even rugs! Wow! It’s unusual and really encouraging to see such an extensive range of furniture made here in Australia. Koskela’s signature aesthetic has a clear scandinavian influence – lots of blonde timbers, and classic clean lines. Koskela also stocks a wide range of home accessories such as ceramics, glassware, soft furnishings etc by local designers and craftspeople.

5) Beautiful on the Inside
shop 45, 322 Bourke st
Surry Hills

Beautiful on the Inside is directly opposite Object Gallery in Bourke st. It’s a small shop that blurs the line between retail space and exhibition space. The range of contemporary home accessories, lighting and other designer nik-naks is small but carefully selected. The collection is eclectic and kooky – Melissa shoes sit happily alongside ceramics, glassware, doormats(!) and more… it’s a quirky mix but it works.

6) Object Gallery
417 Bourke st
Surry Hills

Highlights from the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award Exhibition at Object Gallery. Top image – Christina Waterson’s stunning suspended installation of Plexa Modules. bottom image – Bedrock lamps by Henry Wilson.

I wrote a longer post about Object Gallery yesterday… a fantastic not-for-profit exhibition space showcasing and supporting the work of local Australian designers and craftspeople. In addition to staging 6 annual exhibitions of craft and design here each year, Object Gallery facilitates numerous national touring exhibitions and a further 2 exhibitions at Sydney’s Opera House every year, and produces the quarterly Object Magazine – a carefully curated and beautifully put-together publication .

7) Garlands Florist
shop 11, The Chapel @ St. Margarets
423 Bourke st
Surry Hills



I stumbled across the gorgeous Garlands florist whilst waiting for Object Gallery to open! A truly stunning selection of flowers and the odd stylised potted plant… beautiful attention to detail – lush green mosses spilling from each aged terracotta pot, beautifully rusted french-style vintage outdoor tables etc…. gorgeous gorgeous.

8) Lumiere Cafe and Patisserie
shop 13, 425 Bourke st
Surry Hills


Stopped in at the lovely Lumiere Cafe for a second-breakfast! I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the absolute best muesli I have ever eaten! Crunchy toasted nuts, tart rhubarb and a poached pear… SO good. Mmmm. A good review is here.

9) Format Furniture
146 Foveaux st
Surry Hills

Always love a stroll through Format, and haven’t had a chance until now to visit the Sydney store. They really strike the perfect balance between slick, high end furnishings and a playful, tongue-in-cheek sense of style… showcasing a great range of pieces by big International companies like Vitra, Established and Sons etc. Love the brave colours and kooky smalls.

10) Chee Soon and Fitzgerald
387 Crown st
Surry Hills

Chee Soon and Fitzgerald’s busy, colourful interior

Marimekko fabrics (top) and traditional Japanese silks (below)

painted wooden dolls

Chee Soon and Fitzgerald is a small but fantastically well-stocked shop showcasing a select range of quirky, colourful homewares and textiles from all corners of the globe. They have an extensive range of Marimekko fabrics, and are the Australian distributors for the famed Swedish textiles label. They stock ceramic tableware and vases, African basketry, Japanese fabrics, amongst other decorative pieces. They also custom make soft furnishings and lampshades to order using their range of stunning textiles.

11) Coffee Tea or Me?
536 Crown st
Surry Hills

Stopped in here for a delicious baguette and coffee at lunchtime… a lovely quaint little corner cafe with a French vibe. (We kept noticing that there are so many French people in Sydney – seemed every shop/cafe we entered we were greeted with a fab French accent!) Cute seating out on the leafy street and a tasty lunchtime menu.

12) Ici et La
588 Bourke st
Surry Hills

and 7 Nickson st
Surry Hills (just around the corner)

Ici et La – Bourke st storefront, and stunning striped canvases

Bourke st store interior – filled to the brim with an eclectic collection of furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories.

Nickson st store – a more industrial warehouse-style interior, lots more room for furniture and larger pieces.

Love this vintage button dispenser spotted in the Nickson st store!

More evidence of Sydney’s burgeoning francophile subculture… Ici et La is a firm favourite amongst locals for its beautiful collection of vintage and industrial furniture, imported striped deck-chair style canvases (an incredible selection), and general French rustic nik naks. Currently in two locations, the Bourke st store is set to close it doors next year in favour of the larger premises at Nickson st.

13) David met Nicole
382 Cleveland st
Surry Hills

Chinese lanterns and colourful trinkets at David Met Nicole

incredible selection of flea-market ephemera – vintage watch faces, letterpress pieces etc etc

David Met Nicole is a tiny, very (endearingly) cluttered shop on the corner of Cleveland and Marlborough sts, bordering Redfern. The range is an extremely varied mix of both new and vintage finds – expensive Bassike T shirts in the back room hang alongside vintage Union Jack flags, and an incredible mix of flea market ephemera…. things like vintage watch faces (above), the tiniest porcelein dolls you’ve ever seen, even tinier test tubes with cork stoppers to match, vintage letterpress pieces, and of course the ubiquitous laser-cut alphabet letters.

Whilst the pieces are sourced from around the globe, the aesthetic is unmistakeably ‘British’ in Style… and is punctuated by a kind of faded, old world glamour.

14) Great Dane Furniture
613 Elizabeth st
Redfern


Great Dane Furniture is well-known for its excellent range of Scandinavian Furniture, lighting, and home accessories. The Sydney store is large and very well-stocked… beautiful timbers and upholstered fabrics in great, rich colours. Also loved the extensive range of lighting on display… I don’t seem to remember seeing quite so much lighting on display at the Melbourne store.


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Posted by Lucy at 8:00 pm
Categories - 20th Century Interiors, Flowers, Interior Design, Lighting, Sydney, Textiles, design resources, furniture design, product design, shopping guide, window shopping Comments (14)