Franque
Shopping
3rd November, 2011
Melbourne's newest retail concept - Franque. Photos by Shannon McGrath.
Melbourne's newest retail offering is Franque*, a super gorgeous new furniture and interiors showroom in St Kilda. It's a brilliant concept - a beautiful 1930's apartment suite in a residential building overlooking Port Phillip Bay has been transformed into a private retail showroom, filled with hand picked antiques from Europe. Alongside these pieces is an impressive collection of Australian art by collectable artists including Tim Jones, Sarah Faulkner, Sally Ross, Bruce Armstrong and Robert Jack.
Hmmm, a furniture / art retail showroom in a residential setting.... that sounds familiar! This must be a new trend in retail, I'm thinking!? I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this concept from other retailers in the year ahead.
Franque has been a labour of love for Sarah Hook, who has spent the last year planning this special project, and travelling to France and Belgium to fill 3 containers of furniture for her showroom. Sarah spent many years running Melbourne's gorgeous and immensely popular Manon shops before launching her own venture. 'After leaving Manon I started to import antiques - all of which sold out nearly before they landed!' she says. 'Now I have started up this showroom where I can merchandise my furniture beautifully, and display my other love... fine art'.
Franque is open mainly by appointment, and Sarah also has plans to host private dinners and 'meet the artist' events here. Better schedule a visit tout de suite, Francophiles!
Franque
Suite 5, 326 Beaconsfield Parade
St Kilda, VIC
Open Thursdays 12.00pm - 5.00pm or by appointment
*I am not quite sure how you pronounce Franque but I hope it's something like 'Franc', the wedding planner from Father of the Bride, which was my favourite film of all time when I was about 9.
Looks stunning.
I also loved Franc! Still love that movie…..
too too beautiful! love those gorgeous patinas, I think I just want to fondle everything.
Love your blog – very inspiring stuff. We’ve been running a showroom in a shed for a few years now and its great to see some more people getting imaginative with display spaces – keeping the overheads down means more people can afford beautiful things.
By the way…. I really want that dining table….
Gorgeous! montreaux also did this and it was divine…. I wanted to be a wedding planner after seeing franc!
Looks so lovely! I will have to visit next time I am in that neck of the woods.
i am definitely scheduling a visit to Franque,love the whole concept
love the space, the beautiful light, and thoes amazing things, I want to move in ! What a great Eye-dear
Great to read about another local bayside gem to go and scout out .. welcome Franque to St Kilda
ooooooo, looks delicious…
thea.
xx
(Spoonful)
Love that red and black jumpsuit, gorgeous gorgeous clothes
love the polka dot bikes….amazing
The bike is awesome. Love Gorman…
One of the best in Australian fashion – Well done Lisa, Gorman is ticking all the right boxes!
Fabulous woman! And love the tutti frutti jacket…
Amazing. Both of you.
Love the superb arrangement of flowers, have on my facebook page to remind me spring will be here in the not too distant future. Love french antiques and quirky placements. Will visit when in Melbourne in July. Love the Cupid angels