Mandi Keighran spent SiD morning in downtown Surry Hills, and she brings us her highlights from this buzzing precinct.
August 25th, 2011
We started our day at the Downtown Surry Hills precinct, at Marlborough House. First port of call was Zenith’s new showroom, which they shared with Bolon by TAG Floor. It was a surprisingly (and thankfully!) sunny day and the bright white space was filled with sun, showing the product on display in its best light.
American-born, Hong Kong-based designer Sean Dix was on location in the Zenith showroom to introduce visitors to his timber furniture collection, which has just been picked up at Zenith.
The highlight at Zenith, though, was the launch of Keith Melbourne’s ’Glass’ collection. The colourful stools and tables are available in 49 colours and each is inspired by a glass – whiskey, latte, champagne, brandy…
Downstairs in Light2’s vast showroom, it was all about LED lighting displayed in dramatic ways.
Next door, Chairbiz were launching a selection of versatile chairs. My picks were the elegantly-seamed ’Stratos’ chair by Maxdesign and the ’Blues’ stacking chairs by Bonaldo (which were available in muted orange, white and grey colourways)
Living Edge launched their new commercial showroom on the Saturday, located on the ground floor of Marlborough House. The black and white space felt very Established & Sons, with black palettes (displaying product) attached to the dramatically lit back wall.
Woven Image teamed up with Living Edge for Saturday in Design, and the black and white textile from their new Minnie Pwerle range was the perfect match for the monochromatic space.
Over on Crown Street, at Special Lights, the artistic quality of the products on display was highlighted with a ’gallery’ theme devised by Special Lights’ talented and creative in-house designers. New product highlights included LED lighting from Luce & Light.
Porcelanosa’s new showroom on Holt Street was finished just in time for Saturday in Design – and it looked stunning. Visitors to the showroom admired new product from Porcelanosa, Earp Bros and Smartstone while indulging in Spanish-inspired food, wine and entertainment.
Poliform’s ’Wallace’ chair drawing competition was popular with visitors to the showroom on Chalmers Street – the lucky winner walks away with a piece from the Poliform collection.
The space was shared with Miele – who were cooking up a storm for hungry visitors (the porcini mushroom and truffle crostini were the crowd favourite!). Rugs, Carpet & Design were also sharing the space – showcasing their stunning, colourful creations.
Just a few doors down, at 188 Chalmers Street, Reece showcased the finalists of the annual Bathroom Innovatio
n Awards. The new products launched, including ’Pearl’ a new chrome face shower range from Nikles, all proved popular.
We then headed upstairs to the new Precision Flooring showroom, where Tongue n Groove was launched. The space was transformed into a striking landscape of various timber flooring, that showcased the capabilities of the new range. Ambassadors at the door were also giving away highly sought-after yellow-handled Tongue n Groove bags that had people talking all over the event.
Down near Central station, it was all about up-cycling at InterfaceFLOR, with a Project exhibition titled Rebirth. The carpet tile company teamed up with HASSELL, Geyer, Futurespace, Matt Woods, and Cloth Fabric, to transform the showroom into a sustainable wonderland. In a quirky nod to the ’rebirth’ theme, champagne from the bar was served in jam jars.
Up-cycling was also the theme at Café Culture, which @ qubed design turned into a pop culture-themed POP-up bar, complete with recycled bar. It was the perfect spot to grab a drink and check out new products (we loved the ’Croissant’ chair by Billiani).
The space was shared by Light Culture – who launched the Trilux ’Polaron’ colour changing LED wall light – and Warwick Fabrics, who launched three new wool collections. Visitors were also invited to cast their vote for the winner of the pop culture upcycling competition. The deserving winner was Peter Watson for his ’Original Diesel’ lights.
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