These two, vibrant precincts are proof that Sydney’s design community is expanding and thriving in CBD fringe locations that are enjoying a steady gentrification. Nicky Lobo and Lorenzo Logi Report.
August 22nd, 2013
Chippendale is fast growing into Sydney’s newest creative precinct, with developments along Broadway attracting an influx of design-oriented residents and creatives. Catering to them is a number of brands and showrooms dotted around the suburb. From furniture to lighting and finishes, Chippendale offered the finest selection, all in a highly digestible circumference.

Abey
Meanwhile Waterloo is establishing itself as an ever more sophisticated destination, complementing the bar and restaurant scene with suppliers of world class kitchen and lighting products.

Design Republic
Corporate Culture has always been a draw card in the Chippendale area; and to coincide with Sydney Indesign the showroom has been reorganised into dedicated brand areas, demonstrating the breadth and versatility of the product range. The advantage of this shop-within-shop approach is its visual coherence – visitors can instantly relate to various brands.

Zaffero Lighting
Also new was their formal partnering with BOLON by The Andrews Group, who will now be represented at the Corporate Culture showroom. Bringing the best of woven vinyl flooring technology to Australia, The Andrews Group had special guests, the highly engaging Annika and Marie Eklund of BOLON in town for the event.

Interstudio
Just a couple of doors down, Viabizzuno invited people in to their beautiful, light filled gallery. Featuring some beautiful lights – from bold forms to decorative details and textured finishes (a favourite being a sophisticated velvet shade with a cameo cutout), they had guests jostling for position and angling their phones to win the best photo in their instagram competition.

Corporate Culture / Cult
Another international guest – Rasmus Hildebrand, Sales Director of Englebrechts Denmark – could be found a street away at Interstudio. Guests caught him during two high tea sessions as he discussed Danish design trends and the brand’s new releases. Another highlight of Interstudio’s portfolio is the focus on quality Asian brands such as Singapore-based Foundry, offering good design with an excellent price point.

Winning Appliances
Around the corner and up the street, a new Dutch tile company introduced themselves to the creative community. Design Republic is responsible for bringing the Mosa brand to Australia, with a range of large format, mosaic and mural concepts to interest visitors. All in their new showroom, styled for the event by Bleux.

Inlite
At Inlite, the inimitable Christopher Boots held court amongst his sizable creations. Accompanying the product was the new-look creative campaign, a titillating series of provocative photography inspired by ancient, mystical gods and goddesses. Beyond this exhibition, visitors stepped into an inflatable gold room to experience the Marset lighting collection, and upstairs the new Delta Light installation made an international appearance following its launch at Milan.

Viabizzuno
Proximity to the city and a sense of discovery also make this area highly appealing, with more than the usual quota of cafes, pubs and galleries.

Over in Waterloo Abey and Winning Appliances made Danks Street the gastronomic heart of the event. Abey’s covetable range of Gessi and Barazza products animated the showroom, while a live kitchen demonstration on Saturday kept visitors well-fed as they perused the wares.

Winning Appliances provided stiff competition in the food and beverage sector, with a veritable smorgasbord of culinary delights scattered across their impressive showroom. They also went above and beyond in the prize department, with a bevy of fabulous kitchen products up for grabs at the Friday night event.

Winning Appliances
SID newcomers Zaffero Illumination were a welcome addition to the precinct, with a unique and intriguing offering of specialist lighting and live process design in their showroom over the course of the event.

Zaffero Team
Sydney Indesign
Images © John Doherty, Fiona Susanto, Rollo Hardy
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
In the second instalment of our performance seating three-parter, we turn to DKO’s Michael Drescher and Jacob Olsen to peek behind Sayl’s confident architectural form and explore the ideas of inclusivity, adaptability and freedom to move as hallmarks of what sitting your best actually means.
The newest brand to emerge from Cosentino’s creative crucible is Ēclos, a next-generation mineral surface that embodies the organic beauty and tactility of marble in a precision-mineral surface or material.
In the first instalment of our three-part series exploring what it means to sit your best, we pose the question to Gray Puksand’s Dale O’Brien, who discusses the importance of ease and majority rule when it comes to sitting and reveals why specifying a task chair is not unlike choosing a Volvo.
The Geelong College’s Sport and Wellbeing Centre ‘Belerren’ designed by Wardle is designed around bringing in natural light. But Shade Factor’s job was to help modulate and precisely control it for the most important competitive moments.
Dreamtime Flooring, a 100 per cent Indigenous-owned business, has partnered with renowned carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst to launch the Here Before Collection.
Mafi joins the 2018 INDE.Awards as the Official Partner of the ‘Wellness Space’ Award, continuing the brand’s commitment to the pursuit of wellness through design in all its forms.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Hosted at Savage Design in Sydney, the first Indesign Social Club brought emerging architects and designers together for a smaller, more open conversation on participation, making and the future of practice.