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Putting down roots in the Sydney design community

Innerspace will be bringing some game-changing international brands to its new Sydney showroom opening, but it’s the homely character of the Paddington space that really tells the story of this family-owned furniture supplier.

Putting down roots in the Sydney design community

Having been operating in Western Australia since the mid-1940s, furniture brand Innerspace is already well established. In particular, it achieves that delicate balance of maintaining a personal, homely character while working with the highest quality products from around the world.

The new Sydney showroom opens at the end of October and, while Innerspace has had a presence in Sydney for some time, this move feels like a serious expansion. Alongside the opening of a new showroom in Melbourne, it’s an expression of putting down some deeper roots in the design community across Australia.

This isn’t just any old showroom, however. It’s not an anonymous, bland space – it’s a three-storey corner building in Paddington, and the choice to set up shop there says a lot about the brand’s personality and image.

“We’re very excited,” says managing director, Jon Miles. “The building is a bit like our company – mature and full of history but with a modern outlook. It’s dedicated just to us and finally represents our brand in the same way as we are represented elsewhere around the country.”

Instead of finding some generic white box, the team at Innerspace has gone out of its way to invest in a richly evocative Sydney home. With interior whitewashed brick walls and an enlivening floorplan featuring varied ceiling heights and a small external courtyard, it’s a space that greets the visitor with an immediate sense of homeliness rather than anonymity. It has, in a word, character.

“This is the essence of Innerspace – it feels like home when you’re working or relaxing in the space, it really feels special being in there. The streetscape is beautiful and tree-lined, and the semi-residential setting makes us feel like we are part of the community,” explains Miles.

“It definitely represents who we are – friendly, helpful, customer-focused.

We are already making friends with the local florist, printer, hardware store and others!”

Miles continues to explain how the Sydney move speaks to a wider, multifaceted expansion. “We are now bringing to the Sydney market a similar experience we have had elsewhere for some time – a residential offering in addition to our commercial range,” he notes. “We have been working busily on securing some incredible brands over the past 18-24 months and the opening represents a distillation of this hard work by our team over the past two years.”

The strong Australian foundations are in no way preventing some serious international presence, with Innerspace set to bring some big global names on to the local scene. GAN rugs, for example, or Gandiablasco, an outdoor furniture brand with a strong Mediterranean feel. Then there is Diabla, also providing outdoor furniture but with a more playful and colourful aesthetic, and TON, whose original nineteenth-century bentwood factory is still in production and creating classic European designs mixed with more contemporary pieces. 

“We are lucky to have the owners of GAN, Gandiablasco, Diabla visiting us to help launch the space and new ranges,” says Miles. It all makes for an exciting and era-defining chapter in the evolution of Innerspace. From designers to customers, the whole design scene in Sydney will be eager to sample the Paddington showroom’s atmosphere.

Innerspace
innerspacewa.com.au

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