Flinders Lane is always a designer hive of activity, says Mandi Keighran. Never more so than during Saturday in Design and this year the streets were buzzing…
August 12th, 2010
We started our foray into the lively laneway at Chapter House, a shared ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’-themed space. Bravo Print + Design showcased their graphic skills on the screens and banners that divided the stunning foliage-filled space.
Form + Function launched the much-anticipated Movisi ‘Tears Off’ wallpaper, and CBS gave SiD-goers the opportunity to interact with London designers all day via live video conferencing.
Finding a seat in Chapter House wasn’t a problem, with SBS / DAL Seating and special guests Emilio Marisei from Norway and Ulf Magnusson from Sweden, and Konfurb’s ‘Bodyflex’ range of commercial seating. Also sharing the space were Signature Floorcoverings and Warwick Fabrics, both launching new products.
It might not have been on Flinders Lane, but the buzz was no less palpable at Teknion@Fifteenth Landing. These self-described ‘new kids on the block’ showcased their innovative ‘WorkplaceOne’ concept.
Heading back to Flinders Lane, the Zenith showroom was the place to be – literally! Zenith (launching Formway’s ‘BE’ chair) and Bolon teamed up with Woodhead for The Project, which saw all three levels of the showroom decked out with all variety of B’s – think Bolon and ‘Be’.
You didn’t have to go far to find the well-deserving winner of The Project at InterfaceFLOR in the Zambesi showroom. The fashion-focus of the space and The Project certainly drew the crowds – and my prediction is that we’ll be seeing more creative interpretation of product at next year’s SiD. Read more about the winning Project here.
Euroluce’s take on The Project was a paperphile’s paradise. Tim Fleming of Flatland OK created an all-paper fit-out depicting the most ordinary of objects in the most creative of ways – the colourful ‘Jielde’ lights in particular popped against the white backdrop.
The paper theme continued at Stylecraft, where RMIT Interior Design students got into The Project, with an installation that brought back memories of childhood. The popular all-day breakfast provided the much-needed fuel to continue down Flinders Lane.
Down the road, at Iken, we found dessert (breakfast dessert?) in the form of decadent sweets to celebrate the launch of their Melbourne showroom.
Around the corner on Oliver Lane, the Burgtec showroom was transformed into a ‘backyard in the city’ as part of The Project. Complete with colourful clotheslines and a woodfired pizza oven, it was the perfect ‘backyard’ to spend time checking out newly launched products from Burgtec and CSM (CSM’s ‘Esseesis’ modular garden wall at the entrance brought some greenery into the ‘backyard’) complemented by Macquarie textiles.
Nexus Interiors set up in the Kimberly Art Gallery to showcase ergonomic seating and commercial furniture that could be considered works of art themselves.
The Innerspace showroom was crowded with people celebrating the merge of Methis with Innerspace, checking out the newly-launched ARA chair from Orangebox and lining up to have their caricature drawn by three Melbourne artists.
We finished up Flinders Lane and CBD precinct at Thonet, whose showroom celebrated their classic design heritage and showed their support of the recently formed Authentic Design Alliance. With so many newly launched products, and so much original, creative design on display, it was certainly a fitting end.
Photos by John Doughty, Spy Photography and Morgan Coyle, Indesign and others
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!
Natural forms meet technological sophistication to produce GH Commercial’s Pattern Perfect® Native Collection of carpets. Step inside the factory to see how local flavours inform the design.
Whether it’s enhancing the sculptural volumes of the Cass Bay House, or creating a Piet Mondrian-like geometrical feature across the Pegasus Bay’s Esplanade Home, Neolith helps Massimiliano Capocaccia Architecture Studio augment the imaginative language of these coastal dwellings.
According to Le Corbusier, the struggle for it underpins the history of architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright described it as a “beautifier of buildings”. And Motoko Ishii famously equated it to life itself. Indispensable, life-affirming and metamorphic, light underpins all architectural and design efforts.
The architect gave a heartfelt speech at the 2013 Pritzker Prize ceremony, held in his honour at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.
Avant-garde fashion designers S!X have created installation in the window of Schiavello’s furniture showroom at Crown Metropol in Melbourne.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Australia’s leading producer of solid-engineered oak flooring has recently launched a new suite of innovative resources to support creativity and ambition in the architecture and design community.
As one of Australia’s most specialised lighting designers, Jenni Gillard of Gillard Group has lit fish, artwork, Ovolo eggs, places of worship and more. She shares the maths, science and creativity behind her craft.