Design Centre East showroom The Specified has doubled in size, taking over the next-door space to display a more comprehensive selection of brands, with some new names to explore, too.
Wrapped in limewash paint from Bauwerk and with timber flooring by Trunk Floor, the showroom is now divided into soft furnishings – the finest Belgian linen by LF Fabrics, and rugs by Australian brand Armadillo – with the adjacent space dedicated to lighting and hardware. The expansion means there’s now also room for The Specified’s first foray into furniture, the curving ‘Ena’ sofa.
Founder Vange Markou started out with a mission to distribute some of the best contemporary independent brands coming out of Australia, and it is still one of the showroom’s key strengths.
Volker Haug and Studio Henry Wilson are some of the biggest names in lighting in Australia, but here they still feel like new discoveries; while up-and-coming designers such as Nicole Lawrence (who makes ethereal draped fabric lighting) and Anchor (whose clay lighting adds an organic dimension to the showroom) demonstrate Markou’s eye for spotting new talent.
Hardware is shown, jewellery-like, in a display table that was inspired by the shape of a boomerang. Many collections are supremely tactile, so visiting the showroom means you can pick up a handle, feel its weight and appreciate its craftsmanship. Look out for a recently added hardware brand, Spaces Within, based in Stockholm, whose ethos – “visual poetry in functional objects – aligns with The Specified’s own philosophy.
The word “curated” can be overused in the design world, but here, there’s no other way to describe what Markou has created. With a gallery-like atmosphere and a coherent aesthetic – pared-back, sculptural, tactile and earthy – The Specified’s new space is a design destination in its own right.
Images: Sueur Studio
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