Aldo Westfield Sydney

 

This is the new Aldo store that just opened at Westfield Sydney, do you like it?  Tim Barnard, the artist was flown out from Montreal to paint the mural of his floating 'treeple' which celebrates nature, life and the outdoors.  It's quite unusual that an artist would collaborate on a retail interior and I think that Aldo should be applauded for such a brave and expressive interior so full of personality.  It's the human touch of the mural that makes this store so special and unique.  

The mural really engages with the customer and exposes artwork to people outside of the gallery environment which is an area of interior design that I am passionate about.  The painting creates a canopy of leaves surrounding the customer which is integrated well into the space.  I would love to know what you think!

Dishroom

Interesting.  Bombay is an Iranian cafe modeled on the type that operated in India in the 60s and has just opened in Covent Garden. The interior attempts to reflect an authentic 'Bombay' and steer clear of stereotypes.  Layers of materials such as the geometric tiles, oak floors and wall panels are a backdrop for nostalgic Bollywood posters and framed images.  It's full of personality and I would love to spend a few hours here for dinner, why is it so far away?

From Yatzer:
The Irani cafe is born out of the community of Iranians as they gathered ever night to share stories of what got them to Bombay and one man serving tea to all would charge a small amount for his effort. This small effort led to the notion of the Irani cafe business.Krassa realizes the charm, honesty and beauty of fading Irani cafes. Once positioned all over the city, this fading atmosphere has been declining due to competition from more sophisticated and westernized style of restaurants.

Le Louvre

If you live in Melbourne I suppose you know by now, the iconic Le Louvre on Collins Street has gone after 80 years.  It has relocated to an old tramways building and it's tucked away off Chapel Street (to be actually on Chapel Street would just be obvious and tacky).  This area is changing so fast, offices, hotels and even a massive Big W and Safeway has popped up. Le Louvre is behind The Olsen Hotel which used to be a pool hall and dodgy bar.  And now Le Louvre will be sure to be a destination to bring fashionistas to this side of Chapel Street.

The interior features a mirrored staircase with fluoro pink graffiti by artist Dan Wenn which is quite unexpected, I wonder if they'll keep it?  I'm glad they kept the iconic 'Le Louvre' logo translated to pink neon.
Photos from Inside Retail and me.

Coolors

These furniture pieces are just a few of so many from Boca do Lobo that have totally captivated me.  Not only are the pieces unique and beautiful, the story behind them is really special.  Boco Do Lobo is passionate about design and everything is handmade in Portugal.  Their pieces are more like works of art, and are full of personality which is really what I love in design.
These pieces are from their Coolors collection however they also have a limited edition and soho collections.  I would just love to specify these pieces in some interiors projects, they would really make a space amazing.

My Bike

So do you love my bike?  It's got to be better than the Fendi bike I swooned over Christmas last year, right?

I rode into the city the other weekend and spotted these cool objects on a laneway wall.  On closer inspection I saw they are by Trent Jansen.  They are 3D stencils and apparently they glow in the dark, how cool!  Trent is one of those ridiculously talented over achievers and has been in Italy as part of a design scholorship with Edra, how cool is that!  The Design Files featured Trent as a guest blogger a few weeks ago.

White on White

What a white store!  This is White by Kiki K at The Strand in Sydney.  I just dropped by when I was onsite at Westfield across the street.  Great concept and beautiful store.

Text Invasion

Have you noticed that text is absolutely everywhere in interiors lately?  Those old tram signs are so popular as posters and vintage signage adds a cool industrial graphic feel.  This was so obvious at Le Contraste on Chapel Street, at the Windsor end when I checked it out last weekend after breakfast (at Tusk by the way and it was delicious).  I love this text trend in interiors however I'm not such a huge fan of how it gets copied and reproduced on tea-towels and new letters that are made to look old.  It just looks fake and there is a danger of the trend being totally over used.  What do you think?

Imagination

Pretty cute huh?  Sandrine Estrade Boulet is a French artist and she creates these beautiful and clever in-situ pieces.  How clever to see these wonderful ideas from the ordinary things around us, what an amazing imagination!
Please take a moment to check out many other of her delightful pieces on her website.

Courtney Love

Ok so this is totally random, but I loved this video.  I think it has something to do with the summer of 1998 and just graduating from high school and Hole's Celebrity Skin was the soundtrack. 

Anyway, I think this video is just about not trying to be someone else, just be you.