Designed as a simple love letter to Melbourne as it emerges from a year of COVID-19 lockdowns Sarah & Sebastian Armadale embodies the jewellery brand’s fascination with the ocean,
Utilising a palette of black, in varying sheens and intensity, the store design creates a moody, immersive and playful experience where light can be focused on even the smallest of elements. The store comprises three simple mirrored forms housing jewellery displays and point of sale that are enveloped by an undulating cavelike landscape installation applied to the walls and ceiling.
Flooring is black satin finish Japan-stained timber that adds a level of depth and reflection to the spatial composition. Completing the space is a hidden consultation room for private jewellery discussions. Lighting is direct, showcasing the jewellery pieces, and hand-blown smoke grey glass pendants with colour changing bulbs create colourful uplighting effects when the store is closed. To amplify the store’s association with the ocean, a coral reef created by light is implied. Sustainably, the new interior additions to the store are able to be 100 :per cent recycled, unlike other more traditional retail spaces, and the wall and ceiling treatments, joinery substrates and joinery cladding are able to be removed and recycled or re-used.

Photography by Sean Fennessy

Dissections
Furniture: Coco Flip. Lighting: Sphera, Mark Douglass. Finishes: Dulux, Feast & Watson, Alushape Brut, Showtex