DESIGNED BLINDS AUSTRALIA OPENS STORE AT URBAN RANGE SYDNEY

Designed Blinds Australia continues to demonstrate its pursuit of innovation and creativity by rolling out a pioneering retail concept that is redefining the standards for the window furnishings category.

On Tuesday 14 September Designed Blinds Australia celebrated the opening of the very first Sydney Designed Blinds Australia Store.  Located at Urban Range in Mosman, this stunning new showroom was the backdrop for an exclusive cocktail party hosted by Designed Blinds Australia to celebrate the Urban Range store launch.

Speaking at the launch event, Designed Blinds Australia’s National Sales & Marketing Manager, Mr Ben Herrgott, said “The concept is quite simple: create an inspirational retail environment where colours, textures and unique displays create a dynamic space to bring our exclusive designs to the public”. 

“We are very excited to be rolling out this innovative retail concept that delivers a highly professional retail experience not seen before in this category.  And with Urban Range’s high standards of service and their experience in window coverings, they are an ideal partner for the Designed Blinds Australia Store retail program”, said Mr Herrgott.

www.designedblinds.com.au

www.urbanrange.com.au

MEDLAND METROPOLIS EXPANDS SYDNEY HEADQUARTERS

Despite increasing competition in their traditional market, Medland Metropolis has grown over the past 12 months.

According to Chris Medland the opportunity to take over the ground floor of 47 Murray Street, Pyrmont was timely. It signals the company’s commitment to build their brand of inspired engineering into its next decade of organic growth.

“It is an exciting time in engineering. Every day we are invited to create innovation in the delivery of building services. The challenge is to be ever more cost and energy efficient and meet the growing expectations of business enterprises. Our engineering teams approach this challenge with passion for creative problem solving. You have to resource that passion somewhere along the way,” said CEO, Chris Medland.

The Metropolis is the seventh site of the Medland Metropolis Group and complements the national and international divisions of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and London.

The Metropolis is situated on the ground floor of the wool store in Pyrmont where the NSW state division has been located since 2001. The environment comprises various spaces to host collaboration with clients, project teams and guests as well as to carry out the governance of the Medland Metropolis Group.

If you drive along Murray St Pyrmont it’s hard to miss with its characteristic red Medland Metropolis branding on the street facade. Inside, boldly exposed services in the foyer/café combine with glass bi-fold retro garage doors, which offer a dramatic feature throughout the space and provide flexibility to the layout.

http://www.medland.com.au

Street Art meets International Design @ BATHE

Our fabulous Monument Editor, Leanne Amodeo, and I had the pleasure of attending the recent Saturday in Design event in Melbourne.  We saw many fantastic creations, but one of the ones that stood out the most was BATHE's "Street Art" concept.

The team at BATHE got two of Melbourne’s influential street artists from everfresh studios together for the creation of a street art piece.

The laneway of the South Melbourne showroom was transformed into a live art studio with retro speakers et al and they let loose with spray paints and brushes and created a one-off art object consisting of a LAUFEN Il Bagno Alessi dOt Pedestal washbasin and toilet, both designed by international designer Wiel Arets.

The end result was a unique pop-up and pop-art bathroom.

Very cool.

www.bathe.net.au

 

DURAVIT OPENS SUBSIDIARY IN AUSTRALIA OFFERING THE COMPLETE DURAVIT RANGE

Duravit, one of the world's leading bathroomware suppliers, operating in over 90 countries worldwide and  based in Hornberg in the Black Forest, Germany, has gone one step further by opening its own subsidiary in Australia, based in Alexandria, Sydney. The new trading base will underpin the successful expansion of the business and is expected to increase levels of brand acceptance significantly. Duravit Australia will handle all sales and marketing activities and provide blanket coverage of the Australasian market including a full in-house and field sales team and a project consultant.

Duravit will be also have a fully-integrated warehouse and logistics centre.

The customer thus benefits from the shortest possible delivery times and the rapid availability of the entire range. As retail and trade partner, Duravit will give its Australian customers and partners comprehensive, professional support when selling, marketing, planning and installing Duravit products. “The support we have received from the market enables us to make further investments in our new office, as well as our sales, marketing and logistics infrastructure. This secures the availability of Duravit products in Australia and the further development of our Duravit customer service”, states Gary Dart, General Manager Duravit UK and Australasia.

The entire product range will be available to the Australasian market.

Duravit aims to combine international marketing activities with the specific needs of Australian people.

 “We offer the entire product range here,” reports Franz Kook, chairman of the board of Duravit AG. With sanitary ceramics, bathroom furniture and the Baths + Wellbeing segment, Duravit covers all aspects of bathroom furnishing. “As a full-line manufacturer we offer a more diverse product range than practically any other sanitaryware manufacturer,” says Kook. Correspondingly the products range from the low-priced Euroline through the mid-priced Profiline to the higher-priced Studioline - from simple forms to the designer bathroom by Philippe Starck. Franz Kook: “True to our motto of ‘bathroom design from jeans to dinner-jacket’ we cater for all budgets and lifestyles.

www.duravit.com/au

Ph: 02 8070 1889

2/19-21 Bourke Road
Alexandria NSW 2015

MELBOURNE WELCOMES NEW SICIS ICON SHOWROOM

Friday 23 July 2010

 Another important date for SICIS, another capital city to add to the list of cities housing their icon showrooms. This time it’s Melbourne. The doors to the new showcase of the Italian house of fine artistic mosaics open on the 6th August, in the designers' hub of South Melbourne.  Mosaics that come to life in every guise, combining art with the ancient technique of mosaic.

 An open space in which to display the most important collections, splendid interpretations of a distant language, bringing vibrations and lights, sounds and colour. A juicy taste of SICIS' versatile work can be experienced at the new icon showroom.

198 Coventry St
South Melbourne 3205
1300 310 002

www.sicis.com

NEW BATHE MELBOURNE SHOWROOM OPENING EVENT

 To view photos from the event  please click here.

Around 200 guests attended the grand opening evening event for Bathe’s first showroom in Melbourne on the 3^rd June, 2010 in conjunction with Monument Magazine as its media partner.  A special guest was world-renowned designer Roberto Palomba who was on hand at the unveiling of this showroom which features many of his products designed for LAUFEN bathrooms.

Located at 1 Craine Street, South Melbourne: Originally a drab 1970s double storey warehouse the designers,  Exponential Design, (a member of ESG Group) had a challenge to convert it into Australia’s finest bathroom showroom.  They created two distinct spaces with a single aesthetic thread; product selection ground floor] and bathroom inspiration [first floor]. Designed to inspire architects, designers and specifiers, a series of ‘aspirational bathroom moments’ await visitors at every turn and every touch point. Vibrant colours, rustic textures and veiled textiles work harmoniously to create a seductive and tactile space - the perfect backdrop to European bathroom fittings of the highest manufacturing quality and design excellence.

The showroom displays the brands of KALDEWEI and LAUFEN, Europe’s foremost bathware and sanitaryware producers, HANSGROHE and AXOR, the world’s leading tapware and shower makers and KANERA, for the most sculptural designs in basins, to give architects and designers access to bathroom fittings from the world’s leading manufacturers and renowned designers such as Alberto Alessi, Philippe Starck, Roberto+Ludovica Palomba, Antonio Citterio and Patricia Urquiola.

If you wish to make an appointment to view the showroom contact: barbara@bathe.net.au  or ring 03 9645 5590

www.bathe.net.au

UTS STUDY HIGHLIGHTS BENEFITS OF INDOOR GREENERY

Reductions in negative mood states and feelings of stress by up to 60% have been found among people with plants in their offices, in a groundbreaking study by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney.

“We found such significant difference in scores for participants in offices with plants, as opposed to those without, that it confirms the benefits of indoor plants extend well beyond their contribution to air quality,” reports the head of the study, Adjunct  Professor Margaret Burchett.

 Across a series of tests conducted before and after plants were present in offices, people showed:

• 37% reduction in tension/anxiety;
• 58% reduction in depression/dejection;
• 44% reduction in anger/hostility;
• 38% reduction in fatigue; and
• 30% reduction in confusion.

“The results add further evidence for the benefit of plants for occupant well-being, not only in office buildings but in almost any other type of building as well.”

 The findings were the final part of a three year study, “Greening the Great Indoors for Human Health and Wellbeing”, conducted by UTS and supported by the Nursery and Garden Industry Australia and the National Interior Plantscape Association (NIPA)[1].

 One of the leading members of NIPA and indoor plant suppliers in Australia, Ambius, believes the results have further added weight to the recognition given by the Green Building Council Australia in its Green Star rating scheme which acknowledges the role plants have to play[2]. 

 “The results offer further compelling reasons for Indoor plants to become a standard installation element in an urban building or facility environment,” said Ambius Regional Director for the Asia Pacific Region, Mr Ray Borg.

“What better way to improve the well-being and productivity of people inside an office or any other building, than by greening the inside?”

 For a copy of the complete report http://www.nipa.asn.au/uts_project.htm

For other information visit the Ambius website at www.ambiusindoorplants.com.au

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[1] ‘Greening the Great Indoors for Human Health and Wellbeing’

Professor Margaret Burchett (UTS), Dr Fraser Torpy (UTS), Mr Jason Brennan (UTS), Professor Ashley Craig (Univ. Syd.), Plants and Indoor Environmental Quality Group, Centre for Environmental Sustainability (CEnS), UTS, February 2010

[2] For more information on the Green Building Council Australia, go to the Office Interiors / Interior Environment Quality sectionIEQ – 15 ‘Indoor Plants’):  http://www.gbca.org.au/g-star/rating-tools/green-star-office-interiors-v1-1/1530.htm

INTERSTUDIO'S NEW MELBOURNE SHOWROOM

The team at Interstudio have recently moved from their Flinders Lane Showroom to join the ever-increasing design community in Collingwood.

 Be sure to visit Interstudio in this gorgeous new location.

14-16 Easey Street
Collingwood
Melbourne
VICTORIA 3066
T: 1300 785 199

WE-EF LIGHTING ANNOUNCES NEW PARTERSHIP WITH LIGHT CULTURE AND PROJECT LIGHTING

27th May 2010

Major architectural lighting supplier, WE-EF LIGHTING announced new partners in both NSW and the ACT yesterday.

After a rigorous selection process, WE-EF is delighted to welcome Light Culture Australia as its new partner in New South Wales (effective July 2010) and Project Lighting as its new partner in the Australian Capital Territory (effective August 2010).

 For further information, please contact:

 www.we-ef.com.au

 www.lightculture.com.au

 www.projectlighting.com.au