Melbourne may be much less in the global eye than Sydney for plenty of obvious reasons, the city however boasts a superior awareness of fashion and design, making it a far more interesting shopping destination. It’s also reflected in the local retail scene which sees a slew of leading international and local brands, and it continues to evolve. Popping up on boutique-infested Flinders Lane, a downtown destination for a demographic of young and in-the-know shoppers, is streetwear haven Relic. The new streetwear emporium serves a fashion-forward crowd, and as such, it features a matching aesthetic created by Blair Cooper of local creative design studio Noise Noise Noise. Occupying a 122 sqm. (1,313 sq.ft.) spread across two floors, the interior design pays homage to Flinders Lane’s textile wholesale industry while it also very much reflects the raw, playful, and also irreverent elements which are emblematic of this particular segment of fashion. The ground floor sees a Japanese zen garden, replete with pebbles, Corinthian columns sourced from a demolished suburban house, and shiny steel formwork tubes in different sizes.
Accents of bright green are captured by a variety of elements, including mesh grid structures serving as a display table. A sleek steel staircase leads to the basement floor where the aesthetic becomes more futuristic, or dystopian even, featuring foil masked mannequins, digital art kaleidoscopes dripping metallic forms into a city scape, and acid-inspired glitch projected over clear PVC curtaining. A neon-green, angular wall vies for attention with mounds of broken concrete blocks, imperfectly stacked on the floor and serving as the base for a sheet glass display. On top sits an eclectic, ice cream toned sculpture by Noise Noise Noise comprising of off-cuts of upholstery foam, carpet underlay, bubble wrap, and plastic from the store build. Additional furnishings and fixtures include a mesh lounge sofa paired with a coffee table crafted from recycled foams, and mirror-clad fitting rooms which reflect back on each other to the point of concealment. The Relic store is scheduled to officially opens its doors on Mon – May 11.
Relic
237-239 Flinders Lane, Shop 4 (CBD)
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
