Sarah & Sebastian Paddington
Our design of Sarah and Sebastian’s first flagship on Sydney’s Oxford Street in Paddington challenges everything you know about retail design.
When you enter the rectangular glass jewellery box, you cannot see any product. A mirrored wall conceals the jewellery collections, reflecting instead the heritage sandstone church across the square. The jewellers bench made from American Walnut and Copper is the central focus of the store, and the jeweller the first point of engagement upon entering.
Designed as an intimate shopping experience, the jeweller will talk customers through raw materials and process, then guide customers in finding the perfect piece. Using a control switch, the jeweller can light up sections of the back one-way mirrored wall to slowly reveal the collections one at a time.
There are three elements to our design: The first is the minimalist glass box which we lined with mirror to represent the simplicity of their design. The second, the beautifully detailed timber and copper jewellers’ bench, an expression of their craft. The third, the alchemy of the one-way mirrors which magically unveil their treasures at the jewellers will. These three elements represent the sum of Sarah and Sebastian’s work: minimal, crafted, magic.
The Paddington store is the Australian jewellery brand’s first venture into permanent retail. Like their online model, pieces will be made to order, with only a very small core range carried in store. In stark contrast to commercial mass market, every piece is made in the brand’s Alexandria based studio, or in their Paddington store in full view of the public.
Photography by Ross Honeysett.
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