Dissh Armadale, Chermside and James Street precinct

Dissh’s palette is soothingly neutral, dominated by travertine and sand tones, so energy and excitement are carried via texture and architectural form.

This locational influence can be clearly seen in Dissh’s Armadale store on High Street, which takes the brand from its beachy Bondi beginnings to the urban streets of Melbourne. “It had to have an element of Melbourne grit to it,” says Perera, who carried the character of the street into the store, almost literally, with the bluestone pavement seeping in via bluestone pavers laid through the threshold and a step or two inside.

The building itself was an architectural gift, with a striking ‘house shape’ that Perera likens to a doll’s house, and a high picture window that frames a moon-like fibreglass pendant by Amy Vidler, giving the facade a distinctive street presence.

The street-level window has the large proportions desirable in a retail space, but rather than posed mannequins, the window is hung with Japanese shibori pleated fabric, which Perera says is often drawn closed. “There’s a subtlety to the store and a quiet confidence that people who shop there don’t need to see products in the window.” These billowing drapes are repeated elsewhere in the store, in what has become a bit of a signature of Perera’s work. “I love fabric, I love what it can do to a space. Also, I tend to look at my designs through the lens of hospitality and the theatre of hospitality. Wherever I can include movement, I think that it adds an energy to the space.”

Dissh’s palette is soothingly neutral, dominated by travertine and sand tones, so energy and excitement are carried via texture and architectural form. “I love material saturation,” explains Perera, who used a ’70s shag-pile carpet, which creeps from the floor up the wall. He also took advantage of the double-height space to break up the clothing racks with sculptural columns, which soar overhead before abruptly ending before the ceiling. “It was a great opportunity to get architectural in scale.”

The brand’s expansion into Brisbane required a different approach, though still within Dissh’s house codes. The store in the James Street precinct introduced the challenge of a commercial building with minimal dialogue between the street and the store. Without the usual large windows to play with, Perera chose to embrace a quieter approach. “The discreet look is beautiful. There’s a small inlaid logo in the travertine threshold in the front. Everything about it is very subtle.”

A full-width white awning helped to give the facade definition and connects with the use of draping fabric inside – most notably in a ‘lantern’ of illuminated fabric, which gently sways over the counter. In contrast with this softness is a monolithic wall of travertine shelving, which Perera describes as almost brutalist in form, and which offered a residential-type opportunity for styling.

Dissh’s Chermside store offered a unique challenge again: working within a shopping centre, the design needed to balance the clothing label’s signature style with centre management’s vision for the mall’s ‘street’. Perera’s primary solution was to introduce the idea of a portal – a deep doorway that allows visitors to pause, just for a heartbeat, before entering the store. “Architecturally, it’s about separating us from the cacophony of what happens in the mall and having sort of a little break, and then you walk into the store,” he says.

Within the compact space, Perera created a sense of openness by recessing the racks into the walls, beneath a softly rounded overhang in pearlescent polished plaster. This allows for a larger, generous central lounge zone. Signature Dissh details have been incorporated, including chunky travertine shelving and the illuminated oculus at the entrance to the fitting rooms. “These are details that have come through the stores and give them that connective thread.”

Interior design by Brahman Perera. Build by EMAC Constructions.