The Essence of Materiality – Eco Outdoor Flagship Store Reopens

The Eco Outdoor flagship showroom in Melbourne has reopened as a multi-use space capturing an immersive material landscape. With life-sized material displays and an original bronze sculpture by artist Mika Utzon Popov, specifically designed for the space, the newly renovated showroom aspires to set a new standard for retail design.

The Eco Outdoor flagship store has been designed as a striking embodiment of the Australian lifestyle brand. Spread across a generous 1,200 square metres, the store is filled with over 80 displays of natural stone, wood floors and walls in situ. “As opposed to a sample, these life-sized displays are built to scale, showing architects, landscapers, designers, builders and their clients what the material will actually look like in their home or backyard,” says Ben Kerr, CEO of Eco Outdoor. “It’s also a fantastic way to demonstrate how the materials may age over time whilst highlighting the natural variations in the colour and tone of stone sourced from all over the world.”

Reimagining the function of a showroom, the renovated Eco Outdoor space also serves as a creative hub.

Reimagining the function of a showroom, the renovated Eco Outdoor space also serves as a creative hub. Breakout areas provide comfortable settings for the sharing of ideas and mood boards whilst complimentary food and drinks are prepared in the on-site kitchen, which features an American Grillworks oven. In addition, clients can enjoy the soothing ambience created by an Oblica designer firepit, placed in close proximity to a variety of plush seating options. “After a couple of years of lockdowns and isolation, we wanted to elevate the in-store experience to create a space where designers, architects and their clients would want to come and spend time together being inspired – to meet, eat and create,” says Ben.

Enhancing the showroom experience is a dramatic sculpture by Danish-Australian artist Mika Utzon Popov, the grandson of Sydney Opera House designer Jørn Utzon. “When I walked into the space, I felt a strong pull to create a work which would grab people’s attention as they moved from the foyer to the main hall, and mark a point of transition and reflection,” explains Mika. “Like the showroom behind it – which is filled with the natural textures of stone, rock and wood – I wanted to create something with texture that builds on nature because that’s always what we build on – whether it’s a timber deck or a bronze sculpture, it all starts with nature.” The bronze sculpture sits in compelling contrast to the materials championed by Eco Outdoor whilst expressing a similar affinity for unique, natural texture.

The Eco Outdoor flagship store has been designed as a striking embodiment of the Australian lifestyle brand.

The custom sculpture consists of two tall, semi-circular panels of hand-cast bronze standing at almost four metres high and over a metre wide. Facing one another, the panels establish a circular void that captures the sunlight from above, illuminating the surrounding space. The external surface of the piece is both rough and dark, juxtaposing the smooth polished bronze within. “I’ve been enjoying working with bronze for the past few years,” says Mika. “It has been a fitting material to get to know during the pandemic as you’re never completely in control of the process or outcome; you have to let it run its course.”

Speaking of his relationship with Eco Outdoor, Mika says “one of the reasons I enjoyed this collaboration was the process – we’re both innovators who are constantly working within an industrial process and wondering how we can push the boundaries.” The showroom indicates the result of such exploration, embracing the imperfections that occur naturally with time and, in signature Eco Outdoor fashion, celebrating the raw essence of materiality.