Future of Furniture – Mobilia Unveils New Melbourne Showroom
Mobilia’s new showroom in Melbourne houses a spectrum of high-end furniture, lighting, and design objects from leading-edge brands such as Cassina, Moroso, Poltr ona Frau and Kettal. With sky-high ceilings and generous volumes, its distinct mono-brand spaces are a foreshadowing of the future of furniture retail in Australia and beyond.
Design connoisseurs in Melbourne can rejoice, for the city just became one design destination richer. Mobilia – a family owned Australian company specialising in high-end furniture, lighting and design objects – has opened its new flagship showroom on Richmond’s Church Street, with latest collections from some of the world’s most coveted European furniture and design brands, including Cassina, Moroso, Poltrona Frau and Kettal.
Mobilia – a family owned Australian company specialising in high-end furniture, lighting and design objects – has opened its new flagship showroom on Richmond’s Church Street, with latest collections from some of the world’s most coveted European furniture and design brands, including Cassina, Moroso, Poltrona Frau and Kettal.
Situated in a futuristic, Green Star-accredited smart building and sprawling over 1,000 square metres, the showroom holds a mirror to forward-looking furniture retail. “Our new flagship showroom combines a series of distinct mono-brand spaces that are woven into the architecture of the building. This approach creates carefully curated spaces that clearly reflect each brand’s unique DNA,” says Founding Director Salvatore Fazzari, who enlisted Melbourne-based design studio GOLDEN to help harmonise the different areas of the showroom whilst preserving Mobilia’s own design ethos.
With high ceilings and grand volumes, the interior is redolent of an opulent art gallery. A hat-tip, perhaps, to the products it houses within – the Soriana Sofa by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Cassina; the Sengu collection by Patricia Urquiola for Cassina; the Kyoto Coffee Table by Gianfranco Frattini for Poltrona Frau; Moroso’s sculptural Pacific Sofa by Patricia Urquiola, which will be shown in Melbourne for the first time; and Giro by Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen for Kettal. The Infinito Bookcase, designed between 1956 and 1957 by Franco Albini and Franca Helg, also produced by Cassina, is another noteworthy addition
Situated in a futuristic, Green Star-accredited smart building and sprawling over 1,000 square metres, the showroom holds a mirror to forward-looking furniture retail.
The overarching palette is raw and untamed, with perforated metal and brushed aluminium elements juxtaposed against textured walls. Each brand, however, has a distinct aesthetic identity. Moroso is defined by elegant curtaining designed by London-based studio Doshi Levien for design textile company Kvadrat, as well as aluminium particle spray that reflects an exposed ceiling. Meanwhile, undulating walls, backlit largescale graphics, raised platforms for product displays and a circular oculus dominate the Cassina realm.
Poltrona Frau is located above and beneath a split-level mezzanine, with lowered ceilings pointed at creating a warm and intimate aura for patrons. The ceiling on the lower level is embellished with striking grid detailing. Kettal is characterised by natural lighting, sand-rendered walls and white, hand painted grid brickwork.
With Mobilia’s new showroom offering as much delight as the objects it houses, discerning design patrons have much to look forward to. One thing is certain – it is poised to be the holy grail for leading-edge design and the furniture of the future.
