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A New Benchmark – Poho Flowers Double Bay by Akin Atelier
Akin Atelier sets a new pace in the floral design discipline by blending functional geometry with architectural consideration and vintage styling to create an experience-driven store for Poho Flowers Double Bay.
This is the first Akin Atelier-designed space in floral retail and, with its multifaceted approach that layers the deft use of colour with a refined materiality, it gestures towards a new industry benchmark.
Akin Atelier has designed a spatial journey defined by key retail moments in the seller-client relationship. The unique Poho experience begins at the front door. A sense of arrival is initiated by the soft glow of Helle Mardahl Bon Bon lamps that approach the custom concierge plinth composed of hand-trowelled Tonachino with an Infinity quartzite benchtop. Behind it, the soft shades of a Gemma Smith artwork on a soft comb-rendered wall balance the store’s neutral blue and sandy palette, imbuing the entryway with an undercurrent of fantasy. This memorable welcome then naturally deviates towards a consultation area furnished with designer pieces that comfortably invites space for reflection and observation while a personalised floral brief is developed.
From the Antonio Citterio armchairs one moves into the ceremonial floral circle – an empirical environment where customers are immersed in the colour and scent of their potential selections. The shape and height of the plinth and the sculptural arrangement of the blooms elicit a feeling comparable to being in a wild meadow.
The resulting retail landscape offers a place to linger, observe and experience through spatial design that initiates a dialogue between the ephemeral nature of the flowers themselves and the slow patina of the surrounding man-made framework.
Once the flowers are hand-picked, the experience moves to the workspace and a monolithic marble bench, where observing the art of floral composition is encouraged. A separate workspace with stainless steel shelving and countertops as well as curled, mirror-trimmed partitions framed away from the back-of-house advocates an experimental laboratory feeling where blooms are to be creatively arranged.
This materiality is geometrically repeated across the wall towards the storefront. Existing as a physical connection between the workspace and floral circle, the hand-finished custom stainless-steel shelving assists the clients’ travels through the space while inviting the perusal of a curated selection of globally sourced vases and other wares.
Akin Atelier sought inspiration from notable land artists Andy Goldsworthy and Robert Smithson, whose work is underscored by the use of natural materials. Akin Atelier engaged directly with this principle to arrange an immersive environment defined by elements contrasting in material and tone. The resulting retail landscape offers a place to linger, observe and experience through spatial design that initiates a dialogue between the ephemeral nature of the flowers themselves and the slow patina of the surrounding man-made framework.
