Holistic Offering – The Linear Standard Showroom by CJH Studio
In 2019, interior designer Cassie James-Herrick of CJH Studio founded Linear Standard, seizing the opportunity to design, source and manufacture fixtures and fittings to fulfill both a gap in the local market and her own design mission. Now, a new space combining a showroom for Linear Standard and a workplace for CJH Studio brings an existing warehouse to life through a clear and curated lens, becoming a place for designers and end-users to see, touch and use the products and become immersed within the physical embodiment of both businesses.
The impressive scale of the raw concrete shell captures the makers’ spirit – one of uncovering that which lies beyond the surface. Yet through refined insertions, the space has been sculpted into an experience all its own. Showcasing a crafted approach that spreads across multiple layers, heights and points of engagement, “the intent was to ensure the beauty in the rawness of the industrial context was retained, with junctions of structural beams kept bare and visible yet softened through the renewed insertions,” Cassie describes. Through an interplay of form, light and balance, the impressive scale is grounded and utilised to great effect.
Unlike many showrooms that are situated within an inner city, and generally within close proximity of one another, Linear Standard is in a regional locale, and Cassie wanted the inter-action with the pieces to also be a departure from the typical. “Being located in Mornington Peninsula [one-and-a-half hours from Melbourne], we understood that the showroom needed to be worth the trip for those travelling from the city,” she reflects. “The space not only had to function and display the full product offering foremostly, but the main goal was to do so in a unique and inviting way.”
As the first showroom for Linear Standard, it needed to bridge the functional and the considered, creating an immersive engagement with product. “One of the biggest challenges within such a space,” Cassie explains, “lay in how to resolve displaying small-sized products in such a large open space.” Therefore, the approach needed to balance the differing spectrum of scales and create destinations as visitors move through the space. “The incredible double-height ceiling space was both fortuitous and overwhelming to begin with,” says Cassie. “The result of all these carefully curated design elements is hopefully a space that straddles a design with some cues of familiar retail and commercial interiors yet with a mix of a high-end residential appeal.”
As a result, through introducing layers of textures, hard and soft finishes and crafted joinery pieces, the interior feels warm and inviting. Breaking down the space into areas – for display, meeting, finishes and pieces – humanises the scale, and the running datum line that encircles the space grounds the insertions, giving them a base. In defining the occupiable areas and applying a specialised plaster wall finish, a heightening of texture is also ingrained at the finer level.
Balance and a purposeful integration of the unexpected tie the elements together, inviting an exploration between displays and encouraging a tactile interaction with the pieces. The alignment between both CJH Studio and Linear Standard further deepens the experience, exemplifying a commitment to quality and locality.
