Amid the cadence of Melbourne’s High Street, where heritage façades intersect with contemporary retail, the latest Dissh outpost in Armadale distils the sartorial spirit of the brand into a curatorial environment conceived in collaboration with Brahman Perera.
From the street, the façade gestures towards the interior realm, its openness a prelude to the composition beyond. “The scale of the Armadale site was quite boxy, due to its high ceiling height, so by keeping the gable-style detailing, the result did have a nostalgic feel – like the way a child might draw a home or a dollhouse,” notes Perera.
The site, with its former incarnation as a dry cleaner, imparts an unexpected connection to the interior. While thoroughly reimagined, subtle vestiges of its past surface in ways both conscious and incidental. The latent character of the original façade was retained but brought into the present with sinewy finishes, as opposed to the glazing found on the original dry cleaner. “Despite its dated and run-down appearance, I wanted to retain something from the original site – the gable-shaped top to the façade – as it still speaks to the heritage of the era,” adds Perera.
“Any retail environment is designed to be a physical and experiential representation of the brand, so for Dissh, I wanted to design a space that aligned with their values – a space that felt inherently feminine, expressive and detailed.” Thus, the fit-out emulates the chic spirit of Dissh attire, where nuanced additions and sculptural structure converge. The project honours the muted palette that the brand encompasses but challenges the typical minimalist dogma that is currently so prevalent, with graphic angles and planes, contrasting textures and surprising use of materials.
And while retail design often oscillates between the ephemeral and the enduring, the Armadale store finds equilibrium in its capacity for evolution. “Trends are a pendulum swinging backwards and forwards, and nothing lasts indefinitely, but this space is designed almost like a set or stage – an integral part of the inhabitant’s experience,” Perera says. Rooted in a definitive aesthetic yet primed for transformation, the interior anticipates the trajectory of the brand, ensuring relevance without rigidity.
The juxtaposition of surfaces – silken travertine against the warmth of timber – mirrors the ethos, balancing delicacy with durability. “For the dressing rooms, the entirety of each of the rooms is clad in carpet, giving an absorbing sense of softness. The flooring in the front of the store is an outdoor paving stone, laid to emulate the exterior sidewalk, but slowly blends into a seamless X-Bond concrete finish. Fabric is hung throughout the volume, diffusing the strength of the stone and giving movement to an otherwise grounded materiality.
A diaphanous fibreglass moon by Australian artist Amy Vidler levitates in the window, casting an ambience over the street by night. “The interior has a similar sense of whimsy, with a real emphasis on the experience of the shopper: from entrance to dressing rooms,” Perera concludes. Within, a palette of deep chocolate timber, weighty travertine shelving and an assemblage of locally sourced furnishings delineates the interiors. Anchoring the setting is a sculptural centrepiece table by Den Holm, its monolithic presence counterbalanced by the subtle radiance of Dissh’s customisable fitting room lighting – a modulation conceived to be as intimately attuned as the garments themselves.
Next up: Old flames die hard with CLO Studios