Melbourne Décor & Design Show: 2014 Highlights

After 5 winters spent in London and 1.5 in Montreal I am ever grateful to be back in the Southern Hemisphere enjoying average temperatures of 14 degrees celsius! 

Winter has been a breeze! Distracted by not only the mild weather, I have been attending a smorgasbord of exciting design events that have kept me extremely busy. The last few weeks have seen Melbourne host events such as 'Open House Melbourne', 'Life in Style' the 'The Melbourne Art Fair' and this coming weekend - Melbourne Indesign! 

So far the design event to impress me most has been Australia’s premier furniture and furnishings trade fair Décor + Design.

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary in style at the Melbourne Convention Centre, the event showcased a plethora of new and exciting products from over 200 companies. 

Gorgeous and informative, each stand at Décor + Design was brimming with innovative eye candy in high-end furniture, lighting, soft furnishings, décor and accessories.

I was fortunate enough to be reporting for Canadian design magazine - MOVATO Home. So along with my media pass and camera in tow, I was there to handpick the highlights. Here are my favourite's from the show:

Best in Bedding: Designer’s Choice

Stylish, snug and super soft, Designers Choice bed linen has been developed with the modern family in mind. Their range is simple and stylish, using colours and patterns that would be a comfortable fit in almost any home.

The fabrics vary from yarn-dyed stripes to textured cotton fabrics and simple, embellished percales. They also have a great selection of accessories that can be coordinated widely across the range to create your own look and style. Not just cosy and comfortable, all their designs are finished to a high quality standard but maintain prices that represent great value.

Brightest & Boldest: Middle of Nowhere

Middle of Nowhere is a small, Melbourne-based design studio that is passionate about designing creative, affordable and unique decor for your home. They have a fabulous range of fun, ‘finishing touch’ pieces and the fresh, candy-coloured palette is perfect for highlighting children’s rooms. This furniture makes you stand up and take notice!

Dressed to Impress: Café Lighting and Living

Café Lighting and Living has created the perfect blend of modern elegance,  glitz and glamour with its comprehensive collection of furniture and homewares. Stylish contemporary looks, on-trend finishes and the highest quality craftsmanship are all synonymous with this established Australian brand. They are also the exclusive distributor for luxury UK-based brand Andrew Martin.

The Eclectic and Enviable: Globe West

A sight to behold, the Globe West stand displayed a smorgasbord of gorgeous pieces incorporating modern clean lines, exquisite texture, colour and form expressing a uniquely Australian design aesthetic. There was one little art piece that caught our eye in particular: a graphic print with the words ‘All she ever wanted was perfection.’ This sums up Globe West’s unique design aesthetic quite aptly.

Escape to Paradise with: Satara

Satara has a stunning, coastal cool collection of furniture and homeware to transform your space into an island oasis. Inspired by natural global trends, Satara’s approach to furniture is all about utilising great design with natural and manmade materials and skilled craftsmanship to create a seamless indoor/outdoor look and lifestyle.

The Ethical and Eco-Conscious: Armadillo & Co.

A relatively new company, Armadillo & Co. was founded by Jodie Fried and Sally Pottharst four years ago.  Armadillo & Co. combines aesthetics with ethics as every textile embraces fair trade practices. Rugs are crafted from sustainable natural fibres and all rug purchases benefit local schools in the weavers’ villages. They have an absolutely fantastic selection of bold patterns and vivid colour palettes.

Awe-Inspiring Product Design: Gregoria Chair by Ito Kish

The simplicity of pure white combined with the repetition of pattern and shape creates a beautiful sense of peace and tranquillity. The baluster design references vintage Philippines, inspired by the mouldings used on ventanillas (little windows) to enable air to flow through traditional Philippines houses. Kish has taken this historical concept and created a beautiful, electric modern collection. This was by far our favourite product of the show.

Hottest New Designer: Koa by Kaitlin

Designed by Australian Industrial Designer Kaitlin Liddell, Koa’s little hotties are a playful range of designer stoneware cups. Koa encapsulates happiness, euphoria, delight and joyfulness.

All Koa stoneware cups are hand-carved, revealing the natural clay body by local artisans from urban and rural communities in Bali, and are brought to life through kilns run on renewable energy.  Such a happy little collection by an up-and coming designer! We predict Koa by Kaitlin is going to become huge in Australia over the Summer.

Ignite your Passion with: Meizai

Mezai regards furnishing a home as an enjoyable process of searching, finding and collecting furniture and decorations that are classic or contemporary — and mixing them to create and define one’s own passionate space.

They offer contemporary, modern sustainable, architectural restoration, classic, provincial and timeless design in décor accessories, furniture, lighting, mirrors, cloisonné and ceramics. This brand exclusively represents a stable of significant design companies from all over the world as well, such as Dutch design house d-Bodhi, Asiatides Paris, Australian designed Hardy, as well as stocking leading innovators such as the global furniture brand Camerich and Halcyon Lake carpets and rugs.

Super sophisticated and Stylish: Hermon & Hermon 
Synonymous with style and design, Hermon & Hermon is a Melbourne shopping icon that champions the use of natural tactile products from the  Philippines.  Stocking only “ooh-ah” pieces, they’re stunning collection of furniture, housewares and lighting are exquisite examples of beautiful craftsmanship. Their collections certainly reflect style without snobbery.

Weird, Wonderful or Just Absurd: The Good Boy Lamp by Whatshisname

The Good Boy Lamp by Polish-born, London-based artist Whatshisname was designed as an item of everyday use that makes the user uncomfortable with every use. The on/off switch is shaped like a turd that needs to be stepped on. The puppy is in its natural pose, looking around with a bit of surprise on her face. Love it or hate it, Whathisnames’ aim is to encourage the public to look at the surrounding world and question it in derisive, jeering way. I’ll let you be the judge.

Your One Stop Shop: MRD HOME

MRD Home is a leader in interpreting trends and creating new ones and has been doing so for over 17 years. They work with many different mediums including textiles, glass ware, lighting, furniture, ceramics, wood and steel — basically anything that has beauty and integrity! As such, their exclusive designs have been the recipient of many awards. They have a gorgeous colour palette of coordinating accessories. Our favourite is their Ombré collection which includes four gorgeous colour ways of Inky, Oasis, Canary and Slate.

Honourable Mentions:
Other exhibitors at the Décor + Design Show this year worth a mention include About Space, Bisque Interiors, the Designer Boys Art Collection, Emac & Lawton, Lucretia Lighting, The Wallpaper Company, Theo & Joe and Villa Maison.

So there you go folks - Melbourne - the design capital of the Southern Hemisphere (in my opinion)! I hope your feeling inspired. 

If you're interested in finding out more about design in this fabulous city, get your hands on 'The Melbourne Design Guide'. 

Photography by Sarah Radhanauth
Read the original article on the Movato Home website.