Relic® will invite customers in-store from 11th May 2020. The 120sqm streetwear concept designed by Noise Noise Noise studio pays homage to the history of Melbourne’s Flinders Lane textile wholesale industry, acting as a juxtaposition of references from eras of the past stitched together and remade with a modern thread.
The brand environment is reflective of Noise Noise Noise studio’s anarchic approach to traditional retail design. Raw steel sits against textural vermiculite backdrops, whilst striking gradients of green become stylistic accents. Reflective surfaces visually morph together as upcycled ‘waste’ is considered as the hero throughout the space, a nod to a sustainable reinterpretation of history.
The flicker of vertical fluorescent light attracts attention as it casts an acid green glow across the pavement. Greeted with a juxtaposition of an urban wasteland vs. a calming Japanese rock garden, steel formwork tubes protrude through the rocky terrain and Corinthian columns (repurposed from a house demolition in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne) are given a second life with the melting of architectural eras. Romanesque heads of David are scatted through the rockscape and their neoclassical patronage is questioned.
Central to the ground floor sits a zig-zag of spirulina grid mesh forms that act as a central table and recycled crushed stainless steel bails are shrouded in acrylic boxes heightening their worth. Walls and ceilings are sprayed in grey vermiculite, its unorthodox application is responsible for adding a bold textural overlay.
The atmosphere of the basement level changes from gritty urbanism to one of a future scape. Genderless mannequins are given discarded foil masks, aimed to morph their androgynous faces. Large scale projected animation fills a wall and offers an incentive to delve into another possible reality. Otherworldly, morphing, digital art kaleidoscopes dripping metallic forms into a cityscape and acid inspired glitch projected over clear PVC curtaining – its edge sprayed with neon green paint – capturing light and electrifying the concrete walls of the basement.
A neon green angular wall extends from its boundary, intense colour camouflages the floor, walls and fixturing. Central to this space, mounds of broken concrete blocks imperfectly stacked act as the base for a sheet glass display plinth. On top sits an eclectic, ice cream toned sculpture by Noise Noise Noise that repurposes offcuts of upholstery foam, carpet underlay, bubble wrap, and plastic from the store build. Lounge seating and a pill shaped coffee table are remade from recycled foams wrapped in clear PVC with exposed overlocked edges. Their soft, bulbous forms contrast with that of the 360º space, and offers a hint to the textile wholesale past of the space.
Tunnel-like mirrored fitting rooms reflect back on each other to the point of concealment. A glitchy phosphorescent landscape is digitally printed over the floor and curtaining to form the threshold between the retail space and a potential ‘future world’. It questions the ephemeral, otherworldly places we could extend to though a digital lense – a relationship between the brand’s slogan ’What Was / What Is.’
Retailer: Relic
Retail Design + Brand Identity: Noise Noise Noise
Digital Animation Art: Monish Khara / Kyle Adams
Build: Sharp Shopfitting
Lighting: Lighting Partners Australia
Photography + Videography: Arnaud Domange
