Design A Space

I love the idea of Design A Space. It’s a creative retail space that allows independent Australian designers to promote their work. If you’re looking for up and coming designers, it’s a good place to start.
With designers rotating monthly, Design A Space offers a plethora of clothing for men, women, and children. With over 100 designers at any one time, you’re guaranteed to find something you like but at a price.
Unfortunately, on my visit I couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy. Although I like the concept, it was also disconcerting to come in and not find any holistic visual merchandising. Maybe I’m just so use to the idea of a coherent, branded visual merchandising?

Although Design a Space’s Brunswick Street store is so new that there’s a faint whiff of wet paint, the concept was hit upon in 2006 by a couple who envisaged selling the wares of an ever-​changing roster of independent Australian designers in an artful gallery-​esque space.
Selling a range of mens and womens clothing, jewellery and accessories, Design a Space’s newest outpost really does feel like some kind of sartorial museum, all simplistically displayed racks of clothes, and jewellery in glass cabinets that could probably be put to good use to house antiquated manuscripts or the like.
The clothes themselves are varied and can seem mightily expensive considering that the designers that showcase their work here are — for the most part — fairly niche and decidedly up and coming.
Where Design a Space really excels though, is with its fantastic selection of actually quite well-​priced jewellery, with prices ranging from around $ 39 for a sculptural pair of diamanté earrings to more like $ 200 for an oxidised silver ring. Definitely worth a browse.

New stock is forever moving through the spaces here because the spaces have a different designer assigned to them. The idea of Design a space is to showcase new designers who want to sell in the retail world. Design a space provides a place to be showcased.
There’s a heap of fantastic designers on offer and this large space means there’s potentially something for everyone’s tastes. Men’s and women’s clothes, jewellery and accessories.
There’s an abundance of good fashion here, all Australian labels too which just goes to show the amazing creative brains we have working away in their studios.
A good touchstone to see what the kids are up to these days.