Bold, colourful and expressive, the Sydney offices for fashion label Alémais were designed to stimulate the senses and breed creativity.
Yasmine Ghoniem of YSG Studio was engaged to create the dreamy interiors inspiring the brand’s vibrant fashion designs, and she shares all the details here.
WHAT WAS THE CONCEPT FOR THIS SPACE?
Just as Alémais clothes have a way of announcing themselves given their flair for colourful prints and embellishments, arriving within the brand’s new design HQ could be likened to entering a galaxy of limitless imagination. Beneath a constellation of fibreglass moon pendants, myth and fashion fantasy orbit in a dream-like diaspora.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE SET-UP?
Located above street level in a Surry Hills warehouse, the space brims with seamless efficiency. Its central nucleus comprises a conjoined design and pattern-making zone where new collection ideas take flight. On either side of the entrance, a semi-open kitchen and dining area and a guest reception banquette/additional social space grant a domesticated welcome; a new wall blade buffers the hive of activity behind.
Dedicated storage and archival space plus a boardroom neatly tuck along one edge behind custom timber-framed screens. Two dedicated offices sit at opposing ends of the space for co-founder and creative director Lesleigh Jermanus and fellow co-founder Chris Buchanan.
HOW DID YOU TACKLE THE INTERIORS?
We treated the brick walls and timber-beamed ceiling like a primary canvas, coating them in warm cream shades, and leaving some brick surfaces in their exposed original state for textural punctuation.
Enhancing the team’s collegial nature while enabling privacy when required, we lined both glass-panelled office walls with neutral window treatments. Hung at standing head height, they also flow across the glass entrance wall, providing additional privacy when seated.
Designed for interaction, the space is never static and adapts to daily needs. Several large custom timber frames support cork pin boards laid with inspiration images, new collection fabrics and sketches that can roam across the floorboards on castors. We also tucked Cozoni Knox drawer units on wheels under desks should they need to momentarily migrate.
HOW DOES THIS PROJECT REFLECT THE WORK THAT YOU DO?
It’s really important to us to know about our clients’ routines and really delve into what makes them tick. At the end of the day they’ve got to feel the best version of themselves in their spaces whether at home or in the workplace.
Lesleigh really wanted a space where she and her creative team could feel inspired to dream big. But it had to be equally efficient, so it’s underpinned by a really practical layout.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE PIECES IN THE SPACE?
We designed a shimmering mosaic mural with half-human, half-animal forms floating among fantastical fauna under a blazing sun. Taking up a whole wall as you enter the HQ, it’s an instant mood energiser. There are a lot of ‘all-seeing’ eye motifs sprinkled about.
My fave is our custom ‘eye’ dining table. We hand-painted its embossed pale timber elliptical surface in pastel tones and a raised Lazy Susan forms its central pupil. Staff sit there for meals and to chat about design.
The Design Team
YSG Studio: ysg.studio
Cuzco Constructions: cuzco.net.au
