5 Home & Design Shops In Melbourne To Check Out

Great Dane

Välkommen to the greatest Scandinavian showroom in Melbourne that houses furniture, lighting, textiles and homewares personally selected and imported by founder and director Anton Assaad from premier design houses in Europe. Established in 2002, Great Dane concentrates on mid-century designs, assembling an impeccably crafted collection made from built-to-last natural timbers. From heirloom pieces to accessories, Great Dane is where you’ll find designer pieces from Borge Mogensen, Hans Wegner, Nanna Ditzel, Kristian Vedel and Sofie Refer.

Great Dane, 175 Johnston Street, Fitzroy VIC, Australia, +61 3 9417 5599

Courtesy of Great Dane

What was once simply mud is transformed into modern Australian ceramics with a minimalistic artisan finish. Established in 1994, mud features durable and functional handmade porcelain bowls, platters, vessels and vases, all designed by Shelley Simpson. Using Limoges porcelain from France, mud’s homewares achieve great colour depth by tinting through the porcelain body. Step into the store and be greeted by a kaleidoscope of crockery with designs and shades changing seasonally.

Lucy Fenton’s eclectic emporium pays homage to her travels abroad through exotic furniture, whimsical fashion and colourful linens and artwork. Her husband Josh is responsible for fenton&fenton‘s renowned rug collection featuring vibrant, geometric designs, which are sure to funk up your flooring. The diverse collection mixes ‘origins and eras’ that encompass various cultures and aesthetics to create a showroom boldly decorated with one-off curios. If you can’t make it to the store, the comprehensive website offers an extensive variety of homewares, and you may just be swayed to make the journey to Prahran.

From humble beginnings in 1987 as a family-owned furniture business, Jardan have grown into a brotherly enterprise, run by Nick and Mike Garnham, that now employs over one hundred. Their flagship store in Richmond is hard to miss with its baby blue and gold exterior, and upon stepping inside, you’ll discover two storeys of mid-century homewares – the store even has its own barista. Inspired by the modernist designs of John and Sunday Reed, Jardan’s collection includes ‘crafted to order’ furniture as well as linen, ceramics and artwork.

As a tribute to her late grandmother Rosemary Estelle Lightly, Cindy-Lee Davies opened a design studio in 2005 that blends traditional aesthetics with cutting-edge technology. What began as a ceramics and lighting store now extends to a collection of 150 items which span across homewares and furniture. With a healthy dose of nostalgia, Lightly’s mid-century designs are created using natural materials such as wood, stone and leather for maximum quality and functionality. The collection features brass, copper and marble notes, ensuring that any purchase is effortlessly timeless.