Under-the-radar fashion house Strateas Carlucci has opened a new hybrid studio-shop in Brunswick.
Australian designers Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci started their label in 2013 and their work has since been picked up by luxury retailers like Lane Crawford, both in Hong Kong and China, and Harvey Nichols in London.
The pair regularly show their garments in Paris and their new venture in Brunswick – a hybrid between a studio work space and a retail offering – is slightly off the beaten track.
“People regularly used to peer into our former workroom so it seemed the logical next step to create a space where our doors were permanently left open,” says Strateas, who trained in communication design, while his business partner, Carlucci, studied industrial design, both at RMIT.
The duo set up in a late 1960s warehouse, a tad under 300 square metres, that was formerly used for shared working.
“We were fortunate that the interior didn’t require much tweaking,” says Carlucci, pointing out the freshly rendered cream brick bagged and painted walls and the existing polished concrete floor, with its exposed aggregate.
The soar-tooth ceiling was also well illuminated, benefiting from the addition of new overscale black lantern-style lights that add to the industrial aesthetic.
“We wanted the new studio to be fluid, hence there are no fixed walls, apart from the separate conference room. It presents most of the time as a store, but it can also be used for photoshoots or even fashion events, such as parades,” said Carlucci.
Pivotal to the design is the maze-like arrangement of mild steel walls that loosely delineate spaces, with some opening to reveal storage. The customised steel clothing racks arranged on the periphery include current collections along with archival work.
Paper patterns created over the years circle the studio, softening the harder finishes. There’s also a cutting table located at the studio’s core, clad in mild steel, that can be easily extended to roll out bolts of fabric.
Although not obvious to the untrained eye, the mild steel partitions are slightly weathered at each edge, capturing the feel of the clothes – slightly deconstructed and often with seams expressed rather than concealed on the inside.
“Mario and myself have a certain aesthetic. It’s obviously black and with a focus on unusual detail,” says Strateas, picking up a shirt with an unusual angular cuff.
Fashion doesn’t excite everyone and Strateas and Carlucci’s inspiration extends well beyond working with cloth. Manipulated images taken by the duo of their clothes are serious artworks in their own right.
A mesh trench coat, for example is illuminated as though it was a shroud. Other objects, such as a vase elevated on its finger-like base by Paris-based designer, Lola Mayeras, are as impressive. There’s even a limited edition tea set by Chinese-based fashion designer Ziggy Chen, purchased when Strateas and Carlucci were sharing the same showroom in Paris.
Fashion, art, photography and ceramics come together in this Brunswick studio, creating a unique environment which shows that design is more than just clothing or interior architecture. “We’ve always liked brutalist architecture. Here, we worked with what we inherited and simply made it our own,” says Carlucci.
Their new digs started out as a fairly bland stock-standard warehouse, the kind found in any inner-city neighbourhood, but it’s now become a destination, particularly for those who like to experience design from a broader perspective.
“We’ve found that people are really responding to this space. It makes them feel like they’re part of the creative process,” says Strateas.
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Stephen Crafti is a specialist in contemporary design, including architecture, furniture, fashion and decorative arts.