Shifting Worlds by Sarah K of Blakebrough + King.

Run by fashion philosophers Maya Webb and Lauren Urquat, NOM (No Order Market) houses three shops in an open plan format reminiscent of London’s Dover Street Market. ‘Shifting Worlds’ is the largest of the three, with designers represented include a large collection by Issey Miyake, alongside the likes of Nehara Prague, Nomia NYC, local brand Pageant, Aura Soma perfume, Faux Real jewellery and more. Designed by Sarah K of Blakebrough+ King, the interior was a dream collaboration with the clients, allowing the designers apply their particularly sculptural design approach to a shop interior.

The project began with a series of philosophical and film references, which were eventually distilled into connotations that the name Shifting Worlds evokes. Every aspect of the design was approached as a sculptural work, incorporating usefulness into the graphic sculptural pieces like the aluminium and brass mannequins, the blackened-brass racks, the split, the hemispherical mirrors and the shelves.

The intetion with the store was to add a sense of theatre that couldn’t be had by shopping online. After trying on an outfit, the customers are encouraged to stand on the timber pedestal outside the change-rooms – something that used to be encouraged as a part of a shopping experience with good service, and has in time fallen by the wayside. “It’s amazing how something as simple as elevating yourself to see how you look, and having the shop assistant by your side while you do this, elevates the whole experience,” explains Sarah K.

The polished brass desk is like a big block of jewellery, diligently polished every day by the staff – another old fashioned, but worthwhile ritual. Elements like the concave dish in the white plaster wall and the sculpture in the centre of the space give the feeling that the structure of the space itself is sculptural. These act as the perfect backdrop for the clothes, which in most cases are works of art themselves.

NOM No Order Market
Level 1, 187 – 193 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC

[Images courtesy of Sarah K/ Blakebrough + King.]