Studio Doherty’s VRG GRL Bondi Store Balances Elevated Energy with Accessibility.

When Studio Doherty takes on a retail project, you expect a hit of colour, a wink of wit, and the kind of confident styling that makes a room feel as if it’s enjoying itself. Their new Bondi Beach store for cult Australian womenswear label VRG GRL delivers all of that — and then quietly pivots in a direction we haven’t seen from the Melbourne studio before.

This one leans industrial. Not in a stripped-back, warehouse-cliché kind of way, but in a deliberate, materials-forward way that puts raw concrete, brushed stainless steel and perforated mesh on the same playing field as Murano glass, Tibetan fur and onyx. The result is a space that holds tension between the hard and the soft, the workaday and the luxe — and is all the more interesting for it.

The existing concrete shell of the Gould Street tenancy has been kept exposed wherever possible, grounding the interior in something honest and a little gritty. From that base, Studio Doherty has layered in stainless steel, natural stone, wood-wool acoustic panelling, mirror and textured glass to build contrast and tactility. The brief, according to the studio, was to “create a retail environment that balances elevated energy with accessibility” — and on that count, they’ve absolutely nailed it. “Working closely with the client, the idea was to create a store that doesn’t reveal everything at once, but instead encourages you to wander, look closer, and keep discovering new moments as you go,” the studio explains.

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That non-linear approach is the project’s quiet masterstroke. Rather than the predictable straight-shot rack arrangement most fashion retail defaults to, the floor plan curves. Curved garment rails and softer architectural moves guide the path through the store, while curved glass screens shape zones and offer glimpses through to what’s ahead. Circular shelving moments, mesh screens and material shifts fragment the experience further — it reads more like a sequence of discoveries than a single, legible layout.

And then there’s the yellow carpet. A custom Fyber Flooring axminster in saturated mustard runs across the floor and continues up into the change room walls, with a curved profile at its edge that softens transitions and reinforces the sense of movement. It’s the kind of bold decision that anchors the whole interior, and it pulls the industrial palette into something unmistakably warm and joyful.

Lighting stays deliberately restrained — a soft general wash, vertical tubes tucked behind curved glass, and custom lightboxes carrying VRG GRL graphics for a playful, graphic punctuation. It’s an interior that knows exactly when to whisper and when to shout. Mostly, it whispers — and then drops the carpet.

Boom!

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[Images courtesy of Studio Doherty. Photography by Nic Gossage.]