To the decorator's delight, some designer shops to furnish your Aussie travels.
Not many Australian holiday itineraries incorporate furniture shopping, but that shouldn’t prevent visitors from spending an inspirational afternoon in some of Sydney’s fabulously cutting-edge interior design stores.
While ‘Surry Hills’ would probably win in a word association game ("I say ‘chic’, you say...") an equally as hot design spot can be found near the Sydney International Airport in Mascot on O’Riordan Street. You won’t find any quaint cafés, sloping tree-lined streets or inviting laneways – it is pretty much an industrial park – but you will find things like Moooi customisable couches with exquisite fabrics, unique clocks (like the one by Diamantini and Domeniconi in our
December 2008 Christmas Gift Guide), bespoke trunks and wardrobes, and faux deer antler wall hangings. There are many large shops on this long strip, the coolest of which has to be Space Furniture (
website). If you are worried about room in your luggage, Space stocks easy takeaways like Taschen books, Mandarina Duck handbags or Sydney-designed award-winning Dosh wallets (
website). There are also Space locations in Brisbane (Fortitude Valley) and Melbourne (Richmond).
If you want to do a bit of design research, Published Art, (
website) back in Surry Hills, is a highly specialised design and architecture bookshop. Browsing here can very easily turn into loitering, especially if you are armed with a nice large latte from Single Origin Roasters (
website) from across the street. And if you are unable to make it to Mascot, Surry Hills is home to a world of other fantastic and unique furniture and design shops, with leafy Victorian-style terraced houses to boot.