Lee Mathews James Street
In leafy James Street in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, Fiona Lynch has referenced organic and geometric shapes and combined them with clean and roughened elements to create a store that celebrates Lee Mathews’ signature aesthetic.
Long a welcome convenience, online shopping became something of a necessity in 2020 – the year that “social distancing” was etched into our everyday lexicon. For a great portion of this year, and more than ever, we have double-clicked our way through virtual “shopfronts” and conscientiously waited for packages to land on doorsteps by contactless delivery. Now, as we shimmy forth from the comfort and monotony of our domestic chrysalids and re-enter society, many of us want, or even crave, more from our shopping experience than the sensation of harsh blue light on the eyes and unrelenting scrolls of the fingertips.
Such sensuousness is at the design heart of Lee Mathews’ latest store by Fiona Lynch. Located on leafy James Street in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, this new Queensland home for Mathews’ eponymous clothing brand sees the shared sensibilities of client and interior designer palpably resonate. Mathews, whose painterly command of texture and colour is legible in both the garments and their display, imbues her clothing designs with an affinity for fine art, ceramics, architecture and making that dovetails beautifully with the rigorous yet emotive work for which Fiona Lynch is known.
The scheme for Lee Mathews James Street was born less from a brief and more a conversation, and this coalescent client-designer partnership has contributed to the success of the project, where playful tactility elevates the shopping experience to one of sartorial joy. “You can see in Lee’s clothes that there are pieces that are quite architectural,” says studio founder Fiona Lynch. “But then she’ll have pieces that are much softer and feminine in feel. We worked to emulate that sense of juxtaposition in the space, and to reflect some of Lee’s interests, which was really great because often you don’t have a client who has such a strong personal interest in design and art.”
Fiona Lynch has layered contrasting forms and materials to choreograph a series of vignettes throughout the store. “We didn’t want it to feel like a traditional shop – we wanted to take people on a journey,” Lynch explains. That journey begins with a collection of apparently weightless sculptural displays suspended from an impressive double-height ceiling that scoops up to the north. Each mobile-like display is threaded with a piece by Sydney-based ceramicist Alana Wilson, a longtime collaborator of Mathews whose vessels are almost sedimentary in texture. Framed by the tall, street-facing window, this intriguing display is akin to a diorama, piquing the interest of passerby and drawing them into a space where the crisp and polished coexist happily with the supple and organic.
Wend through the store and the narrative of contrasts unfurls further: elegant, sinewy clothes rails are anchored to the ground by deliciously rough concrete footings; stainless steel wall displays, inspired by the boxy objects of the late artist Donald Judd, are filled with honey-hued resin that refracts soft light onto accessories; and the backdrop to a collection of finely detailed garments is lathered in a thick impasto finish. Fiona Lynch commissioned Melbourne-based metalworker Michael Gittings to create the blackened steel counter, door pulls and a series of plinths that are dotted throughout the space, their beaten texture and monolithic weight encapsulating the juxtaposition inherent in the store’s concept-driven design. The change rooms, themselves lined in hardy sage-green linoleum, are hidden inside a mirrored pavilion, with a monumental custom artwork by Wilson wrapping around one corner like galactic silt.
True to the sentiment of Fiona Lynch, every element bar a handful of stools has been custom-designed and made for this project. An honest expression of materiality resounds in the space, evident in the exquisitely simple composition of the Japaneseinspired oak cabinetry and the expertly curated cacophony of opposing textures. Lee Mathews James Street not only heralds the return of the bricks-and-mortar shopping experience, but recasts it as something sublime to the touch. A