CRITERIA Melbourne Showroom & Upcoming Exhibition by Blakebrough + King.

‘Myths and Other Objects’ by Blakebrough + King is an upcoming design exhibition held at CRITERIA Melbourne Showroom. The exhibition will showcase the meticulous attention to detail, clean aesthetic and wonderful sense of imagination that has been the trademark of Blakebrough + King during their decade of collaboration. This celebration of true craftsmanship promises to offer a perfect intersection between art and design and is ideally suited to CRITERIA’s unique environment, which was conceived as a place for designers and artists to explore creative ideas.

Blakebrough + King is a collaboration between designer Sarah K and artist and flight engineer Ben Blakebrough, where every piece of furniture, lighting and tableware is made by hand. A surreal, sculptural quality pervades their work, which is produced in their workshop in the Southern Highlands of NSW. These limited edition works explore form where the negative space is as important as what is present.

Related Post: Urban Larder by Sarah K at designEX.

CRITERIA‘s showroom opened in Melbourne’s Cremorne in late October 2014, bringing an exciting new design aesthetic to Australia. Founder and director of CRITERIA Rachael Fry says, “the CRITERIA showroom aims to capture the essence of design thinking in New York.” The former New Yorker pinpoints the New York aesthetic as being structured around progressive design — centred on experimentation, form and material and concept.

CRITERIA assembles pieces that are unique and high-quality, and everything about CRITERIA and it’s collection is thoroughly considered. Even it’s purposely backstreet location in inner-urban Cremorne was the subject of an extensive search for an area and showroom befitting the CRITERIA brand. “Cremorne is a bit of a hidden gem – it’s a creative hub on the border of Richmond that’s teeming with creative agencies, other showrooms, great café’s and galleries,” Rachael says. There’s also something “a little bit special” about being in the centre — where the inner north and inner south convene, she says. And being “a little bit off the beaten track” in a pared back warehouse space of a former TAFE building contributes to CRITERIA’s “destination-like” ambience.

In a departure from “classic showroom” spaces as we know them, CRITERIA is part showroom, part gallery — merging art and design, designed in collaboration with Flack Studio. The emphasis is on very individual, quality, high-end design production pieces and limited edition works. Many of the brands represented in the CRITERIA fold are the work of creative folk who in many cases explore multiple disciplines, some of which regularly feature on our pages – Pietro Russo, Apparatus Studio, Bec Brittain, Rosanna Ceravolo & 19 Greek Street to name a few.

Myths and Other Objects by Blakebrough + King
CRITERIA Gallery & Showroom / 66 Gwynne Street, Cremorne, VIC
Opening Night: Thursday, 26th February from 6:00pm-9:00pm

[Images courtesy of CRITERIA and Blakebrough + King.]