Client: Adriano Zumbo

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Completion date: 2013

Artwork budget: $200,000

Project Team

Architect

Kim Lai

Elenberg Fraser

Architect

Thomas Orton

Elenberg Fraser

Architect

Reade Dixon

Elenberg Fraser

Interior Designer

Richard Pattison

Elenberg Fraser

Interior Designer

Elizabeth White

Elenberg Fraser

Architect

Jansen Aui

Elenberg Fraser

Architect

Peter C Scott

Elenberg Fraser

Architect

Toby Flaye

Elenberg Fraser

Overview

The second project completed by the Elenberg Fraser Graduate School saw the team undertake the design and where possible assembly of the Front of House fit-out for the first Adriano Zumbo store in Melbourne. The brief involved the design of all the internal shell of the front of house component of the store as well as the furniture, signage & the window treatment. The design brief was very open to the graduates with the only proviso to be true to the brand of Zumbo the team interpreted this as to be playful, innovative & a little bit pink.

Goals

With such an interesting client whose products are pieces of art in themselves, the design team thought that there was no better way than to approach the design of the Adriano Zumbo store as a means to showcase and celebrate these wonderful desserts. Many of the front of house components of the store were built by the design team themselves. The goals for the aspects of the project undertaken by the graduates was to produce elements that were pieces of art and design above all as well as to be able to construct them themselves. One of the aims of our work was to create a sensory experience for the end user, to create an environment that evoked feelings of illusion and wonderment whilst still celebrating the products created by Adriano. The feature art pieces in the form of furniture were created from what begun as a play on the idea of a mad hatters tea party crossed with Willy Wonka. Somewhat integrating the playfulness of Adriano's desserts and the exaggerated forms of over sized sweets the furniture settings took on a life of their own.

Process

Elenberg Fraser is a multidisciplinary firm and this project enabled young staff members from across the whole firm to engage in the project the school program allows the participants to integrate high quality design with hands on construction experience. The design team were given largely free reign in the design of the furniture with a large amount of trust employed to them by Adriano. The process of building the pieces was largely a hands on process where the team built and re-built each piece until it had the desired result. Working within the Elenberg Fraser Graduate School team the furniture pieces were linked into the design of the wall and ceiling treatments which were also constructed by the design team. The reflective mirror surfaces create an endless melting oozing environment that the furniture with its oozing pillowy forms compliments perfectly.

Additional Information

The firm’s graphics team designed a custom font for the neon which references the existing Zumbo branding whilst also creating a unique identify for this store. Also part of the graphics team’s brief was to design the vinyl graphics to the exterior windows it reads like melting chocolate that oozes from the tops and bottoms of the windows to help frame the action going on inside the store.