You are being watched. But by whom? The mysterious facade to Dust in Melbourne gives little away in terms of branding; it merely peers down at the street below with a foreboding selection of surveillance cameras. Inside, a light installation draws one towards it where an escalator descends into the bowels of the CBD store and architecture studio Sibling‘s fit-out for the Dust concept label.
Now we’re in another world altogether — a world of white and light, shapes and sensory experiences. Dust has the five senses at the heart of its concept, with fashion and graphics branded as Spect(re) for the eyes, S(c)entir providing perfume and fragrances, a specially curated and commissioned collection of music in the Sonār(e) section, luxury teas such as the ceremonial-quality Japanese matcha and hojicha varieties from the Sapiō department, and the Haptix sense represented by tactile printed products. Sibling’s environment is monochrome and reflective, beginning with a 3.6 metre mirror placed at the base of the entrance and continuing throughout to include prismatic lighting installations and luminescent counter surfaces. Versions of a white steel framework acts as both a structural decoration and display, but things get darker as one reaches the final frontier of the store — a cave of black glass and leather in complete contrast to what goes before.
