Jardan Sydney Flagship is a minimalist store located in Sydney, Australia, designed by IF Architecture. Architect Iva Foschia — founder, principal, and lead architect of IF Architecture — wanted to express the way that color has influenced the culture of the city, and in the process, pay homage to the Australian families who have helped us to better understand them through art and design. And so the design of Jardan’s new store started with the work of some of Australia’s most influential families in art and design: Brett Whiteley, who famously painted Sydney Harbour in deep ultramarine blue from his balcony, inspired by his muses, wife Wendy and daughter Arkie. John Olsen, who used a vibrant palette of blues and greens in A Salute to Sydney, and in the process inspired the colorful work of his daughter Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy — partners and designers of Dinosaur Designs. The work of Dinosaur Designs is incredibly colorful, too, with vivid oranges, blues, and greens that have helped to shape the way Australian’s view Sydney. Marion Hall Best, too, whose interior design work through the middle of last century had a great influence on the city’s interior architecture.

Speaking from her office in Melbourne, Iva Foschia says that in making a space that reflects the Jardan values of family she wanted to express the work of our country’s most influential creative families. “Color and family are big parts of the Jardan story,” says Iva, “so looking at Sydney families, I was immediately inspired by the work of Brett Whiteley and his muse, daughter Arkie. Brett was completely inspired by Arkie and said that he couldn’t work without her, so there was a lovely connection with Jardan, being a family business. Marion Hall Best ran a beautiful store too, she was a wonderful woman and her and her daughter had a little interiors shop not too far from the Jardan showroom in Sydney, and similarly they worked together for years and had a real community minded approach.”The new store is at Alderstein House, on the corner of Oxford Street in Paddington. It’s a wonderful old Art Deco building that was home to the Ariel Bookshop for more than 30 years. In designing the space, Iva wanted to focus on color as a building material, creating a system of color that shifts and changes your mood as you walk through the showroom and transition between levels. “Color is expressive light, and Sydney has light like no other place in Australia,” says Iva. “So we wanted to use a palette derived from the tastes and styles of iconic Sydney creative families, and in turn, find something unique to Jardan.”