Formerly a pawn shop, jewellery store and ‘watchmaker’ this idiosyncratic interior reveals a layered history of trade and practice and the shifting landscape around the role of craftsmanship and repair in our increasingly throwaway society.

In response to Melbourne Design Week’s theme ‘Design Values’ we have sought to create a space to reflect upon design, what it means, and how it is valued.

A key feature of the existing textural space are the glass and mirrored vestibules that define the arrival from Smith Street with the original neon ‘watchmaker’ sign hovering above. This transitional space reflects the image of the customer into infin-ity. This passage has a transformative effect exaggerating the contrast between grit-tiness of the street and the intimacy of the interior – it has inspired our concept for a space defined by mirror.

The rawness of the site exposes the transformations the building has endured and the lasting markings left by former occupants – offering a record of times past. The exhibition design seeks to highlight and celebrate this tactile history, offering a bridge of preservation with new interventions that isolate and emphasise the works of display while capturing the spirit of time they embody.

As an architectural device, mirrors are used to dissolve the physical boundaries of space reinforcing focus on elements of the existing building or exhibition. We have used mirror to manipulate and distort our experience of time and space, drawing the visitor through the exhibition as markers and signs.

Materials: Metaline Reflections by Laminex