A small handful of the Ironlak crew are nursing hangovers today, as last night marked the private opening of our new flagship store in Sydney – Ironlak Art & Design, and after too many long, long weeks of construction, lost/broken cargo and damaged souls, the celebration was in full effect. Now the baby’s head is officially wet.
It’s been a big year here behind the scenes at Ironlak HQ, we’ve been putting the finishing touches on a whole host of new art products and the new store marks the release of a plethora of new ish. To quote our press release – ‘the Ironlak Art & Design flagship store aims to create an innovative retail experience for artists and designers.’ Put another way: we wanted to build a home for our entire product range, an art store that was clean and minimal, and had the ability to inspire artists like you to get creative.
Our main man Blake Ibbotson – aka the hardest working man in the construction business – designed and built the store with his team from Fat Projects. We took no joy watching him personally deteriorate over the five weeks of construction. It seemed as the store looked better, he started looking worse. The guy certainly deserved a beer or ten last night. Big TUESY gets a special mention for taking on the arduous task of designing the product modules.
I’m hugely grateful to Mik SHIDA for hanging around all day yesterday and blessing the back wall live during the party. Same sentiment goes to Scott Marsh for dropping some goodness last week on the front of the shop.
Large thanks to the Big Riddim Ting for holding down the party organisation. You murdered it bro. A warm thanks to Vale for the delicious golden brew, Seb, Bill and John at aMBUSH, Chris & Meeks and the legends at Lord Gladstone, DJ Harry Hunter on the audio bliss, China Heights gang. And a nod to Heath, James, Elina and the store staff for holding it down in-store. Ohhhh, and many thanks to all the Sydney peeps for coming out and celebrating with us.
The store is open 363 days a year, 10am–8pm. You can find it on the ground floor of Central Park – 28 Broadway, Chippendale, NSW, 2008, Australia. Get in today and check out the new digs and extended range of quality art supplies and apparel.
Our new products include acrylic & oil paints, watercolour paint, colour pencils, technical drawing pens, gel pens, canvas, charcoal, pastels, sketchbooks, pads and easels. We’ve got new Ironlak apparel too.
Text and photographs by Luke Shirlaw
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Ironlak Art & Design