{"id":435926,"date":"2026-05-20T01:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T01:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/435926\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T01:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T01:35:11","slug":"swop-south-melbourne-by-william-mcroberts-with-studio-gardner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/435926\/","title":{"rendered":"Swop South Melbourne by William McRoberts with Studio Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In South Melbourne, an historic warehouse has been reimagined as secondhand retailer Swop\u2019s largest clothing store to date. Designed by William McRoberts with Joseph Gardner of Studio Gardner, the space unfolds like a quiet exhibition space, inviting shoppers to slow down and look closely.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Swop South Melbourne by William McRoberts with Studio Gardner\" class=\"['full'] full blur-up lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7b212dc2613d504b7ace1679d8fc8e82.jpg\" height=\"620\" width=\"465\"\/><\/p>\n<p>View gallery<\/p>\n<p>For McRoberts, the design began with the site. \u201cThe starting point was the building itself. It\u2019s a large warehouse from 1938 with nine-metre ceilings and steel-framed windows on all sides,\u201d he explains. Once one of Australia\u2019s first Coca-Cola factories, the structure had been heavily altered, prompting a careful reset. \u201cThe brief was relatively simple: keep the space open and let the existing structure do most of the work, then introduce a number of interventions to make it functional as a retail store.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That restraint defines the project. Rather than filling the volume, the design introduces precise interventions \u2013 most notably a perforated aluminium mesh wall that divides front and back of house. \u201cIt\u2019s quite minimal, but it does a lot,\u201d McRoberts says. Light filters through its fine surface, casting shifting shadows while reflecting the building\u2019s original steel windows. The effect is subtle but constant, making the space feel alive.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Swop South Melbourne by William McRoberts with Studio Gardner\" class=\"['full'] full blur-up lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c134193adf2c0f4752c6c36471c298ef.jpg\" height=\"620\" width=\"465\"\/><\/p>\n<p>View gallery<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was also a broader ambition for it to feel more like a gallery than a typical shop, somewhere people could move through slowly and spend time.\u201d That atmosphere is reinforced through Studio Gardner\u2019s curation, which layers collectible design into the architectural framework.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Gardner describes a deliberate softening of the industrial shell. \u201cWe sourced a mix of vintage and contemporary pieces from both local and international designers to create zones that feel somewhere between a design gallery and a place you actually want to sit and stay awhile.\u201d The result is a lived-in richness: a 1970s inflatable sofa by G\u00fcnter Sulz, a Vignelli piece, and custom works sit alongside emerging Australian designers, dissolving the boundary between display and use.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Swop South Melbourne by William McRoberts with Studio Gardner\" class=\"['full'] full blur-up lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6da13ee735901c92b2b6180861cb4cc6.jpg\" height=\"620\" width=\"465\"\/><\/p>\n<p>View gallery<\/p>\n<p>Even the challenges \u2013 concealing fixings within the mesh, integrating services without disrupting openness \u2013 help to create clarity. What remains is a space defined by volume, light and restraint, where clothing is given unusual reverence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In South Melbourne, an historic warehouse has been reimagined as secondhand retailer Swop\u2019s largest clothing store to date.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-435926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}