Moody lights reveal Articolo's new showroom

The bling of the chandeliers is supposed to slow down traffic. However, Articolo's new showroom, located at Willis Street, Richmond, has taken the opposite approach.

Conceived on the European model, where showrooms are more discretely placed, the only sign of a showroom is a steel planter box and an overscaled brass handle, reminiscent of a lighting bracket found inside.

Articolo previously shared a pint-sized studio (approximately 40 square metres) at the back of the South Yarra shopping centre and was rapidly expanding.

After establishing a reputation among Australian architects, it is now supplying some of the most prestigious stores worldwide, recently snagging an order for Tiffany & Co.'s flagship store in New York.

"I wanted a space that felt like a home, a fairly minimal backdrop that wouldn't overshadow my lights," says lighting designer Nicci Green, director of Articolo.

Green engaged architect David Goss, who also trained as an industrial designer, to refurbish the 350-square-metre office. The space was formerly used by an architectural practice.

The building's saw-tooth roof and open-plan spaces may have been functional for an office, but a lighting showroom required a different approach.

"People need to be able to walk into a space and see how these lights change the feel of a room, as well as how they could possibly work in an apartment or a home," says Goss, who saw his role as 'editing' the spaces, rather than demolishing and starting from scratch.

Goss lightly reworked the exterior of the 1970s warehouse, formerly a compilation of black tiles, exposed bricks and rendered masonry. Now rendered in cement and covered in Boston ivy, the showroom could easily be mistaken for a swank new townhouse.

A deep porch and large pivotal door reveal a terrazzo-floored lobby, with European oak walls.

One of Green's wall lights acts as her 'calling card'.

"I didn't want the showroom to reveal itself all at once. It's more about glimpses of spaces beyond," says Goss, who included a series of brass feature walls to entice people to move into the next space.

Goss also included a brass wall at the top of the stairs that leads to Green's office/meeting room, along with a brass handrail inspired by one of Green's wall brackets.

"I wanted to use the language and materials that have defined Articolo's lights," says Goss.

The open-plan showroom, with its three distinct wall treatments, provides a backdrop for Green's lighting ranges.

However, this space, decked out with a marble dining setting, a few designer chairs and two-metre-diameter customised mirrors, could equally be seen as a lavish high-end apartment.

A simple chunk of wood, used as stool, was designed by leading Belgium architect Vincent Van Duysen.

However, away from this subdued environment is a busy workshop, although all the production work is carried out in a factory in Braybrook.

Behind the concrete rendered walls are the open-plan offices and testing stations, akin to a laboratory.

Getting in the right light, both the amount and the quality, proved the most challenging aspect of the Richmond refurbishment.

Northern light, for example, filters through the showroom's highlight window at the entrance.

A rippled-edge translucent glass skylight in the showroom allows the silhouette of the saw-tooth roof to be seen, while allowing light to permeate the core.

Goss also 'carved' a set of LED lights into the ceiling of the showroom to add a gentle glow to the interior.

"We had to remove a number of columns and nib walls that interfered with the flow of the spaces. There was just too much going on under the one roof," says Goss, who saw the project as being not dissimilar to polishing and refining a jewel.

Architects will tell you that minimalism is one of the most difficult things to get right.

"It's about paring things back, making the spaces work and ensuring just the right amount of light, natural and artificial," he adds.