If, like me, you love interior design ranging from all periods from Art Deco and Bauhaus to the 70’s and secretly want to have at least one hard brown 70’s vinyl couch, a Barcelona Pavilion chair and an Arne Jacobsen egg chair tucked away in the dark corner then the perfect place to go perve (and annoy the shopkeeper by stretching the leather of every item possible) is the Vampt Vintage Design stores located in Surry Hills with a warehouse in Brookvale!
Admittedly, for most of us the majority of items are far to big-ticket i.e. a Danish Egg chair was recently sold for around AUD$8,000 (cheaper than the originals in the Radisson for US$60,000), but what would one expect of designer items especially ones that every person in Europe feels they need to replicate in their (more likely than not distasteful) den and big conglomerates such as McDonald’s feel they have to use to rebrand their “restaurants” as hip. The Egg Chair and its’ organic form has been accurately likened to a womb so when I see one a sense of calm overtakes me, hence it was a must to try the Arne Egg out and dream of the day of when I own one hopefully no matter the cost!
In addition to the price, you are certainly not paying for comfort. I suspect I would buy a couch which is so shallow I can barely sit on it but I would enjoy the fact I bought it for that very reason. The Hans Erik Johansson Set, screams in their vibrant blue colour, “I come with back seizures and spinal curvature” BUT I still secretly want the chair. Irrationality plays a large part in my view of interior design as much does hubris. Interestingly enough this same thought definitely must play a role in the designers mind. The Bauhaus School of Design founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar Germany is commonly touted as the underlying current for modern architecture and design (especially as it aimed for “unity of all design”). The main teaching of the “House of Construction”, was that form follows function! This is very loosely played with in many of their design articles. I remember Berlin was full of intimate little cafes around the vintage and opp shop areas of Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg, that were purely Bauhaus lamps, sofas and oval wooden tables in trademark brown hues. Nothing was more fulfilling then escaping the cold and slumping on the squealing leather under a lamp whose conical shape seemed to emit as much light as a black hole. Next to the lamp was an old rotary telephone, not quite as old as when you had to speak to an operator, but a classic nonetheless. The dial that in this modern era people would find frustrating but has such as romantic beauty to it. I definitely plan on having one of them (even if it is unplugged, as I am by no means a patient man when it comes to technology).
Although it seems I have gone slightly off track, for most Sydneysider, Vampt, is no new secret, however to step in and see many design items that I have dreamt about… it makes you realise a possibility that maybe If I just stopped going out for a few weeks and cancelled a holiday you could have a piece of European chic in your corner to admire but never sit on?!?!
As a couple of Post Scripts. The Best Item they have for sale by Far at Vampt is the Architect Drawing Board! What budding Architect, Designer, Artist or even as a feature item (although would seem somewhat pretentious and fake if you never actually used it) would not want this drawing board! Absolutely brilliant. I would pay for University to become an Architect just to buy the board and make the $1,100 price tag cost-effective!
Finally, the other image is my favourite item from the Bauhaus Gift Shop. The Josef Hartwig 1924 Chess Set is to me the definition of Modernism and it is only when you are close that you realise the exceptional quality of wood used and stains on the pieces. The edges are as succinct as if produced by modern age laser production methods yet the wood has its faults which only add more character to the set. The knight and its inverted staircase structure and the queen with a perfectly circular sphere atop her body are faultless! It will only set you back EURO400 for the board and EURO75 a piece from memory.
"It begins with l'aperitif and ends in the streets..." 