I was invited to a store visit to see APOM’s brand new boutique, opened in October 2014, located at 326 Carlisle Street in Balaclava, Melbourne.
Not only did I have the chance to see the new boutique, but I also met the designers behind the brand.
The APOM boutique is beautifully fitted out, featuring elegant and minimalist lighting, strong sturdy display tables and counter tops as well as unique furniture such as their cow hide chair located in the back corner underneath a book shelf.
The atmosphere of the boutique is harmonious with light coloured walls that allow the bright colours of their A/W collection to stand out. It’s refreshing to see how well lit the store is and the fact that there have so much floor space. There is nothing worse than visiting a boutique that feels dark, cramped and cluttered.
The designers behind APOM are Kajsa Kvernmo and Kate Brook. They met at university and started designing together in their final year. Their clientele are women between the ages of 20-60 who invest in quality pieces. Some of APOM’s items are made from luxe materials such as cotton Jacquards that are sourced from France. Their intricate and playful prints are designed in Australia but printed in India. It was great to see that APOM included bright colours in their winter collection; this isn’t something common in Melbourne especially when you see a lot of designers offering collections in safer colours such as black and greys.
To date their best seller has been the Petrie top and the House shirt because of the easy fit and interesting print.
The stand out print for this season is inspired from the playfulness of dinosaurs. I’m sure you remember when your were young playing with your younger siblings plastic figurines or even worse stepping on them and screaming in pain! Well now instead of playing with them you can wear them proud. It was cute to see little plastic dinosaurs decorating some areas of the boutique – a very quirky touch!
I also checked out their working space up stairs. The first thing I would was how great it must be to have a studio space right on top of your retail store. The studio was filled with patterns and fabrics as well as vintage pattern making books. I cheekily asked the girls if they could give us an insight into their next collection. Kajsa and Kate told me it would be inspired by a sixties safari theme with strong military tailoring featuring cute little animal prints.
Besides offering their own collection in store to purchase they also support local independent designers and offer a curated selection of accessories and jewellery.
If you want to support local talent and experience something different, I suggest visiting APOM (or check them out on APOM on Etsy) as you will not be disappointed.
