Living Creatively

Design-a-Space is a retail gallery where independent designers - of handmade men's, women's and children's fashion, jewellery, accessories, art and homewares - rent a space to sell their wares.

It's the first store of its kind in Australia and such has been its success since launching in September 2006, its creators Bec Paranthoiene and Chris Lutz have recently opened a second store, in Manchester Lane in the city.

"Designers no longer need to rely on the purchasing whims of boutique buyers to get the break they need," says Bec, a fashion designer with her own label - on hold for now - called Rocouture.

"What I found as a designer was that stores kept buying the same stuff. They have mainstream taste. It was hard for them to take a risk. But as a designer, especially an alternative designer, how do you get your work out there? The chances of a buyer taking an artistic range is slim.

"At Design-a-Space, we take a risk. We are open to anything creative. If someone comes in with something creative, we go for it. For designers, selling in Design-a-Space is like testing the market to see if something is going to work for them. It's not a huge risk. And many of our designers have been picked up by other retailers, so it's enabled them to stop treating their designing like a hobby."

Two designers have gone on to do ranges for Sportsgirl. But at Design-a-Space, they can release their more creative pieces.

"Design-a-Space is more exclusive than the ten-store chains. People are so individual now, they want to be their own person. They want to stand out from the crowd. You don't want to see everybody in the same dress... people appreciate something that's handmade."

On the day Living Creatively visits there are giant pressed metal butterflies, in silver, orange and red, on a wall rented for $200 a month by Melbourne label Alex and P+. On a piece of rope [rent-a-rope] hang a selection of bags in iconic Florence Broadhurst fabric, which its maker Signature Prints has sent down from Sydney to display. In a glass cabinet is the ultra-fashionable wooden jewellery of Elk. It's hard to know what to look at first.

"There's a huge variety of things," says Bec proudly. "There's $500 silk dresses for the races, hand-printed t-shirts, bags, wallets and belts. A lot of it is handmade and a lot of things are one-off. They're in for a day, then they're gone. You have to move quickly."

Indeed: the item might be a one-off, or the designer's tenancy might be coming to an end. The rental rotation is monthly, not least to keep up with demand for a slot. And there's always a lengthy waiting list. At any one time, there are about 80 designers in the stores, although each features different designers, as Windsor and the city are considered different markets. The more expensive designs are in the city. Prices at both stores range from $20-$500. Rent ranges from $100-$300 a month.

For the price, designers can do what they want with their space. They can hold sales, they can introduce new stock, they can have special packaging. "When a designer comes in, they can pretty much do what they want. It's creative, it's different, it's amazing. The designers love it. And they love that it's a boutique on a high street," says Bec.

Further, Bec and Chris, both on the shop floor, give the designers invaluable advice and customer feedback. "We're always talking to designers and updating them. We are hands-on. We tell them about fit, about price points and if something sells out in two days we call them and say, 'it's huge, run it again'," says Bec.

"We manage what we have closely. We aren't restricted to one item or one trend, but if someone comes in with something we already have or is too similar to something in stock, we don't take it. It does happen, so we say 'come in later'."

Bec adds that they would love to open another store. "Everybody keeps telling us to open a store in Sydney. We'll get the Melbourne stores running smoothly, then think about interstate - Sydney and Perth."

The art world, meanwhile, is also adopting the DIY approach to selling, with painters, sculptors and other artists renting spaces in galleries. Rather than waiting for an exhibition in a gallery, leading or otherwise, artists and curators are joining artist-run spaces and paying to exhibit their work.

A whole raft of edgy, artist-run galleries have opened up around the country, with Melbourne leading the charge. There's West Space in the city, Seventh Gallery in Fitzroy and Utopian Slumps in Collingwood. Living Creatively will be profiling these spaces in an upcoming issue.

By Carolyn Ford