Published 3 years ago

First Look: “Enter the Whimsical Maison Balzac World” at the Popular Homewares Label’s First Melbourne Store

Photo: Courtesy Of Maison Balzac / Amelia Stanwix

It’s more like a gallery than a shop from the Sydney-born, French-inspired label. Its colourful glassware sits on curvaceous baby-blue shelving, while you’ll also find perfumed candles and delicate oil burners.

Words by Georgina Safe · Updated on 11 Nov 2022 · Published on 20 Oct 2022

“Melbourne is the reason I moved to Australia 18 years ago.”

So says the French-born Elise Pioch Balzac – founder of Sydney-based, French-inspired candle and homewares label Maison Balzac – who’s opened a store where it all began.

“When I arrived from Paris, I lived on Russell Street right in the city and absolutely fell in love with the streets, the people, the restaurants and bars,” says Pioch Balzac. “Opening a store [here] feels like a full-circle moment.”

Around 18 months since setting up shop in Sydney – in what feels more like a chic Parisian apartment than a store – her first Melbourne store has arrived on High Street in Armadale.

Here, you’ll find all the perfumed candles, curvy glassware and delicate oil burners that have helped Maison Balzac develop a worldwide following since it launched in 2012.

To bring her bricks-and-mortar vision to life, Pioch Balzac worked with designer Sam Costello from Daam Studio to create a space with distinctive light-blue interiors that pays homage to 20th-century Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass.

“Last Christmas, I won a rare and beautiful ceramic object by Ettore Sottsass at auction in France. It’s called the Lapislazzuli Teapot and it’s considered a classic example of the Memphis movement. I was so drawn to the colour and the geometrical shape that I decided to base the entire design of the boutique on it.” Most obviously: the curvaceous, bleacher-like shelving.

“I drew my vision for the space on a piece of paper and shared it with Sam. Two weeks later she’d finished the design and 12 weeks later we opened the doors.”

As well as all the vivid Maison Balzac classics, the store is also stocked with the label’s new Pompom wine glasses, which are exclusive to Melbourne. “We wanted to celebrate the Armadale opening with a unique product … But the store is much more than a retail space, it’s an invitation to enter the whimsical Maison Balzac world.”

Maison Balzac Armadale
1156 High Street, Armadale

Hours:
Mon to Sat 9am–5pm
Sun 10am–5pm

maisonbalzac.com