From URL to IRL. That’s how the team at local furniture brand Ellison Studios (formerly known as Sarah Ellison) describes its latest project, The Rental.

“We discussed the concept of presenting a showroom but it didn’t feel like the right play for us. During a late-night scroll, the universe served up this location and we fell in love and couldn’t pass it up,” Ellison Studios co-founder and CEO Leigh McKeown tells Broadsheet.

The location in question is the former Edwards & Co building on Foster Street. The space has big New York loft energy – the lift opens straight into the living room, for example – and the brand uses the building’s existing architecture, such as its nooks and hidden staircases, to create rooms that maximise the floor plan. But it couldn’t be more Sydney.

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You can see glimpses of banana-yellow and tin-foil-silver trains out of the warehouse windows, and it’s close to neighbours Pellegrino 2000 and Firedoor. McKeown jokes that this is where Gossip Girl’s Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf would have lived if their twenties involved a gap year Down Under.

The launch of The Rental coincides with the debut of the brand’s Stack sofa – a playful design inspired by pillow forts. Two terracotta-toned versions of the plush new lounge define the space as you enter the apartment. Anyone who has longed for the brand’s Piccolo velvet Chromeo armchair or shaggy Huggy swivel chair will be delighted to find both pieces in the living room too – for now.

The team plans to rearrange and refresh the space over the summer residence (the lease is currently until February 2025). And with more new items launching from October, visitors to the space will get a sneak peek of upcoming designs before anyone else.

“It’s the ultimate hang-out space, a modern-day share house – though much nicer than the ones I experienced when I was younger,” McKeown says. The intention for the space is to offer by-appointment showings for shoppers looking to get up-close and personal with pieces before adding them to their homes.

Brand launches, dinner parties, exhibitions and exclusive opportunities for guests to stay overnight are all on the agenda, too. “This project is rooted in encouraging human connection, and sharing this space with our friends, collaborators and clients is about bringing the brand to a deeper level.”

While Ellison Studios’s furniture is the pride and joy of the space, the team’s choice of props adds to the homey feel. An original vintage Braun stereo, designed by Dieter Rams, hangs on the kitchen wall with an assortment of vinyl ready to be played. (One of McKeown’s few house rules is that Sade should be on high rotation).

You’ll also find rare and vintage books, including some first editions sourced by Melbourne-based Selected Objects. The walls are adorned with works from Australian and international artists courtesy of China Heights Gallery. And a snoop through the kitchen cupboards reveals stacks of custom Milly Dent ceramics, Maison Balzac glassware and signature stainless steel pieces by Service Projects.

It’s so perfectly designed, you’ll want to move in.

The Rental is available to visit by appointment only until February 2025.

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