pyd: Phillip, Young and Danks Streets, Waterloo.

The Country Trader at its heart

Industry-specific shopping in New York is easy: there’s a lightning district; a furniture district and even a diamonds district. Not so in Sydney when we drive from one destination from another taking pot-luck with quality, fashions and functionality. Then, along came the remarkable Geoff Clark who changed all that with a design specific centre in the heart of what was once a fairly grim neighbourhood. With The Country Trader at its heart, pyd was established and Waterloo was well on its way to becoming the design destination it is today.

            Indeed, pyd very much brings to mind the district style hubs of New York as noted by the Financial Review’s Luxury Magazine. Correspondent Jacqueline Maley: ‘Waterloo was still a shabby semi-industrial area; bust (Geoff Clark) saw parallels with the New York’s Meat Packing District and had grand dreams of a design hub like the D&D (decoration and design) Building in New York. He wanted to make it a destination shopping centre for unique design concepts stores, with generous pubis spaces, that could also house industry exhibitions. The retail space now known as pyd was born.’

            Interestingly, Clark rejected any idea of creating an antique centre. He preferred an inclusive design hub that visually married antiquity with the contemporary: ‘I felt that it was important not to limit design style. Our aesthetic choices are a reflection of our personality and should be alive with our idiosyncrasies.’ This philosophy is very much in keeping with contemporary movements in interior design, which are moving away from the clean all-white of the 00’s and towards an eclectic mix of personality-driven choices.

            The success of Clark’s vision has been his steadfast resolve that ‘pyd functions as a space that promotes the best and most innovative in design.’ Purposefully, Clark has pursued a model that actively encourages a broad audience appreciation of design through pyd’s involvement in design events. This has made pyd a living, breathing platform for original design rather than a static shopping centre.

            Now pyd houses some of the best names in design including Mother of Pearl and Sons, Koda, Exhibit, Rogerseller, De Poortere, Inovita, contents, Arte Sofas, the remarkable Kim Snow, and of course, The Country Trader. The rather fabulous café Patisse and art exhibitions by international and national artists including Venske & Spänle and Konstantine Dimopoulos, all add the allure of visiting pyd.

pyd Design Events

            In keeping with these core philosophies, the centre has become the focus of major design events including Saturday in Design 2009 that recently attracted 5,000 trade clients over this two-day prelude to the major Sydney inDesign program. The design event and pyd share a common root for success, namely an easy-to-access grouping of quality product with a high design aesthetic.

            The growth of the annual pyd Design Market has been astounding, with over 14,000 visitors in 2008 and sponsorship by Vogue Living magazine in 2009. Coinciding with the Danks Street Festival, the Design Market actually delivers a vibrant, creative and innovative platform for emerging design. This year’s unique Design Market runs for two day (24 and 25 October) with over 120 new young designer showcasing and selling innovative objects. Market participation is by application submission, with the best designers selected to sell their products in pyd and offered coverage in Vogue Living.

pyd hosts the inaugural Belle George Jensen Design Awards 2009, dedicated to the design excellence and acknowledging the best in consumer product prototypes, emerging interior designers and excellence in residential and commercial interiors. Finally, pyd hosts the Whitehouse Institute of Design’s Kaleidoscope Exhibition that will showcase an amalgamation of creative ideas and design from the Whitehouse class of 2009.

In a rather lovely stroke of irony, the success of pyd has created a pedestrian stampede Clark was trying to avoid by leaving Paddington. “Once we came to terms with the fact that we were a destination shop a not a reliant on passing trade, lots of doors opened. So why be on a major road with a massive exposure? Why have the massive foot traffic that was not interested in your product, yet miss the genuine customers? We did the unthinkable, left the best positioned shop in the eastern suburbs for a factory – and we never looked back.’

Since then, the Dank Street precinct, with its reputation as a foodie heaven, art hub and design platform, has become a veritable strolling ground where shoppers amble from fine food to designer furniture with art tucked under one arm and a lamp under the other. The difference though, is in the calibre of shopper, and while there is an element of socialising, for the most part these are determined and discerning customers who don’t want cookie-cutter home wares.

The Country Trader

            Clark grasped this idea firmly with his eclectic and grand aesthetic as Neale Whitaker, editor-in-chief of Belle magazine, states: ‘The Country Trader is like nowhere else… It’s like going into another world. It’s become part of the Sydney vernacular, a way to describe an interior. You could say a house is “very Country Trader.”’

            Pyd is like going into another world. Due largely to Clark’s vision and passion for design, the space is architecturally grand, spacious and an emersion in design from its outset. As Whitaker states, “the space let Clark express his style on the grand scale he prefers.’ It is also a style suited for design exhibition with each space a discrete entity while very much a part of a whole. In short, it works well; clients can browse through a number of stores or go directly to a single destination.

            In the short time pyd has been open, Maley’s ‘shabby semi-industrial’ Waterloo has well and truly vanished. The Phillip Street, Young Street and Dank Street nexus that pyd is named for has become the design, art and gourmet destination of Sydney with similarly high calibre establishments opening on a regular basis. Geoff Clark’s vision, his grand eloquence and passionate desire for a better understanding and appreciation of designs is catching anmd paying off.

            pyd is most assuredly setting the stage for the best in design.

THE COUTRY TRADER

02 9698 4661

www.thecountrytrader.com.au