SHOP VISITS : SAFARI LIVING

The view as you enter into the store. Immediately you are visually drawn to the explosion of patterns and colour coming from the Missoni corner, which I loved. You had the coloured patterns near the bottom and the neutrals at the top. There's definitely something for everyones home to be found here 

The zig zags, the stripes, the colours!

I've always known about Missoni but never really had that much affinity with the brand until recently. Ever since my interest for decorating and homewares have steadily grown, my eye for brands that do colour and pattern well has lead me to Missoni and their signature zig zag fiesta. Missoni OWN patterns ( which needless to say, applies to the Missoni Homewares range too ). When I found out about Safari Living and their huge collection of Missoni Home, I had to visit. I wasn't disappointed with their range and on top of that, their other stock was just as stunning too. The entire shop was a joy to photograph and very much lived up to the 'Safari' in its namesake. 

Spoilt for choice. What will it be? Towels, cushion covers, throws?

The whole store was visually merchandised very, very well. A really cohesive choice of items were stocked 

So many good things for the home. Coming here makes you want to deck out your entire house in neutrals so you can dress it up with all the homewares that they have! 

Safari Living totally captures the beauty and pattern that is associated with tribal and African inspired designs. In their about page, it mentions that sharing unique finds from across the globe is a key point which went into making Safari Living the store it is today. You all know my love of browsing markets but browsing markets overseas is just a whole new level of excitement.

There is something special about having things from overseas in your home. The more exotic, the better. Maybe it's just me imbuing significance but things that are bought overseas seem to always be better somehow. They use different materials, maybe the designs are just nothing you'd find back home, they have things which you can only get there... it's bringing part of that trip back for life.

The best kinds of overseas shopping experiences for me are ones where I'm interacting with products that are un-mistakably OF that particular place. The items have to be things which take on a new level of personality that can't be found back at home. That's why you travel, to see and be a part of a whole new world. 

Last year, I featured these jars on my Christmas wish list here. It was cool to be able to see them in real life. It really is just as beautiful as it is on the screen as it is in reality. Love the beautiful scale-like pattern and colours. 

Terrific Shelf game right here. They manage to balance out the colour and patterns with just the right amount of muted tones and colour 

You can definitely say that Missoni claimed the zig zag pattern. It's amazing how a brand can take a pattern so seemingly simple and one dimensional and really claim it as theirs. Zig zags are truly the mark of Missoni's branding and signature which just goes to show that simple really is just the surface. You can check out some of Missoni's clothing here. I'm especially into the cardigans, head wraps and pants. You know you're probably into a label if you like more than three or four of their items which definitely puts Missoni in one of my favourites for me! 

Safari had a rack of textile patterns in their store and I managed to capture some of them here. Sometimes I'll be sitting down to paint and will have a really hard time trying to come up with new ideas. But when i see the sheer amount of variation in colours, dimensions and shapes that was on this rack, it made me feel like I wasn't broadening my scope enough and really tapping into the possibilities out there, creatively. Seeing beautiful colours and patterns put together makes me want to be more thoughtful at it. It feels as if there are no possibilities when you have no ideas but when you do, they really just flood in. 

What are some possibilities with this bit of fabric? Upholstery for an arm chair? A cushion cover? Maybe a table throw? All I know is that if fabric is made well and in a beautiful pattern, people will want to use it for any surface. I'm into the idea of framing certain fabrics too. I remember I did this when I was living by myself before I moved to Japan and it was actually such a good idea because from far away ( and even up close ) they just look like paper prints. The frames elevate the fabric into a worthy for display quality. People won't know where you got the fabric from, all they'll see is a gorgeous piece of textile that's worthy of showing off. 

Pretty crazy about the flowers that are made up of multi-coloured dots right here! So good! Very intricate and detailed

Wish I could've gotten out every single pattern and looked at all of them in detail, there's just so many here 

I love embroidery and feel naturally drawn to their folksy style. I've said before that things which are made by hand are deigned with a natural respect from people who handle them because we all know how painstaking it is to make things with our hands

The colour palette of the entire store was great. It was earthy, metallic but also with bright pinks and blues thrown in here and there 

There are a lot of sales going on right now in many homewares stores I've visited. It's a good time to pick up a bargain if you're needing some extra bits and pieces for yourself 

Really beautiful blue cushion right here. I'm into floral and plant-life prints a lot and this colour combination is really eye-popping

The neutrals corner

Patterns for days 

Enjoying all the soft, muted tones of the kitchenware shelf 

I love the blue and white pattern on the bottom, right hand stack 

Going into stores and seeing how everything is visually merchandised, you sometimes wonder how many different ways they tried displaying things before they settled on the style that they chose. The difficult thing for me about making a home look good and presentable, is the fact that there really are so many ways of displaying and making the home 'yours'. I wouldn't say that some ways are wrong, maybe things could've been done differently but the vast amount of possibilities can make simply beginning a bit of a daunting place. 

When you take into account how dramatically different spaces can feel when you simply move some furniture around, change the colour scheme or even add an ornamental piece, you start to realise that small decisions do make a big impact. It sounds like I'm talking about a life or death situation here 😣  but I suppose for people who take furnishing their homes seriously, it can be a little bit!  

So many lust worthy items ! If you're around chapel street, it's just a five minute tram ride down High street 

These woven light shades are so fun! 

Some close up shots of the Missoni home range. You can tell the amount of work that's gone into them. The colours flow so thoughtfully into each other, the weave is really fine, they really are almost too good to use 

So beautiful! 💛 💛 💛 💛 

Colour pop soap packaging 

Some stunning wallpaper here as the backdrop for these woven baskets 

Next door was a rugs and textiles shop which I really wanted to visit but was strapped for time due to an appointment 

Safari Living is a must visit if you're looking for patterns, colour and good textile furnishings. The selection of items is really impressive and to be honest, I didn't see one thing I wouldn't of loved to have owned. If you're looking for a splurge, I definitely recommend some of their Missoni things. They have the largest stock I've seen in Melbourne. Thank you Safari Living for allowing me to come and share your shop on my blog!

xx

Safari Living
579 High Street,
Prahran
9510 4500