US modern home furniture chain Blu Dot has opened a showroom in Collingwood, Melbourne. The launch marks the brand’s second brick-and-mortar store in the country and 17th worldwide since its establishment in 2008.

Preston Lane designed the building’s architecture while Hecker Guthrie was in charge of its interiors, combining modern and heritage architectural elements. 

The store’s ground floor maximises natural light and offers vibrancy from a “vast street presence”, while bespoke joinery and floating screens provide dimension and intimacy to the raw loft-like space. 

Blu Dot MD Brett Conroy shared that after discovering the brand in Dwell magazine in 2009 and visiting Blu Dot’s showroom in New York’s SoHo while on holiday in 2011, he was “instantly smitten”.

“I figured I wasn’t the only person in Australia with a desire for purposeful and beautiful, well-priced modern furniture with its unique point of view and great back story,” he continued. 

Expressing his enthusiasm for the brand, Conroy connected with its headquarters in Minnesota and showed how Blu Dot is a great fit in the Australian market, opening its first store in Sydney, NSW.

“We are thrilled to open Blu Dot’s second store in Australia. It’s been on the cards for some time,”  he added.

“Covid slowed our physical expansion, but that’s finally made us even more excited to be here in Melbourne.”

Blu Dot was established in 1997 by three university friends – two architects and a  sculptor – in a 30sqm space in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

John Christakos, Maurice Blanks, and Charlie Lazor set out to democratise good design by making beautifully crafted furniture and accessories based on modernist principles easy to acquire and enjoy.  

Since its launch, the brand’s products have been available throughout Asia, Europe and North America, with dedicated showrooms in Australia, Mexico and the US.