Postcard from Sydney
Every trip to Sydney becomes a small education in looking closer. Between meetings and material runs, we carve out time for the places that quietly inspire and invigorate.
Consider this our shortlist of places worth seeking out next time you find yourself in Sydney. It's our invitation to see the city the way we do.
Paramount House Hotel
We start where we always start: a small hotel that understands restraint better than most five-star addresses twice its size. Paramount House sits inside the old Paramount Pictures building in Surry Hills, and the renovation has kept the bones honest. Original windows, considered material choices, nothing overworked. It's the kind of place that reminds you good design doesn't need to announce itself. We've stayed here enough times now that it feels less like a hotel and more like a second studio.
W: www.paramounthousehotel.com
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Above The Cloud
A short walk from Paramount House is a store most visitors walk straight past. Above the Clouds deals in all things cool factor. Sneaker fiends will thrive here, but more than that, treat it as you would a small gallery. The curation is exacting, and the space itself has the same quiet confidence we look for in everything we make. Worth a visit even if footwear isn't on your list. It's a useful reminder of where creativity can take a space.
W: www.abovethecloudsstore.com
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Capybara Bathing
Sydney has no shortage of bathhouses chasing the wellness trend, but Capybara is doing something more considered. The spaces are dim, deliberate, and built around stillness rather than spectacle. Closer to the bathhouses we've encountered in Japan and Korea than anything performative. We went in expecting an hour and stayed for three. If your Sydney itinerary needs a pause button, this is it.
IG: capybara.bathing
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Haco
Dinner took us to Haco, a small Japanese restaurant where the room does as much work as the menu. Low light, considered materials, a kitchen that clearly understands restraint as a design principle and not just a culinary one. The kind of place we'd happily send a client before we'd send them somewhere louder and more talked about. On our next Sydney trip, we'll be dining here for their tempura lunch menu.
IG: haco.sydney
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Golden Age Cinemas
Tucked beneath Paramount House is Golden Age, a boutique cinema that's held onto its charm from a bygone era. It's small, unapologetically old-world, and built around a sense of occasions: drinks beforehand, then a single screening in a room that still feels like the cinemas of decades past before everything got louder and bigger.
IG: ourgoldenage
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Between Lines
Take a leisurely pace at Between Lines, a small bookstore with the kind of curation that feels personal rather than algorithmic. Design, art, and architecture books chosen by someone who's clearly read them all. It's the sort of shop that gives you a sense of a city's taste, distilled into a single room. We left with more books than we had room for in the suitcase.
IG: btwn.lns
Images: Courtesy of IG account
Share with us
We'll continue to share postcards from cities we visit and places that shape how we think about design. If there's somewhere you think we should see next time, we'd love to hear about it.