Dappertude was lucky enough to be invited to the Cocolea Furniture showroom in Yarraville during our trip to Melbourne, upon arrival we were astounded by what this hidden gem had to offer and couldn’t believe our eyes.
What inspired Cocolea’s humble beginnings as Christian, Founder and Owner of the brand iterated, was a love for aviation and design. It was the opportunity to provide that passion by way of exquisite and beautiful furniture at affordable costs to the everyday individual to experience some class in their homes without having the necessary requisite of being rich or famous.
Walking into the warehouse where Cocolea houses its unique aviation-inspired products, one can see the lengths Cocolea has gone to make it an experience rather than just a simple showroom. All the renovations like the mirror and crystal stairs, the crystal lighting, and resin floors, the copper cracks when one navigates the space was completely done by Christian himself.
Using his talents and passion, he was able to keep the industrial feel of the original warehouse site and balance that delicately with a subtle luxury that is guaranteed to give interested buyers a reason to stay.
With such a vibrant visual display, he hopes to also attract some creative minds that need an office to share in the space as well.
Looking around the showroom, there are some unorthodox but absolutely intriguing items that you couldn’t possibly get from a standard IKEA flat pack box. Almost like water and oil despite both brands being furniture, furnishing and fittings, Christian touched on some items like propellers that were beautifully propped up against the wall.
These are real propellers sourced from America and Canada. There was also a vintage toy plane that’s 70 years old from London that sits in the middle of the room on the 2nd level of the showroom. To one side there are solid copper flood lights that are 80 years old that were originally part of an old Japanese War ship that has been repurposed to work as a lamp with an Edison bulb inside.
As wonderfully special and excitingly different these items are, Cocolea has not stopped there and has announced in the next 12 – 24 months, they will be looking into doing a whole range of new designs and styles in velvet, polished brass and resin which will not only complement their existing range but be very different from anything else, anyone else has out there.
Keep an eye on this space as we continue to work with Cocolea with bated breath and unbridling enthusiasm to see what they have in store for all of us, now let’s finish this foosball game.
