Uber cool, with affordable comfort

Started three years ago, A Pair of Chairs, at 80 Regent Street, is an eclectic mélange. Edgy industrial designs refitted for the urban interior; Danish influenced standards reupholstered in funky high-quality fabrics; vintage home wares; handbags; great art and other unique pieces all find a place in the showroom. With an eye honed by years in the fashion industry, both as a model and manager, and a diploma from New York’s Parsons Institute, Stewart brings it all together in a way that makes her shop a visual feast for the home stylist on a budget.

Stewart, her son Jesse and husband Mitchell Baer, a social worker, live upstairs from the shop. They feel it gives them a unique insight into what can work in a city home. “We love all the pieces,” says Stewart. “Some of them have been difficult to part with – quite a few have been put upstairs because we didn’t have space – and we’ve kept them because they’re too fantastic to sell.” A discussion between the pair quickly ensues and they talk about chairs, sideboards and couches which have passed through their lives like fondly remembered friends.

The location of the shop, in the heart of the city, is central to Stewart’s aesthetic. “There is a feeling here in Redfern that you can’t get anywhere else in Sydney. It’s the place – maybe the last place – where the hard-edged uber-cool reality of life is softened by a sense of community, neighbourhood and affordable comfort.” That description could easily be applied to the store itself.

The source of their furniture is a closely guarded secret but it’s clear that each item has a history in its own right. What elevates A Pair of Chairs above “olde wares” or simply antiques is the transformation that takes place with Stewart’s inspiration and hard work. What had been a painted industrial filing unit is now a black and buffed steel wardrobe; a set of lockers is coaxed into becoming a sideboard; and an office cabinet made in France and exported to Egypt finds its way to Regent Street to be stripped, repaired and shined into a magnificent wood and brass glass-fronted kitchen cupboard.

“Just about everything in here is in some way a labour of love,” says Stewart. One visit to A Pair of Chairs makes that obvious.

A Pair of Chairs is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11 to 5, or by appointment. The website is www.apairofchairs.com, the phone number 0416 016 151.

Photo: Andrew Collis - Each piece is a labour of love

Source: South Sydney Herald April 2010 www.southsydneyherald.com.au