White plaster walls, concrete floors, and grey marble fixtures helped Australian practice Adam Kane Architects avoid an "overly feminine" aesthetic inside the Mariana Hardwick bridal boutique in Melbourne.
Decked out in cool tones and natural materials, the Mariana Hardwick boutique has been designed by Adam Kane Architects to be the antithesis to typical bridal retail spaces.

"We wanted to ensure the design wasn't just a stereotypically opulent, and sometimes overly feminine space which you often find in most bridal boutiques," said Adam Kane, founder of the practice.
"Instead, we sought a level of refinement that draws inspiration from European retail and even museums ? places that have a more pared-back aesthetic."
The 1,400-square-metre store occupies the ground floor of a Victorian-era hotel in the south of Melbourne. It had sat vacant for several years before being let out to various tenants, leaving behind a rabbit warren of rooms, each with different fit-outs.
Kane and his team first set about removing any existing partition walls and past interventions to form a simple, open-plan interior where the wedding dresses could take centre stage.
Pared-back retail spaces like the David Chipperfield-designed Valentino store in New York ? where almost every surface is made from grey terrazzo ? were the main source of inspiration for the practice.

"We wanted to replicate the restraint and timelessness associated with these designs,"...