Canberra designers assemble!

Only a number of weeks ago, Lonsdale Street in Braddon welcomed another boutique shopfront to its trendy hub of quality craft, coffee, food and design. Meet - Assemblage Project. 

Gemma Jammeson and Francesca Altenburg (of label 4 Minutes 33) and Karen Lee (of eponymous label, Karen Lee) are local womenswear designers who are dedicated to creating beautiful quality, comfortable and contemporary clothing for women with an appreciation for Australian-made, unique design. The three ladies graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) from CIT in 2008 and have been developing their labels ever since. Taking their businesses to the next level by collaborating and opening a retail space seemed like a natural progression for these three talented designers.

Assemblage Project is an intimate space. This works just fine for its inhabiting designers, who opened the store to have more direct interaction with their clientele and to maintain their design practice. The store features a workroom out back, which transforms the space into more of a studio than just a shop. This concept is really exciting for customers as it reinforces the unique and handmade quality of all the pieces. The fit-out and decor of the space is a huge testament to the creative eye and dedication of these women. They scrubbed and oiled the floorboards, hand-painted and waxed a feature wall using a special vanilla-bean paint, and custom-designed special metal-piping clothing racks. Together, these elements give the space a warm feel with an industrial edge.

Karen Lee in Assemblage Project  

Gemma Jammeson (4 Minutes 33) styling a customer

The clothing you will find in Assemblage Project is beautifully constructed and suited to a range of body shapes and ages. Karen Lee's designs promote a sense of movement and are designed for changing body forms. Her sizes are extremely versatile - a garment that fits perfectly as a long top on one body could look just as stylish as a loose dress on a smaller frame. 4 Minutes 33 garments transcend age, body shape and culture. The clothing is intended to represent a means of communicating poetic expression, an idea that is actually inherent in the story behind the label's name. 4 Minutes 33 is a reference to the John Cage composition of 4'33 of silence, and represents an idea of space as: pause, silence, observation, contemplation, space between body and the garment and the Japanese idea of 'Nakazora' - the space between ground and sky.  Together, Karen Lee and 4 Minutes 33 garments work well when styled together. The collections are both drawn from a monochrome palette with hues of vibrant primary colours, such as red, allowing their designs to be easily styled with other garments and perfect additions to any wardrobe. 

Gemma, Francesca and Karen have been busy making new stock and will be having a change of scenery this Saturday with a special stall at Hustle&Scout. Make sure you come and have a chat to the ladies, and if you haven't visited the store yet - get down there and check it out next time you're grabbing a hot cup of legal moonshine.

4 Minutes 33

Karen Lee