People & Places
Joanna Rogers: Urban Balcony Pyrmont
1. Tell us a little about Urban Balcony
The Urban Balcony is all about making apartment living more livable. We focus on extending the living space of your apartment by integrating balconies and other outdoor spaces with the rest of the apartment. People come into our store looking for inspiration in our stylish range of products, which have been specifically chosen to suit balconies of all shapes and sizes. We also offer a design service for people wanting to create a more complete look for their balconies. Outdoor furniture, pots and plants and outdoor-themed art constitute the majority of our products.
2. What inspired you to start Urban Balcony?
We wanted to start a business that was both niche in its focus and relevant to our interests. We were living in London for a number of years and developed a home improvement passion after a renovation of our house. It was from this that we decided it was time to leave London and our day-jobs and strike out on our own in Sydney. In 2005, we opened The Urban Balcony on Crown St in Surry Hills with a mission to offer people living around the city what large furniture stores and plant nurseries weren’t and still aren’t able to – that is, apartment specific products in a convenient location. We opened our Pyrmont store in 2008 and merged the Surry Hills store with Pyrmont last year.
3. What are the latest trends for an urban balcony garden?
We’ve worked on the premise that we leap off from interior design trends and use those in the way that we style a balcony. In the last summer that took the form of more mix-and-match furniture where we would team a table with chairs from a different range. We’re also trying to introduce more elements to make the balcony feel like a living space. This has lead us to include more soft furnishings and texture through different weaves and wall panels. For us, this introduces challenges in sourcing stylish fabrics and materials suitable for outdoor environments. For Summer 2011, We’ll stick our neck out and say that yellow is our new orange.
4. Favourite Café
Our favourite café is Pasta Vera on Harris Street. Its just a few doors down and day after day they consistently make great espresso. They also put together a pretty awesome tuna nicoise salad that goes down well for a light lunch.
5. Part of Pyrmont you really love
I’m quite partial to the new park in the water police site. We’ve been down a few times with our 14 month old girl Ella for a picnic lunch. She loves climbing over the playground and fountains that have been installed.
5. Dream real life neighbour
Kevin McLeod (of Grand Designs fame). Seems like he’d be good for a chat about our never-ending garden and design DIY projects.
6. Last Movie Saw and Enjoyed
We don’t get to the movies much now we have little Ella. The last movie that we saw was in our own living room and was “State of Play” with Russell Crowe – an excellent journalist conspiracy thriller type movie
7. Passionate about
I guess we would be most passionate about Urban Balcony – in fact we don’t talk about much else! We never switch off - when we are out or shopping ourselves, we’re looking for new ideas, and seeing how we can apply them to our designs or the way we do business. In the end, we have got a massive amount of satisfaction (and frustration in equal measures!) in growing our idea to reality.
The Urban Balcony
206 Harris Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009, (p) 02 8021-6456
(w) www.urbanbalcony.com.au
Other People
Sailing Sydney Harbour from Pyrmont – All Aboard
What to do on a sunny afternoon in Pyrmont? How about sailing Sydney Harbour and enjoying fabulous food and wine with your friends or work colleagues.
This is exactly what I had the opportunity to do recently with some great people. We met in the Terrace Room at the Australian National Maritime Museum. This superb venue has floor to ceiling windows looking out onto amazing views of Darling Harbour and the city skyline – yes, very nice! Here we enjoyed coffee and pastries by Bayleaf Catering before boarding our luxury yacht with Sydney by Sail – located at Festival Pontoon at the National Maritime Museum and at Cockle Bay Marina in Darling Harbour – to partake in the afternoon regatta. Leaving from out the front of the Museum, we began our sailing adventure, passing the spectacular views of the city and the decommissioned naval destroyer HMAS Vampire.
Sailing out further into Sydney Harbour, we began to pick up speed which made it all the more fun! Each of us also had the opportunity to play sailor by having a go at steering the yacht….T’was very cool. It was also great to see close up key Sydney landmarks including the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Luna Park, Kirribilli House and Garden Island. Being a Wednesday afternoon, we passed other sailing enthusiasts enjoying the gorgeous blue skies and sunshine as a backdrop. Wow, I could really get to enjoy this lifestyle permanently.
As the afternoon meandered along our sturdy skipper took control so we could kick back and indulge in a delicious lunch and partake in yet more fine wines also provided by Bayleaf Catering – these nice people also operate and provide the yummy menu for Yots Cafe & Bar and the adjoining Port Hole kiosk at the Maritime Museum. Before we knew it, our sensational afternoon was soon to come to an end. We headed back to Pyrmont, passing more gorgeous small coves and beaches nestled along the Sydney Harbour foreshore. Upon returning to the dock, we went back into the Terrace Room for prize-giving, canapes and more champagne. What a perfect way to end the afternoon!
If you are looking for a team building exercise or thinking about what to do for your next event, why not consider a regatta or Treasure Hunt around Sydney Harbour. Or you may simply wish to learn to sail. Either way, look no further than the harbour foreshore in Pyrmont.
Other Places
