Melbourne Design Week Exclusive Preview: NAU Billo Armchair Unveiled in Four Unique Fabrics

During Melbourne Design Week ‘24, MATTERS returns to the elegant Villa Alba Museum featuring a handful of renowned designers from both Australia and the Netherlands.

As you wander through the grandeur of this historic estate, you'll stumble upon a sight that captures the essence of contemporary elegance—the exclusive preview of the Billo Armchair by NAU, designed by the renowned Adam Goodrum. The Billo Armchair is part of a new modular collection, composed of voluptuous billowing forms, integrated bolster, and relaxed tailoring, ensuring cloud-like comfort that embraces you with open arms. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, each element of the Billo collection embodies sophistication and functionality, elevating the concept of lounging to new heights.

While this is only an exclusive preview, you won't have to wait long to explore the complete Billo collection as it will be available for viewing in our showrooms and for ordering later in the year. Stay tuned for more information.

Visit the installation at the Villa Alba Museum, 44 Walmer St, Kew. Open from 10am - 5pm daily from Friday 24 to Monday 27 May 2024. Limited edition Billo pieces will be available for purchase after the event. Contact your local showroom for more information. 

The exclusive preview of the Billo Armchair at Villa Alba is showcased in four exquisite fabrics.

First, there's Foglizzo's Haired Hide in shocking pink—a daring departure from convention that defies expectations and redefines elegance. A cowhide that has been tanned to soften the hairs, which are left intact but shaved for a uniform finish. Sophisticated and supple, this versatile collection can be used as upholstery or as a natural floor covering. Each hide is unique in colour, size, and feel.

Foglizzo's Haired Hide is available from South Pacific Fabrics. You can find more information about this fabric here.

Next, behold the bold allure of Dedar's Tiger Beat in the 004 colourway. The coat of a tiger, magnetic and mysterious, comes to life in new colours in this jacquard velvet with a textured Ottoman ground. The curvy lines animate the ground, and the colour combinations speak with this regal animal's most playful and hypnotic side.

Dedar’s Tiger Beat is available from South Pacific Fabrics. You can find more information about this fabric here.

Finally, your eyes are drawn to the mesmerising hues of Dedar's Jamu Jungle. An irregular labyrinth of archaic inspiration evokes the stylised language of Cubism and the intriguing atmospheres of the speakeasies in vogue in the twenties. This luminous jacquard velvet, endowed with a pronounced chromatic identity, recalls wild animal skins in natural tones and the multicoloured plumage of tropical birds when interpreted in various vibrant colourways. Hardwearing and soft, it lends itself to intensive upholstery use and curtains.

Dedar’s Jamu Jungle is available from South Pacific Fabrics. You can find more information about this fabric here.

Event Gallery

Photo Credit: Nicole Williams

As you sink into Billo Armchair’s plush cushions and feel the soft caress of each fabric against your skin, you'll understand why NAU is synonymous with uncompromising quality and exquisite craftsmanship.

ABOUT NAU

NAU is a contemporary Australian design brand, established in 2017 by Richard Munao (founder and director of Cult) offering furniture, lighting and accessories by a collective of Australia’s most spirited designers. New by necessity, Australia’s design culture stems from a place of isolation. With influences that are unique from the rest of the world, NAU utilises and embraces Australia’s extreme natural landscapes and unique materials. NAU has carved out a resourceful, hands-on and open-minded design culture and is the embodiment of a fresh-thinking, broad-spectrum approach. Producing designs suitable for residential and commercial spaces, the NAU collection is reductive in form, honest in materiality and timeless in style.

ABOUT THE SPONSORS

Founded in 1976, Dedar is a family-run fabric house located close to Como, in the heart of a manufacturing district. Dedar experiments and innovates to attain product perfection through an ongoing dialogue with those craftsmen and textile specialists who are most familiar with the techniques employed in the production of excellent fabrics. Characterized by seductive colour palettes and unexpected patterns, Dedar’s fabrics combine precious yarns with research into fibre technology to offer various solutions for curtains, upholstery and wall covering of timeless elegance.

ABOUT VILLA ALBA

Villa Alba has been owned and managed by the Villa Alba Museum Incorporated since 2004. This organisation evolved from the Villa Alba Preservation Committee established under the former City of Kew in 1984 as a result of community interest in the preservation of Villa Alba. Investigations into the mansion’s heritage fabric commenced in 1984 followed by cost estimates towards restoration. Since that time buildings surrounding the house have been demolished, the site boundaries have changed, and the original Committee succeeded by the present incorporated body, Villa Alba Museum Inc.

Villa Alba Museum
44 Walmer St, Kew 
Friday 24 to Monday 27 May 
10am - 5pm

Cult is the purveyor of the best in international design with a portfolio of over 35 brands across furniture, lighting, accessories, storage and kitchen – predominantly from Denmark and Italy. Established in 1997 as a showroom destination, Cult has evolved and diversified into a design house that spans more broadly across product development, manufacturing and retailing of Australian design; together with the education and advocacy for authentic design, both local and international.