Commercial fitout: Luxury Serviced Apartments by Dellis Furniture & Amalfi Tiles
Case Study: Furniture fit-out for luxury serviced apartments
Challenge: Design, manufacture, supply and export over 300 furniture pieces
Completion: July 2016 | Location: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Overview:
Last year the team at Dellis Furniture Commercial was commissioned by Amalfi Tiles to fully furnish an apartment block high up in the mountains with gorgeous views over the harbour of Port Moresby, which was going through a refurbishment. Dellis manufactured custom-designed furniture, handcrafted in Australia, as well as sourced and supplied wall décor like mirrors and artwork, table and floor lighting, soft furnishings, and floor coverings like rugs within budget, and ahead of time.
Key factors:
Weather conditions in PNG are harsh, with lots of salt in the air, and the heat and humidity creating a lot of moisture that usually ends up corroding cheap Chinese imported furniture very quickly, so the key was to manufacture the furniture in Australia, using high-grade materials.
Case Study:
When the team at Dellis Furniture Commercial first met with Amalfi Tiles to discuss this project, we knew from the outset that this job had its obstacles. The clients brief was to fit out these luxury serviced apartments with high grade furniture, quickly and within budget. We could have easily supplied furniture from the hundreds of suppliers we deal with, but we knew we wouldn't have the freedom to change designs, pick hardware, alter measurements and so forth, so manufacturing the furniture locally was the direction we went with for these reasons above and a lot more!
The quality of the product had to withstand the weather conditions Papua New Guinea was known for, so we advised our clients that using moisture resistant veneer was a great solution so that we didn't have the common issue of cracking and warping, a problem the client had last time they imported furniture into PNG, using lower end suppliers. We also used other manufacturing techniques so that we minimised joint movement in the joinery of the loose furniture items, worked with various factories to make sure we had consistency in timber and finishing, and also saved our clients' money in the process.
"The team at Dellis Commercial went the extra mile for this project designing, manufacturing and delivering high standard custom furniture pieces that work really well with the apartments. We loved working with them!"
Jonathan Tsoupis, Director at Amalfi Tiles
For all the bespoke upholstered items, including sofas, armchairs, bedheads, and ottomans, commercial grade fabrics were used, as well as high density foams, high grade webbing, and kiln dried hardwood frames. Our client, who has their own interior designer we collaborated with throughout this project, had hand-picked fabrics to look and feel luxurious, and work with the colour palette chosen for the project, to tie in with wall colours, the large format tiles on the floors, and rest of the interior and exterior architecture.
Overall, nearly 300 custom made pieces were designed in-house, and made in Sydney to export over to these high-end serviced apartments.
"The freedom to collaborate on the look we were going for, as well as choosing the finishes that would match my fabric choices, really added to the depth of this project."
Jason Mifsud, Interior Designer at Amalfi Tiles
These luxury apartments are leased to expats, so it was one of our client's goals to make sure the furniture selection didn't feel as though it was picked "off the shelf", giving our clients a point of difference over other competition in the luxury apartment market in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, as well as giving them value for money. The team at Dellis loved working on this project, as we had a lot of obstacles we needed to overcome, and it was a challenge, but we saw this as an opportunity to show our clients what Dellis could do, and we passed with flying colours!
Some of the team had the opportunity to go over to PNG in December, and work on site when all the furniture was being put into place. Seeing the finished products in the penthouses and apartments was really special for us and obviously our clients too. The furniture worked so well with the space, and made those amazing views even more special!
