The Scandi enclave in Fyshwick
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On the corner of Isa and Newcastle Streets there stands a little piece of Scandinavia.
Well, not technically. But if you’re in the market for classic Scandi designer furniture then the Sears Morton showroom provides an enclave of Danish, Nordic and Swedish pieces which make it difficult to remember you are in industrial Fyshwick.
Owner Tony Ayres has a strong philosophy about furniture and homewares.
Buy once, buy well.
It seems at odds with our current cultural obsession with constantly acquiring new things and chucking out the old.
But at Sears Morton, Tony and his team rarely if ever sells two sofas or bespoke leather chairs to the same family.
“They come back for more pieces, but they don’t come back to replace what they have bought. It’s built to last.”
A family-owned business for more than 60 years, Sears Morton goes in the opposite direction to the mass-produced, discount chain stores that lure most people in for a quick and cheap piece of furniture.
Instead, Sears Morton features some of the best Scandinavian furniture brands in the world – including Stressless, IMG, and Brunstad.
Sears Morton was the first company to bring Stressless to Australia and is the only stockist for Brunstad.
It also supports quality Australian furniture design houses including Toleda from Tasmania, Garstone from Brisbane, Melbourne’s Tessa and Pfitzner from Adelaide.
Tony, who has made enough buying trips to Norway to know it almost better than Canberra, is the voice of authority on bespoke furniture, form, leather, comfort, style and wood.
In fact he is obsessed with beautiful wood, and says Sears provides expertise on custom tables.
“A big part of our business is commissioning custom designs in Australian timbers. If you want a table a certain length, width or height, we have you covered.”
While Tony accepts that some people will always choose to save money by buying disposable furniture and go it alone with an Allen key, he has a loyal clientele who want to invest in pieces they will love forever – and that they won’t find in their friends’ homes.
He reasons that an investment in quality furniture lasts longer than splurging on a holiday which ends after a few weeks.
“I always say that it’s a better investment to buy a sofa you are going to relax in for decades, or the enormous family dinner table you are going to share meals over and make memories with to last a lifetime.”
“When you sit down and talk to people about the important things to them— it is about the home and being relaxed and comfortable and about having the family congregate at the family dinner table and keeping kids talking and not off in their rooms on their devices.”
“We help people live better with the furniture we provide.”
This includes direct advice on how to choose the leather that is best going to adapt to family circumstances and suit lifestyle.
Sears Morton attracts customers from around the region—and sells to everyone from business people to farmers.
“When someone comes to me for a recliner, we talk about their job, whether they are going to come in from their workshop and want to sit down in work clothes, how they like to relax and how the piece is going to fit in the home.
That will affect the sort of leather they need, so we really try and match each customer with the perfect chair or sofa.
Sears Morton also stocks a range of fabric-covered sofas and a dizzying array of fabric choices from design houses such as Warwick, Zepel and Wortley.
And given the quality of each piece, Tony reckons a lot of designs will stand the test of time— – becoming classics that will be handed down the generations.
Sears Morton is located at the corner of Isa and Newcastle Streets in Fyshwick and is open between 9am-5.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-4pm weekends and public holidays.
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