Located in the former Royal George Hotel in Kyneton, Kabinett is a department store with beautifully curated homewares, rare jewellery and accessories, unique finds from across the globe, niche fragrances and original designs and furniture. Expect a blend of old and new, found and designed, and a mixing of eras, for the dedicated admirers of history, patina and the unintentional beauty created through decades of hard worn use.
The creative duo behind Kabinett is Melissa Macfarlane and Frank Moylan, both well-known for their credentials from the Royal George Hotel in Kyneton, the Farmers Arms in Daylesford and The Crimean in North Melbourne.
Kabinett was previously located on Piper Street since 2009 and was relocated into the hotel during COVID, to offer a lifestyle focused and dedicated destination inspired by memories collected through years of travelling the world. The offering expands across two floors with Kabinett downstairs and Botanik cocktail bar upstairs.
The buying principles of the Kabinett team are driven by a sense of history, patina, design and collection. The store is immersive, inspirational, authentic, and curated with integrity. Kabinett seeks out the unexpected and unusual and works with small studios from around the world. Original furniture and objects designed by Melissa make the offering and buying experience truly unique.
Visitors can expect jewellery, not found elsewhere, that has a story to tell, as well as furniture pieces and interior objects designed by Melissa or ordered in small numbers. Fragrances from France, soaps from Portugal, mirrors, and dining table settings that evoke celebration and gatherings with friends can all be found. For those who wish to engage the talent behind the store, Kabinett offers an interior design service.
Melissa heads a team of creatives who specialise in interior design, visual merchandising, graphic design. Their work is the highlight of the newly renovated Alimentari Goods Store on Smith Street in Collingwood.
The Kabinett ethos revolves around curation – the act or instance of pulling together, sifting through and selecting for presentation. Kabinett’s carefully curated homewares collection encourages people to think about what resonates with them and their interiors. Furniture, artistic works, objects and ephemera all form a part of this considered process.
Melissa said: “We covet unique pieces that showcase incredible design, function, aesthetics, and sensory enjoyment. We are not driven by era, trends, or mass marketing. It’s about character over cost, and a unique and personal ambience over contrived styling. We are maximalist and we are minimalist; we embrace wabi-sabi; we love colour and we love monochrome; we see the value in texture; we think old is just as good as new. Our homes should not be generic, and so neither is our homewares.”
The charm doesn’t end at Kabinett. Upstairs visitors can find Botanik, a beautiful cocktail bar and bottle shop specialising in the finest local and imported aromatic and botanical infused alcohol such as amari, aperitivi and vermouths. The theme continues with a collection of glassware and cocktail making equipment imported from the US and around the world. Expect interesting and unique products, almost all of which can’t be found at mainstream bottle shops. Botanik is the perfect place to stop before dinner, after dinner or mid-afternoon for that in-between beverage.
Kabinett
24 Piper Street Kyneton, Victoria 3444
