In the next episode of our Focus On series, we sit down with John Kapos, the architect-turned-founder behind Mecque, in his light-filled concept store on Balmain's Darling Street.
Mecque deals in homewares, lifestyle, and furniture, drawn from some of the most considered designers working today. Many of its pieces exist nowhere else in Australia. “This was never a plan of mine,” John admits. “I had an idea. There weren’t many products out there that excited me, so I thought, let me go and seek out my own.” What began with one designer, then two, unfurled year on year into a global roster, until the roster itself demanded a home, and became a store of its own.
John trained as an architect, and the eye never left him. Too many homewares felt “same same” to him, so he set out to prove there was another way. “I think it’s the collection of products that is what makes it unique,” he explains. “You could have this really high-end designer chair, but then next to it you can have an inexpensive item from a flea market in Paris. It’s the atmosphere. It’s what it brings to the space.”
Much of what fills those shelves is gathered from Europe, Denmark chiefly, with tributaries running through France, Belgium, Greece, and London. “I’m fortunate to travel quite often and get to find beautiful things from different parts of the world and bring them home,” he says. Almost everything on the floor carries a small history behind it, from the olive oil pressed by a family in Crete to ceramics handcrafted in Puglia by a family whose tradition stretches back more than 400 years. “There’s a human behind every product here,” he says.
John’s attention to detail runs right through to the senses, too. “Whether it’s the lighting, the music, or the temperature, they all work simultaneously to create an experience,” he says. The store’s curated playlist, for example, rarely goes unnoticed by customers. “People walk in and say, ‘Your playlist is incredible,’ and that’s great, because people are noticing every detail I’ve thought of. It’s that one per cent that makes all the difference.”
It's also what led to Mecque's most unexpected undertaking yet: a signature scent, commissioned purely to round out the sensory experience of the space. “The scent would go down Darling Street, and people followed the smell and walked into the store,” John says. One customer bought a table straight off the showroom floor, then rang a week later, slightly embarrassed: “My husband thinks I’m insane. I’ve been sniffing the table.” It had simply drawn in the store’s fragrance over months on display, and she’s been buying the candle religiously ever since. “Ultimately, my purpose isn’t just selling an object,” John says. “It’s selling a feeling.”
John was fascinated with design from the start. "I feel like I came into this world loving design, always fascinated with buildings and space. I just knew from young that's what I wanted to get into." Raised in a big Greek family around a table that seated twenty, John learnt early that a home is a feeling long before it’s ever a floor plan. And everything within it should be something you love and connect with, never something bought simply because it looks good on a shelf. “Your house should reflect you as a person,” he says. “It’s the same way that you dress yourself. Your fashion is authentic to you, so the same goes with your home.”
Ask what's next for Mecque, and the answer's right out the back. John gestures to the courtyard behind the Darling Street store, where he hopes to one day bring in a barista and a lounge setup for people to linger. “Everyone thinks I’m crazy, so I don’t know if that will happen,” he laughs. “But watch this space. It will happen.” It’s a fitting ambition for a neighbourhood he clearly holds dear. “We’re very fortunate to be in Balmain. It’s this beautiful peninsula right in the harbour, and we’ve got an amazing community here.”
In a store built from Danish glassware, French incense, Cretan olive oil, and Melbourne perfume, it’s the intentional hand behind every choice that stays with you, the same way a scent can outlast the room it was made for. On Darling Street, right in the heart of Balmain, John hasn’t built a shop so much as a feeling you can walk into, and, if you’re not careful, one you'll carry out the door with you.
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