Black Blaze Reopens Its Paddington Flagship
Designed by Strutt Studios, Black Blaze’s renewed Oxford Street store brings fragrance, sculptural objects and natural materials into an intimate, domestic setting.
In Sydney’s Paddington, Black Blaze has opened the doors to a renewed flagship that takes its cues from the home. Warm timber, cork-clad walls and clay-toned tiles form the backdrop to a collection spanning fragrance and sculptural objects, brought together within a 36-square-metre interior by Strutt Studios.
The store occupies the brand’s original address at 58 Oxford Street, where it first opened in 2019. For founders Joe Zhou and Ray Zheng, remaining in Paddington maintains a connection to the neighbourhood while allowing the interior to reflect the breadth of the collection today.
“After six years at this address, we wanted to consider how the space could evolve with us,” says Zhou. “For Black Blaze, fragrance and objects have always belonged to the same conversation.”
That relationship informs the design. Drawing on the brand’s evolving visual identity and packaging palette, Strutt Studios has developed a restrained interior in which texture carries much of the expression. Timber joinery introduces warmth, while cork and clay tones lend depth to the compact space. Concealed lighting and integrated shelving establish a clear framework for the collections without competing with the pieces on display.
An island counter and dining-style table give the store a familiar, domestic scale. These elements soften the formality of retail, placing the products within an arrangement that feels connected to everyday living. The emphasis is on how an object might sit within a room, and how its material, shape or scent might contribute to the atmosphere around it.
Founded in Sydney in 2016, Black Blaze began with home fragrance inspired by nature. Its collection has since expanded to include pieces that explore a similar interest in form and material. The renewed flagship brings that evolution into focus, presenting scented candles, diffusers, room sprays and incense alongside sculptural objects in marble, brass and ceramic.
Seen together, the collections suggest a shared approach to the home. Fragrance becomes one element of a larger composition, alongside the texture of a surface or the presence of an object. Selected works by local makers extend this conversation, connecting Black Blaze’s own pieces with Australia’s wider creative community.
The project has been shortlisted in the Retail category of the 2026 Interior Design Excellence Awards, IDEA. Within its modest footprint, the renewed flagship offers a considered expression of the brand’s expanding outlook, creating a setting for the scents, materials and small rituals that shape daily life.
