To wander and Rōam: From Perth to Palm Springs

by Deborah Thomas

Block’s Mark Braddock and Rōam’s Romina Gil De Matos reflect on the longevity of their collaborative friendship spanning more than 15 years.

The concept of longevity in holistic wellbeing is not just about living longer, but living better, embracing the passing of time with more considered approaches to choices affecting lifestyle, mindset and vitality, with benefits enhanced and improved with the help of science and technology. Can the concept of ‘longevity’ be applied to the creative industry, in particular, to long-lasting collaborative friendships and creative pursuits?

MARK BRADDOCK FIRST met Romina Gil De Matos in 2003. Mark was in his early thirties and Romina was only 23. Their first creative collaboration was to deliver an exciting brand identity for a conceptual retail store that Romina was opening with her partner at the time selling designer homewares. The tiny store with a glass shopfront and concave ceiling was ironically named Test Tube and was positioned off a side street in the Perth suburb of Mount Lawley. Although no longer in existence, Test Tube was considered a pioneer retail store in Perth showcasing an innovative selection of internationally-sourced design objects previously unseen in Australia at the time. 

Test Tube was soon followed by Zekka, another challenger concept store focusing on cutting-edge international menswear. A seasoned traveller, Romina’s main motivation for both stores was to create an elevated retail space that could belong anywhere in the world. This was 2006, a time before online shopping, when tastemakers had to physically travel overseas to Europe, Japan or America to be able to own a lacquered-steel Moon Dish by Munich designer Matthias Demacker, or to drape themselves head-to-toe in the rough-hewn jersey of Rick Owens. Although both businesses were successful at the time, life, as it often does, took some turns. Test Tube was sold, Zekka expanded into womenswear, Romina and her partner parted ways, and by 2011, both Test Tube and Zekka were permanently closed. During this time, Mark’s wife and Block’s CEO Tanya Sim was also diagnosed and undergoing treatment for breast cancer. 

Romina freelanced at Block for a short while before moving to New York in 2014. There were several unrealised projects they worked on together: a café on Mount Street, a hair elixir oil, but these were nothing more than ideas, perhaps a way of remaining creatively connected, a way of keeping in touch. Whilst Mark stayed put in Perth, Romina moved again, this time heading West, to California, where she settled down and fully embraced the sun-washed desert lifestyle of Palm Springs, selling mid-century homes for a living before becoming a mother. They sent the odd text every once in a while, enquiring how each other was, questions about work, lockdowns, health and family life. 

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