ARTCLUB By Heidi Middleton Opens Permanent Space On James Street
full circle moment
By Kiri Johnston | 24th October 2025After two highly anticipated pop-ups, Heidi Middleton, co-founder of sass & bide and one of Australia’s most influential design minds, has officially opened the first permanent ARTCLUB flagship and gallery space in Brisbane.
In a wild, full-circle moment, it sits in the very space where the sass & bide boutique most recently stood. Just a few doors down from the original store on the corner of James and Doggett Streets, where I, like so many others growing up in Brisbane, used to shop in my teens. I would save up for their statement dresses, embellished tees and rats leggings, never imagining that years later I’d be writing about Heidi’s return to this same street, not as a nostalgic revival, but as a creative evolution.
Beyond retail
ARTCLUB is more than a retail space, it’s a living expression of Middleton’s multidisciplinary world. Part gallery, part atelier, part sculpture-filled sanctuary, it’s where fashion, art, and design collide gently rather than loudly.
Five-metre abstract sculptures anchor the open space, while a six-metre gallery wall showcases Middleton’s original artworks. Sculptural brass railings arc through the room, blurring the line between installation and garment display. Above, on a sunlit mezzanine, the atelier hums, every garment cut, sewn and hand-finished in real time.
Each piece is created in limited runs or made to order from remnant or natural fabrics, slow fashion quietly upheld. Clients can request bespoke adaptations, watching their pieces evolve upstairs in the atelier.
A poetic return
“It feels deeply poetic,” Middleton says. “Returning to Brisbane after twenty-five years and reimagining the same address through a new creative lens feels like coming home, both literally and creatively.”
This isn’t just a brand launch, it’s personal. After decades of living and creating in Sydney and Paris, Middleton has returned to Queensland to live, to work, and to shape ARTCLUB into a permanent artistic hub, a place where craftsmanship, community and storytelling matter more than speed or spectacle.
Heidi Middleton in her new ARTCLUB space on James Street
A space for art lovers
Now open, ARTCLUB feels like an invitation to slow down. To wander, to observe, to touch. Clothing with soul. Art you can wear, art you can collect. Pieces that are made, not mass-produced, and finished in front of you.The space is designed to evolve, part gallery, part studio, part gathering place. Collaborations, exhibitions and intimate creative events are already in motion. And in 2026, ARTCLUB will grow again, introducing a curated collection of Objet Trouvé, limited-edition furniture and sculptural design pieces sourced from Middleton’s travels and artistic practice.
Visit ARTCLUB
Shop 6, 46 James Street, Fortitude ValleyMonday–Friday: 9:30am–5:30pmSaturday: 9:30am–5pmSunday: 10am–4pm
James Street has seen Heidi Middleton before, but this time is more permanent, personal and profound. Not just a store. Not just a gallery. A creative home that has finally come full circle, for Heidi, and for all of us who grew up in its orbit.
