About Urbanities

About Urbanities Gifts & Homewares Online Stores

Urbanities is an online destination of designer products for the home, lifestyle and the office. When you shop with us, at any of our online stores, you'll find a unique array of innovative and interesting products across a whole range of categories - homewares, kitchen ware, games, gadgets, designer toys, wall art and things for kids and toddlers. Whether practical or decorative, most products we have are simply included for their "coolness" factor!

Urbanities is currently an online only retailer (although this may change!) and you can find all our products and brands at Urbanities.com.au and Urbanities.co.nz. Our company is Urban Refinery Pty Ltd and we are based in Ultimo, Sydney Australia.

About the Founders

Urbanities was founded by Charmyne Lee and Ivan Mantelli - we run the business, source the products and are the people that you speak to for customer support! Charmyne has a background in design and fashion and Ivan is a former corporate strategist and investment banker.

Our Product and Gift Ideas Blog

If you want to know more then check out the the Gifts Ideas Blog for new product releases, news, product reviews, designer profiles and anything else we want to write about!

Our Philosophy

We have been inspired to create Urbanities along the lines of the zakka department stores in Japan that stock a lot of fun lifestyle products, however, since then we have expanded our product range and brands and offer both novelty gifts, high end luxury homewares and unique products that you won't normally find in Australia and New Zealand.

Our philosophy is to:

  • Bring you unique products - no more products you have seen everywhere else!
  • Focus on quality products - you won't find any run of the mill daily deals here!
  • Offer a fun and easy to use online shopping site - if not email us and we'll help you!
  • Be more eco friendly - we use biodegradable, packaging, recycle boxes...see Eco Packaging!
  • Fast and helpful customer service - got a question before or after a sale, just ask!

Read more about the Urbanities Philosophy.

Designer Collaborations

We are always keen to hear from designers that want to maybe create a new range or limited edition series of a design. If you're a product designer and want to discuss stocking a unique or limited edition product range then get in touch with us using the Supplier Contact form.

Wholesale and Trade Orders

Our parent company The Urban Refinery is an importer and distributor of selected brands and products in Australia and New Zealand. We represent I Heart Guts Plushies & Tees, Maquino Personal Scales and Prime Nakamura Bento Boxes, Paperself Paper Lashes, Ideaco Homewares and more. If you are a retailer (with an ABN) learn more at Wholesale Orders.

Press Inquiries, Product Reviews and Photo Shoots

We are always keen to work with bloggers and media that want to review or feature our products and tell the World a little more about Urbanities.

Please drop us a note at Contact Us and tell us what you'd like to cover. Sometimes we have product samples available for publications and bloggers that offer credit back to us.

Want to Contact Us, Need Help?

Most info and questions are answered in our Help and FAQs section, however feel free to contact us any day of the week for product questions, support or business inquiries using the Urbanities Contact Form. We usually answer within the hour and within 24 hours at the latest.

The Urbanities Team