Creative director Alessio Fini stepping up to challenge of meeting demand for irresistible IRL experiences

In a highly curated digital world and amid the proliferation of artificial intelligence, the creative force behind CBD members-only club Lawson Flats is seemingly taking on the challenge of making real life attractive again. “Over my professional career, I’ve seen the rise of social media . . . and things like AI that just make real life smaller and smaller and digital life bigger and bigger,” Alessio Fini, in a rare interview, told The West Australian. “What’s been really fascinating is, you see this in every industry, how much better real life had to get to compete. “Going to get frozen yoghurt now is like an insane experience. Nobody would have thought that would have happened before all of this competition from other things and we’re part of that. “Our job (is to) make real life irresistible. We’ve got to create that attraction.” Mr Fini, son of prominent property developer Adrian Fini, divides his time between Perth and Melbourne working across design and hospitality projects in both States. The younger Fini began his career pursuing architecture and interior design. After studying in London, he went on to work for several leading architecture studios focused on luxury retail and art galleries globally, though was tight-lipped on specific details. Asked what global architecture trends Perth could expect in five years’ time, Mr Fini said the fast-paced nature of life made it hard to predict. “It’s really hard at the moment to know or to discern trends because they’re all coming up together at once,” the father-of-two said. “The internet is like this kind of dredging machine where we used to see one or two trends appear at once, (now) we’re seeing 20 or 30 rise up all at once.” Despite this, Mr Fini says there are some trends that are emerging as more enduring — including the traditional Japanese style of wabi sabi and “things that are off kilter”. “We are definitely coming to an interest in craft, lived-in, handmade, which I think is an expression of what we’ve been talking about (with) people trying to find (in-person) connection,” Mr Fini said. With Lawson Flats, Mr Fini — along with his father — set out to create the diverse members-only club he believed Perth needed. Its heritage walls and deep green carpets have seen many iterations of clubs in their days — including the historic all-women’s Karrakatta Club, which itself followed the Perth Club. While Mr Fini expects clubs to still exist well into the future, the bigger question is what form they will take. “If you go back, we had guild societies, every sort of industry had a club . . . you were part of a cricket club, a football club, a bowls club,” he said. “Now, people are going, ‘I don’t need the Chanel handbag, I need people’. I do think (clubs will still be around). What form they take, I don’t know.” As Lawson Flats approaches a milestone of 750 members, Mr Fini reckons it’s reflective of the pushback against screen-led connections. “(Based on) current rates, it’s going to happen sometime (in) July, August,” Mr Fini said, reiterating once membership hits 750, new members can expect a slight uptick in fees. “There’s a number around 1000, 1250 where . . . it’d be like a one in, one out.” Since its 2023 opening, the exclusive, three-level lifestyle club has provided “second living rooms and third spaces” for some of the State’s most creative minds and high-profile citizens, offering a jam-packed calendar of curated events — like chess and debate clubs, poetry reading and karaoke — as well as networking spaces. With Lawson Flats and the Finis’ first members’ club, Mello House at the State Buildings, already well-established, Mr Fini doesn’t expect another competitor to emerge on the scene anytime soon. He also pushed back on the notion there is a finite number of people in Perth interested in joining a members-only club. “One of our greatest cohorts of members is actually expats, newly arrived people, particularly those that have come from Hong Kong or the UK or other places where they’re really familiar with members’ clubs and they’re looking for community,” he said. “We have no shortage of those people arriving.” The Fini family also has a strong association with the South West. The family is set to take over the historic Caves House Hotel in Yallingup and is also driving the coastal development at Smiths Beach. Alessio declined to provide updates on both projects, saying: “All the available information has been publicised out there.”