White shelves hang from crumbly concrete walls in Bulgarian shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

Architect Elia Nedkov paired exposed concrete with clean white displays for the interior of this shoe shop in the historical centre of Sofia, Bulgaria.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

Elia Nedkov designed the shop for footwear brand La Scarpa, stripping back layers of paint and wallpaper to expose the shell of the old 1960s building. A raw concrete wall lines one side of the shop while two ageing columns occupy the centre of the space.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

“The minimal use of colour and materials of the newly added elements delicately coexist with the raw, old structure of bare walls and concrete,” said Nedkov.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

Minimal white L-shaped display shelves are mounted onto the concrete, with lights installed behind them. “They appear detached from the wall to keep the contrast between old and new,” the architect told Dezeen.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

A sideboard with a glossy white acrylic surface spans the plasterboard wall opposite. The naked edges and long milled lines of the sideboard reveal the rough chipboard underneath.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

A matching reception desk sits against the back wall, hidden behind one of the columns. A mirror is also mounted to this wall, positioned opposite the glass shop door.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

The shop is fronted completely in glass and a tree-branch handle has been attached to the door.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

“I wanted to put a kind of poetic touch to the raw minimal style, so I changed the common handle on the glass door with a handmade one,” the designer said.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

Nedkov also chose to rip out the old low plasterboard ceiling of the shop and paint the raw structure white, along with the floor, to add depth to the space.

La Scarpa shoe shop by Elia Nedkov

Wooden crates were painted in pastel colours and stacked up to create a window display for the shop opening.

The post White shelves hang from crumbly concrete walls
in Bulgarian shoe shop by Elia Nedkov
appeared first on Dezeen.

Lucca llena shoe store by Ryutaro Matsuura

Shoes are displayed in metal mesh columns at this footwear store in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow).

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Interior designer Ryutaro Matsuura used the see-through wire panels and a neutral palette to create an environment that puts all the emphasis on the shoes.

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“When the differences of surrounding decorative environment are suppressed, the items themselves begin to enhance their presence,” he explains.

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Shoes are displayed on translucent shelves made from a honeycomb resin sandwich, attached to floor-to-ceiling columns of different circumferences.

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Matsuura describes the interior as a “shoe forest”, with “the merchandise hovering like fruits on trees”.

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The design gives equal prominence to each product and allows customers to navigate the displays without overbearing design elements influencing their purchasing decision.

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Nendo recently designed a store in New York for Spanish brand Camper with white resin shoes covering the walls and we spoke to Miguel Fluxá, head of Camper, who told us why they use different designers for each of their stores.

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Photography is by Nacasa & Partners Inc.

Here is some more information from the designer:


Stores tend to be composed of wall shelves and display tables. In those cases, the priority levels for the items at the store and the flows of customers would be set by the sellers. And hence the selection behaviours of the customers tend to be controlled.

So that made us create a pleasant space where customers can find the goods they have hoped for without bias. That was the birth of the shoe store studded with the same C-shaped wire mesh fixtures.

The fixtures have translucent loose shelves for shoes that are made of honeycomb sandwich resin panels. The merchandise hovering like fruits on trees shows its presence in the store that can be described as a “shoe forest”. Customers can enjoy meeting the merchandise and feel a sense of exaltation.

When the differences of surrounding decorative environment are suppressed, the items themselves begin to enhance their presence. Therefore we think that spontaneous perceptions would be educed from
customers. And then, imagination and curiosity of the customers would be getting large.

Those feelings will provide a motivation for customers to approach each item, and they will have an opportunity to find the item that really suits. That is what we are expecting.

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by Ryutaro Matsuura
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