Hasta La Ideas

British luxury brand Mulberry has opened its first US store, in a 5,000 square foot space in SoHO on New York’s Spring Street. The design of the interior builds on the design language developed for the recently opened London flagship store which opened late last year and, like both of Mulberry’s London stores, it features a series of brass artworks by Jonathan Ellery…

“This is the third store that I’ve been commissioned to do some work for,” says Ellery about his ongoing relationship with Mulberry in an interview posted on the brand’s site. “First was Westfield shopping centre. It was two very large pieces. I went down to the Mulberry factory in Somerset and took all of the components that make up the famous Bayswater bag and just showed them all on a large piece of brass. The second one was all the tools used in the hand-crafting of the bags.”

“With New Bond street it was geographically based,” says Ellery. “It was me trying to find some sort of context to work the brass – so that was kind of site specific, it was storytelling or conceptual art in a London context.” The small brass roundels were embedded in the store’s concrete floor thus:

“I like things that are out of context, the commissioning of a British, London based artist for a New York store for instance, is interesting to me,” says Ellery of the latest commission. “Likewise the Englishness of Mulberry in Spring Street, New York.”

“The form and symbolism of London bricks has been in my mind for a long time,” he continues, “and indeed informed sculptural elements of my work. For me this simple brick has dignity, defiance, gravitas and even an element of rock‘n’roll. Out of context in a New York store it becomes even more potent in a way. The simple, solid and calm delivery of these three large machined brass pieces will be incredibly beautiful and calming in a busy store.”

Here’s a film that shows the design-thinking behind the new Mulberry’s Spring Street New York store:

mulberry.com

jonathanellery.com

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