Australian firm Henry Wilson Studio has transformed a former Sydney bakery into a retail space for skincare brand Aesop, exposing the original sandstone walls (+ slideshow).
Henry Wilson Studio removed the space’s former fit out, revealing the stone walls, fireplaces and previously hidden doorways.
Designer Henry Wilson told Dezeen the brief was quite open, and they tried to retain and expose as much of the existing building as possible in an attempt to reference the history of the area and of the building.
“My self-assigned brief and discussions with founder Dennis Paphitis were about reworking ‘off the shelf’ components [that are] Australian-made wherever possible,” Wilson explained.
“Before Aesop took over the space it was a bakery,” he added. “Prior to that, locals in the area tell me that it was once one of Balmain’s first pubs and even a brothel at some point.”
The designers chose a pale colour palette for the interior to compliment the yellow of the original sandstone walls and make the most of the natural light that floods in from the street front and rear windows.
“The stone walls are typical for buildings of the area, and of that era,” said Wilson. “Sydney sandstone is unique in its yellow colour and grey veins. It’s soft and easy to work and the evidence of the primitive tools and unskilled labour can be seen in all the original blockwork.”
A series of industrial metal shelving units have been added to display Aesop’s products and line one wall of the store. Smaller versions are used elsewhere, with some of the shelves replaced by sheets of bottle green glass.
A row of sinks and mirrors are set against the opposite wall, along with the cash register which is also fixed on top of a newer slab of locally-sourced sandstone.
Hanging plant baskets, cane furniture and exposed copper pipes also feature in the interior.
Here’s a project description from Henry Wilson Studio:
Aesop Balmain
The concept for the design of the Balmain Aesop store came from an understanding of the suburb, the existing materials and the context of the address. The aim was to present a space that was as familiar and utilitarian as the backyard shed, with a contrast that is the sophistication of the Aesop product and brand.
The history of Balmain and the neighbouring Cockatoo island is one of work, grit and industry. Much of this has moved on now, though, the legacy still resides in the buildings and foreshore.
The design of the Aesop store draws from these materials, colours and shapes. Removing the former fit out revealed raw sandstone walls, fireplaces and hidden doorways which have been retained and exposed as reference to this building history and place.
Detailing of the Balmain store centred around durability both visually and physically.’Off the shelf’ industrial components presented in an alternative way than that of their original purpose, provide solutions for interior fittings such as shelving and sink frames.
This ‘reworking’ extends to the vintage furniture and customised lighting. Tinted concrete terrazzo references the foyers of apartment buildings built in Sydney in the middle of the century. Pale Australian timbers and a light colour pallet has been chosen to emphasise the natural light from both directions.
Designer Reiichi Ikeda inserted boxy partitions that follow the pattern of existing ceiling trusses into this clothing boutique in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow).
Reiichi Ikeda designed the narrow interior of retail store Nietzsche to display a collection of clothing brands.
The sparsely furnished all-white space has been filled with of an arrangement of counters and free-standing painted wooden partitions.
The partitions and benches are all different heights, creating a maze-like pathway through the store.
Ikeda told Dezeen the client didn’t have a strict brief, but simply requested an interior that made the clothing on display “look attractive”.
“I felt that it was important to remove the colours for displaying these clothes, so I used white in the interior rather than black,” Ikeda explained.
“There are random partitions in the long and narrow space to adjust the view, which you can find a bit too wide without these,” he added.
At the top of the new partitions, Ikeda has created a series of openings that mirror the the forms of the existing ceiling trusses in the space.
Customers can manoeuvre their way through the store around the benches and partitions to access clothing hanging on metal rails. These are attached to both the ceiling and concrete floor by long, thin metal wires.
Original wooden boards lining the ceiling and metal trusses have also been painted white.
Rectangular mirrors are attached to various sections of the walls, while bare light bulbs hang at low points throughout the store.
Here’s a project description from Reiichi Ikeda Design:
Nietzsche
This boutique carries various unique brands in Horie, Osaka.
At the first visit to this long narrow site, the trussed ceiling structures caught my eyes in the space which had only white painted walls. The trussed structures showed a presence in the blank environment, and I felt the sigh dotted with them was already made up as a good design.
I planned my design should be an extension of this existing sigh, and worked on it based on the concept of “structures + structures”. I partitioned the boutique with trussed design panels at the same places as where the trussed ceiling structures are on just to link to them.
After I made interior constructions linked to the building ones, just the shape of the structures became to handle the general public flow line. I tried transforming the functional part of the building constructions to the design element, and gave dynamic image to the boutique.
Project Name: Nietzsche Use: clothing store Location: 1-9-12-1F, Minami-Horie, Nishi-ku, Osaka-city, Osaka, Japan 550-0015 Area: 64.41 square meters Date: Aug. 17, 2013 Client: Kenji Nakai Constructor: Takakura Construction Inc. Lighting: Ushio Spax Inc.
White ceramic tiles contrast with sections of chipboard inside this Reykjavik fashion boutique by local design office HAF Studio (+ slideshow).
Icelandic designers Hafsteinn Júlíusson and Karitas Sveinsdóttir of HAF Studio fitted out the four-storey shop interior for Danish clothing label SUIT. Located on a popular shopping street, the store sells a range of mens’ and women’s clothing.
Designer Hafsteinn Júlíusson said the glossy white tiles were chosen to create a contrast with the oriented strand board – a kind of engineered wood that was used for walls and joinery throughout the boutique.
“We wanted to add a bit of an unexpected twist,” Júlíusson told Dezeen. “We think these tiles enhance the refined roughness that we were aiming for.”
The tiles create geometric grids across parts of the wooden walls, but also extend down to cover sections of the concrete floor.
“More known for serving slaughterhouses or swimming pools, the tiles give a good contrast against the warm wood and the raw concrete,” added Júlíusson.
On the ground floor, strips of fluorescent lighting spell out the word ‘suit’, next to a tiled serving counter with low-hanging black pendant lamps, also designed by the studio.
Shelving units are mounted to the walls to display folded clothes, while other garments are piled up on benches or hung from orange clothing racks.
Cheeky phrases are printed onto the walls of the shop to help visitors find their way around – the words “Do you fit in?” highlight the entrance to the fitting rooms.
The clothing brand SUIT opened downtown Reykjavík recently. The store was designed by HAF Studio which is an Icelandic interdisciplinary design studio run by designers Karitas Sveinsdóttir and Hafsteinn Júlíusson.
The design intention behind the new store was to tie the brand’s raw and rough character together with clever and elaborate detailing. With this in mind, the HAF team created a space that offers a unique customer experience beyond that of the conventional clothing store environment.
The raw concrete floors and walls meet a warm OSB wood cladding where white glossy ceramic tiles give the store a refined finish. Finally orange and black fluorescent details create contrasts and highlights together with crisp lighting.
White ceramic tiles create a brickwork pattern across the walls and roof of this Paris boutique designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates for Chinese lifestyle brand Shang Xia (+ slideshow).
Japanese firm Kengo Kuma and Associates previously designed the Beijing and Shanghai stores for Shang Xia. For the brand’s first retail space in Europe, the architects designed an interior covered in over 10,000 tiles that extends to a layered ceiling installation.
The studio chose rectangular tiles with a glossy surface to reflect light through the store, describing the material as having an edge “thin enough to pass through light”.
“We used the same material for tiles to hang from the ceiling and cover the space,” explained the studio. “Taking advantage of this glazed white surface that softly mirrors its environments, we set up a place like a cloud brimming with light.”
The tiles also form a backdrop for the shopfront display windows, creating a screen that alternates between solid and void.
Located on a corner plot close to Boulevard Saint-Germain, the oval-shaped boutique showcases a range of furniture, homeware, accessories and clothing.
A tiled partition divides the store and is punctured by rectangular recesses, creating display spaces for jewellery. Tabletops and boxy stools are positioned in front, where customers can take a seat while trying on jewellery.
Glass-topped storage cases present a range of accessories, while more recessed shelving on the perimeter walls are filled with homeware items.
Scarves and shawls are tied to silver railings near the entrance and racks of clothing are set into the outer tiled walls, along with a selection of furniture. Polished wooden floors feature throughout.
The design has a similar aesthetic to Shang Xia’s two stores in China. While the Beijing store contains a lattice of extruded aluminium sections, the Shanghai boutique features a faceted white interior.
Milan 2014: Japanese architect Toyo Ito spoke to Dezeen about his design for textile brand Kinnasand’s first Milan showroom and his “site specific” architecture (+ interview + slideshow).
Kinnasand, a company founded in Sweden over 200 years ago and now owned by Danish textile brand Kvadrat, asked the 2013 Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito to develop its showroom interior for Milan design week.
Ito rarely designs interior projects, but in an exclusive interview with Dezeen the architect said that he agreed to collaborate with Kinnasand as he felt that several of its fabrics were reminiscent of the transparency and natural influences inherent in some of his architectural projects.
“What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins,” said Ito, who discussed the underlying ethos that connects the wide variety of styles and forms he has experimented with.
“When I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being,” he said.
Ito’s career has spanned more than four decades. Predominantly based in Japan, his best known projects include the Mikimoto Building, created for a jewellery company in the Ginza district of Tokyo – which features a series of irregular glazed openings all over its facade – and the Tod’s building in Tokyo with criss-crossed concrete bracing that echoes the silhouettes of the trees on the street it faces on to.
His more recent projects include the Sendai Mediatheque – a transparent glass cube that aimed to remove some of the architectural barriers around how space should be used. In 2011 he completed work on the Toyo Ito School of Architecture in Ehime, completed in 2011.
At the last Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, he curated Japan’s award-winning pavilion presenting alternative housing solutions for the aftermath of the country’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
For Kinnasand’s showroom, he chose to translate the properties of the company’s textiles into the materials used for the showroom’s walls, floors and ceiling.
“Some of them were transparent, others were semi-transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom,” said Ito, describing the fabrics.
“I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave the textiles the possibility to float around the space,” he added.
“This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use the reflective glass, but at the same time I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for the showroom.”
The glass walls have a frosted finish that reduces their reflectivity and are complemented by the dull shine of the electropolished steel panels on the ceiling and the polished white limestone floor tiles.
Two curving metal poles suspended from the ceiling provide rails over which the fabrics can be draped to enclose the central area of the showroom and form its only product displays.
A storage area for further fabric samples is concealed behind floor-to-ceiling wooden doors featuring minimal metal handles at one end of the space.
The clean and bright aesthetic is enhanced by basic furnishings including a rounded meeting table and chairs made from pale wood, which reference the brand’s Scandinavian heritage.
Lighting is provided by spotlights and strips of LEDs hidden behind the edges of the ceiling that wash the walls in light that can be adjusted between different colours to alter the mood of the space.
Read the edited transcript from our interview with Toyo Ito:
Marcus Fairs: How did you get to come into contact with the brand and how did you apply your architectural ideas to an interior?
Toyo Ito: About one and a half years ago, I had a visit from a Kinnasand person that arrived in Tokyo with a suitcase full of textiles and I was asked if I would be interested in doing the interior design for the showroom. And I have to say that usually I don’t do just interior design, I do architecture. But in this case, the textiles that I had the chance to see were so beautiful, so brilliant, that I really wanted to do just the interior design for the space.
Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the way you’ve used the space here.
Toyo Ito: I had the chance to take first a look at all the textiles of Kinnasand and I realised that is was very sensitive fabric. Some of them were transparent, others are semi transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom. They could actually envelop, they could wrap the whole environment.
So I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave to these the textiles the possibility to float around the space. This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use this reflective glass that you can see here but at the same time, I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for this showroom.
In order to have the materials of this architecture not take all the attention in this space, I give a lot of attention to small details and this is why I decided to choose simple materials. As you can see for those doors, you have a surface that is very plain and flat but at the same time is very simple and linear. So you do not have a frame where the doors are actually hidden, you have some doors that become the surface itself of a very linear construction, so that it could envelop this whole environment. This is something that I really wanted to give great attention to in the details.
Marcus Fairs: The white fabric with the pattern of circular dots on it reminds me of the facade of the Mikimoto building in Ginza, Tokyo, which has a similar pattern of circular windows. Did you spot that similarity?
Toyo Ito: Absolutely, I think that the fabric right behind me is perfect for my architecture. In relation to the building of Mikimoto in Ginza, it has got a very simple surface with several sized holes in it. Also, just by having a look at the fabric behind me, I think I would really like to use Kinnasand’s fabrics and textiles in my own architecture.
Toyo Ito’s Mikimoto building. Photo by Iwan Baan
Marcus Fairs: Throughout your career, there’s a lot of different forms you use and different structural solutions. How would you describe your approach to architecture?
Toyo Ito: As you said, my style, the materials I’ve been using, has changed throughout several eras. Also the shape and the form of my architecture. But there is one thing that is consistent, which is that my own architecture is something made for human beings. You have other architects that think if human beings are not a part of the particular architecture, that architecture will look even more beautiful. I do not think so. I think that architecture is something that must be made for human begins. That human beings must be partners with the architecture itself. So when I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being. This is my image of architecture.
Marcus Fairs: Sendai Mediatheque was a hugely revolutionary building because of the structure and the way it used data, and the Mikimoto building is fun and it has a pattern on it. So what is the link between those two different architectures?
Toyo Ito: Both the Sendai Mediatheque and the Mikimoto building have got a very important point which is the structure. Of course what I wanted to create was a kind of structure that had not yet been seen until that very moment. But what I wanted to focus my attention on is that when you decide to use a new kind of structure, you have to think of how you can make it as human as possible. To turn it into a human space as much as possible.
Sendai Mediatheque, 1995 – 2000, Miyagi, Japan. Photo by Nacasa & Partners Inc.
For the Sendai Mediatheque, I decided to use pieces of wood like tubes that would give the human being inside the space the idea of being surround by a forest – so you have a human being that can enjoy a video or just some time inside the forest. And for the Mikimoto building, of course that was also commercial architecture, so we didn’t have the chance of making the interior design. As for the main architecture, I decided that it was also interesting in that case to have the light entering the building as if it were through the leaves of a forest and so in both cases, you have a very natural element that is strongly felt by the human being inside the environment and that’s the common point in my architecture.
Marcus Fairs: And the Tod’s building in Omatesando in Tokyo has a glass facade with large tree shapes set in it.
Toyo Ito: Of course Tod’s even more than the Mikimoto building, you would have the possibility to see a very strong and direct wooden silhouette, wooden structure. In that case, we didn’t have that much of a volume we could use and also the facade was L-shaped. In that case we decided to have a wooden structure and having it completely surrounded by wood you would feel like you were really surrounded and wrapped by nature and this is the image that I had when I created the design.
What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins. So it would be important to create an architecture that destroys that distance between human begins and nature. Up to now, human beings have lived in environments that are very far from nature and actually I would like the chance for human beings to live inside nature and to be surrounded by nature.
TOD’S Omotesando Building, 2002 – 2004, Tokyo. Photo by Nacasa & Partners Inc.
Of course you have to take one step at a time, and I think that if we do take one step at a time in that direction we can achieve some kind of evolution. And I can also tell you that to a certain extent, we are already going towards that direction, and if we continue completely towards the direction and arrive at the goal we will be able to enjoy a much more lively life. We will get back to a more primitive instinct that will give us the possibility to be more natural in our everyday life. Like animals to a certain point, having the possibility to completely enjoy the surroundings and that is the kind of architecture that I think we should all aim for.
Marcus Fairs: And when you say “we”, do you mean “we” as an architectural office, or “we” as a society?
Toyo Ito: Of course I mean my personal office but not only just that. I would like to think I am extending the meaning of what I just said to all people who are currently making architecture.
This Berlin clothing store by Mexican design studio Zeller & Moye is filled with concertina-shaped display stands made from raw cement boards (+ slideshow).
Zeller & Moye designed the concept store for German-Austrian fashion brand ODEEH in the Bikini Berlin shopping centre in the west of the city.
A zigzag pattern is present throughout the interior. As well as the concertina-shaped stands and seating areas, the space features clothing racks with angular bases and folded partitions and mirrors.
These elements were designed to be arranged in different configurations, creating new ways to display garments for seasonal collections or during fashion weeks.
“The client asked us for a totally flexible system, so that manifold configurations can be set up from the very same elements,” studio co-founder Christoph Zeller told Dezeen. “The series of movable elements offers them maximal flexibility.”
Zeller said the cement boards offered a cost-efficient and sustainable approach, so the store wouldn’t have to be refitted every time their clients wanted a new look.
“The contrast with the clothing was rather a side effect but works extremely well, as ODEEH uses very fragile and sensuous fabrics,” he added.
The industrial-style space also features cross-shaped fluorescent lighting, which hangs below the pipes and services left exposed overhead.
The first concept store for german fashion brand ODEEH inhabits the terrace floor of Bikini Berlin, a modernist icon of 1950’s West-Berlin, offering vistas onto the Memorial church at Breitscheidplatz and the Berlin Zoo.
A landscape of movable elements can be arranged in ever-changing configurations allowing for maximum flexibility in the creation of unexpected spacial formations and curated concepts. The modular system of paravents and podests made of raw cement board is complemented by a series of delicate metal objects such as cloth racks, hooks and trays, specially designed for the store.
The mirrored insides to the paravents create kaleidoscope-like interiors showing individual products at all facets and allowing customers to eyeball the clothes from multiple angles. The reappearing zigzag lines and the cross patterns of the lights refer loosely to stitching methods in tailoring.
Garments are suspended in front of draped fabric above a steel parquet floor in the new womenswear floor that design studio JamesPlumb has created for east London fashion boutique Hostem (+ slideshow).
James Russell and Hannah Plumb of London-based JamesPlumb were influenced by the grainy textural appearance of old photographic plates, which they interpreted in the Hostem store’s palette of textured industrial materials.
“There is a strong emphasis on an honesty and truth to materials, which are predominantly used in their natural state, with subtle embellishments,” explained the designers.
A steel parquet floor used throughout the space comprises over 4500 individual tiles that were laid by hand in a herringbone pattern.
“The natural beauty of the steel, with its colour variations and imperfections, is accentuated by the herringbone pattern that highlights the uniqueness of each tile,” the designers added.
Free-standing steel display units create robust yet transparent vitrines and are inlaid with natural felt to add a textural dimension.
Steel is also used for a runner on the staircase that ascends to the second floor space and mezzanine level above.
Fabric panels suspended from the five-metre-high ceiling act as a backdrop for individual garments, which are displayed on custom-made clothes hangers.
Concrete shelves are supported by round steel pegs, while heavy concrete planks lean against the walls providing a counterbalance for the clothes rails that project from their surfaces.
The concrete was cast in timber moulds so it takes on the unique knots and grain of the wood.
Floor lamps shrouded with crumbled lead sheets focus the light and evoke the appearance of the aluminium cinquefoil that is used to mask photographers’ lights.
The designers sent us the following press release:
Hostem Womenswear
The collaboration that has seen JamesPlumb produce award winning designs for Hostem menswear, and bespoke service ‘The Chalk Room’ has continued and expanded. A brand new upper floor welcomes the arrival of a dedicated womenswear level – and a new environment to host it.
Connected, whilst fundamentally distinct from the store below, the new interior has an evolution that matches the store’s development. It has been led by a sense of privacy and remoteness from street level that required a feeling of calm and elevation to match. The space is informed and inspired by the warm monochromatic graininess and ‘noise’ found in old photographic plates. There is a strong emphasis on an honesty and truth to materials, which are predominantly used in their natural state, with subtle embellishments. Every element has been custom designed, and the majority made in house, by hand, in JamesPlumb’s studio.
The artistic duo have again demonstrated their ability to innovate materials with a lightness of touch that is timeless, whilst being full of surprising details. A unique steel parquet floor has been designed and developed, with over 4500 individual tiles laid by hand. The natural beauty of the steel, with its colour variations and imperfections are accentuated by the herringbone pattern that highlights the uniqueness of each tile. The white plastered walls have simply been sealed and polished with wax, and both surfaces offer a balance of unfinished rawness with a jewel like reflective surface.
Tranquility and simplicity pervades, but with depth and richness derived from texture and detail. A warmth has skillfully been created despite the connotations of materials commonly associated with an industrial look. Steel displays are inlaid with natural felt. Concrete shelves and planks support refined clothes rails. They have been cast in individual wooden moulds carefully chosen for their imperfections – the unique knots and deep wood grain of each are the antithesis of a manufactured finish. There is a playful contrast between these simple forms that reference basic building techniques and the precision steel works of the floor. The ungainly heaviness of concrete is avoided by both cheating gravity and embracing it. The shelves float on steel pegs in the wall, whilst the planks press themselves against the walls – effortlessly counterbalancing their rails full of product.
The stairs have a simple yet beautiful steel runner to guide you to the second floor and the mezzanine of the double height space. Fabric panels drape dramatically five metres from ceiling to floor, each framing an individual piece as if being captured for posterity in front of an infinity wall. There is an unusual and indulgent amount of space afforded to one garment. It is as if the items have fast tracked to a museum – a feeling of archival preciousness – and yet they are accessible and very much to be touched, explored, and worn. The lighting too, references the photographer’s studio. Custom designed lights inspired by cine-foil are in fact beautifully patinated lead sheets – crumpled, shaped and formed to direct the light.
This veneration to the clothing and attention to detail extends to the clothes hangers themselves that are entirely bespoke, each having been hand-formed from four pieces of steel. They are a line drawing made physical – the essence of a clothes hanger. The result – as with the store itself – is a beautiful tension between simple elegance, and raw materiality.
Jagged shelving units and scored surfaces were designed to evoke the look of food crates and packaging at this London butcher and delicatessen by local office Fraher Architects (+ slideshow).
The client asked Fraher Architects to design an interior for The Quality Chop Shop in London’s Farringdon that promotes the quality ingredients used in its neighbouring restaurant.
The architects chose utilitarian materials and raw finishes to reference the packing materials used to transport food to the shops and eateries that surround London’s historic Smithfields and Exmouth markets.
“The most unusual aspect of the response to the brief was to focus on the packaging aspect of produce used within the restaurant and the cooking profession as a whole,” architect Lizzie Webster told Dezeen.
“To continue this wrapped packaging theme through the layout of the display shelves, the joinery and lighting itself was a challenge,” she added.
Food is displayed on shelves and counters made from plywood, which were stained black in reference to the charred or sprayed labels commonly found on wooden packing crates.
The edges of the shelves expose the raw plywood to create a contrast with the blackened surfaces and give the impression of packaging that has been sliced open.
Each of the wall-mounted shelves has a jagged profile, creating an effect that appears to thrust the product forward, and items are framed against a dark background by the edges of the shelves.
Exposed light bulbs suspended from simple black cords were chosen to reinforce the rough-and-ready aesthetic.
Black cord also creates a criss-crossing pattern in front of the windows that recurs in an inverted form around the edge of the central display and sales point.
Original black and white tiles behind the butcher’s counter were retained and continue the basic palette used throughout the space.
Here’s a project description from Fraher Architects:
Quality Chop Shop, Farringdon
We have just finished working on the design and fabrication for the Quality Chop Shop in Farringdon, London. The shop sits next door to the Quality Chop House which has a reputation for excellent cooking and good quality ingredients. The Client approached us to consider design proposals for the refurbishment of the adjacent shop unit that had recently become available.
The food had to be displayed in a clear and simple manner, but pay reference to the utilitarian aesthetic of the food units surrounding Smithfields meat market and Exmouth Market.
The fit out elements such as the counter, produce display and lighting deserved to portray a textured and slightly rough finish, hence the display of end grain to all the plywood joinery.
The deep black stain contrasts sharply with the timber core of the units, reflecting the blackened character of timber food crates. The blackened stain plywood is reinforced by the use of cable lighting that represents the packaging and the wrapping of the food produced. The use of exposed bulbs reflects the raw nature of the food preparation that relies on exceptional raw ingredients.
Access to the working kitchen of the Quality Chop House restaurant was important to ensure that the fresh food and cake trays are constantly re-stocked with baked good throughout the day.
Architect Elia Nedkov paired exposed concrete with clean white displays for the interior of this shoe shop in the historical centre of Sofia, Bulgaria.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
The shop is fronted completely in glass and a tree-branch handle has been attached to the door.
“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.
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.
Wooden crates were painted in pastel colours and stacked up to create a window display for the shop opening.
Stuart Weitzman commissioned architect Zaha Hadid to design a series of stores for his shoe label. This second branch is located in Hong Kong’s IFC shopping mall.
The boutique is surrounded by glass walls to maximise the exposure of the products in the busy retail environment. “The adaptive design of the IFC store expresses the dynamism of the city and reflects the quality and craftsmanship of Stuart Weitzman’s shoes,” said Hadid.
A large sculptural element extends from the walls and spans across the ceiling, then swoops down to create a niche in front of the glass walls for showcasing the shoes.
More footwear is displayed on a pair of freestanding metallic platforms with two levels, connected by fibrous elements that form the bases. Products also line the walls on thin shelves, which are subtly illuminated with hidden lighting.
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