Il Salotto boutique by Gosplan

Italian studio Gosplan inserted a perforated metal gate into a fifteenth century marble doorway as part of their renovation of this fashion boutique in Genoa.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Gosplan was influenced by the doorways of ancient Italian palaces when designing the perforated gate that marks the entrance to the store, which is located in the city’s historic centre.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

“The door is a free interpretation of doors of ancient Genoa palaces,” explains the designer. “The small holes are a metaphor for the large ancient nails, while the large hole in the centre replaces the door knocker.”

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Called Il Salotto, which means “Living Room” in Italian, the boutique has vaulted ceilings and large windows with a bright blue linoleum floor that contrasts with the rough plastered walls.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Clothes, bags and shoes hang from white-painted reinforcing rods, which have been bent into angular formations that protrude from the walls and floors.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Coat hangers and mirror frames are also constructed from the bent rods, along with a cage-like chandelier that descends from the ceiling and a large circular rail from which curtains hang to enclose dressing rooms.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Brightly coloured cables are strung around the shop with bare lightbulbs dangling loosely from the ceiling.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

The shop counter is made from coloured MDF and features a tiled recess used to display jewellery.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

The same dove-grey coloured tiles are used to create a unifying band around the walls of the boutique.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

The shop is owned by Sara Busiri Vici and Matteo Brizio who also use the space to host small art exhibitions.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Photography is by Anna Positano.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

Other shops we’ve recently featured on Dezeen include a boutique with an upside-down living room on the ceiling and a fashion boutique with glass silhouettes of male and female figures that reach out to each other across a tiled floor.

Il Salotto by Gosplan

See all our stories about shop design »

Il Salotto by Gosplan
Floor plan – click for larger image
Il Salotto by Gosplan
Gate detail – click for larger image

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Sourcing Vintage Textiles with Hickoree’s : We join the Brooklyn retailer at Sri, their supplier for ancient Japanese threads

Sourcing Vintage Textiles with Hickoree's


Japanese textiles, and denim in particular, have been a long-standing obsession of mine—long-standing, but somewhat uneducated. With the goal of schooling myself on these beautiful and ancient materials, I recently joined Emil Corsillo and Mitch Frank of ); return…

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Saint Laurent opens new flagship store in Paris

News: Saint Laurent has opened the doors to its new flagship store in Paris, the first to be designed by Hedi Slimane since he became creative director of the fashion house last year.

Located on Avenue Montaigne near the Champs-Élysées, the art deco-inspired Saint Laurent store features a marble staircase encased by rods of nickel-plated brass.

Saint Laurent Montaigne flagship

Black and white marble has been used for the walls, floors and a row of shelves, above which hang nickel-plated bars for displaying clothes.

The monochrome interior is reflected in the black and white photographs accompanying the opening of the store.

Saint Laurent Montaigne flagship

Formerly known as Yves Saint Laurent, after its founder, the fashion house’s name was changed soon after Slimane took over as creative director last spring.

Saint Laurent’s Sloane Street concept store in London is set to open in the autumn.

Saint Laurent Montaigne flagship

Other fashion boutiques we’ve featured lately include a shop in Warsaw with an upside-down living room on its ceiling and a Milan boutique featuring glass silhouettes of male and female figures – see all shops on Dezeen.

An exhibition of high fashion inspired by punk recently opened at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art – see all fashion design.

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Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

Shelves are supported by dowels slotted into pegboard walls at a new store for skin and haircare brand Aesop in the Hamptons, New York (+ slideshow).

Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

Designed and built by New York studio NADAAA, who previously completed another Aesop shop in San Francisco, Aesop East Hampton has pegboard walls around three sides of its interior and a free-standing basin at its centre.

Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

Dowels of different sizes can be slotted into various places on the walls to change the arrangement of shelves for displaying the brand’s signature brown-glass bottles. Walls above and below are painted in a pale shade of blue.

Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

The central sink – a key feature in Aesop’s stores –  is made from a Vermont soapstone that is typical in north-American bathrooms, while the taps are fixed to copper pipes.

Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

Dezeen previously interviewed brand founder Dennis Paphitis about how Aesop stores always feature unique designs. “I was horrified at the thought of a soulless chain,” he said.

Aesop East Hampton by NADAAA

Other Aesops featured on Dezeen include one in Tokyo made from the reclaimed materials of a demolished house and one in Paris with shelves made from hand-made iron nails. Aesops in the US include a New York kiosk made from over 1000 copies of the New York Times and a Boston store with shelves made from cornices. See more Aesop stores on Dezeen.

Here’s some more information from Aesop:


Aesop is pleased to announce the opening of a signature store in the Hamptons, and to take up residence in an area that has been home to many gifted creative spirits – Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Frank O’Hara and Jean Stafford among them.

In recognition of the Hamptons’ cultural and maritime heritage, Aesop East Hampton presents a tableau of practical and programmatic objects within a simple installation. Digitally fabricated pegboard panels line the walls, with dowels of varying lengths inserted to support orderly product display. A basin crafted from Vermont soapstone – a material long used for wash sinks in northeast United States – occupies the central space, with taps employing the simple copper valves often seen in the neighbourhood’s carefully constructed gardens. A picture window opening onto the sidewalk allows for abundant natural light.

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The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb

British design studio JamesPlumb has created a dimly lit showroom filled with antique furniture in the basement of east London menswear store Hostem (+ slideshow).

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

Following their earlier refit of Hostem’s shop floor, James Russell and Hannah Plumb were asked to redesign the shop’s subterranean level to provide a quieter space for displaying the brand’s most important collections.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

“We wanted the space to be different from upstairs: a discreet addition for the store’s most cherished goods,” Russell told Dezeen. “We opened the space up, painted it dark and dimmed the lighting; this created a calmness by making the corners and edges of walls disappear.”

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

The designers added a few unique furniture pieces for displaying different garments and accessories. These include a wardrobe that appears to be collapsing and a Chesterfield sofa with a table growing out of its centre.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

“Our work often starts with things we love that are broken and damaged,” explains Russell. “When we found the sofa it had no seat and was just this filthy rotten leather, but we didn’t want to just reupholster it into another Chesterfield, we wanted to celebrate it.”

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

Other furniture pieces include a Wurlitzer harp case converted into a display case for a single garment and an old crate formerly used for the transportation of pigs. There’s also a fitting room, screened behind a thick layer of draped fabric.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

The Chalk Room is currently dedicated to Hostem’s bespoke service, which provides made to measure clothing and accessories, but shoppers can also order furniture by JamesPlumb. This includes chests of drawers made from stacks of suitcases and chandeliers made from clusters of antique lampshades.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

JamesPlumb designed the original interior for Hostem in 2010. The project won the retail category at the inaugural Inside awards and Dezeen interviewed Russell and Plumb about their design as part of the event.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

See more design by JamesPlumb, including the brand’s most recent collection.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

Here are a few words from JamesPlumb:


The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Bespoke Menswear Store Redchurch Street, London

JAMESPLUMB created this discreet addition to their award winning interior design for menswear store Hostem in East London.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Alex Duffner

Briefed to create an environment to celebrate the craft and skill of the store’s most cherished designers, they created a quietly removed space, downstairs from the main showroom.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

A brand new collection of one off assemblage form the perfect theatrical showcase – including an antique Wurlitzer harp case transformed into a wardrobe for a single garment, a weather worn Chesterfield married with a table, and a crate formerly used for carrying pedigree pigs, that now presents handmade footwear.

The Chalk Room by JamesPlumb
Photograph by Thomas Giddings

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Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

There’s an upside-down living room on the ceiling of this Polish fashion boutique created by design studio smallna for fashion brand Risk. Made in Warsaw (+ slideshow).

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

The designers at smallna were influenced by the reversible nature of Risk. Made in Warsaw’s clothing range, in which items can be worn inside-out or back-to-front, to create the illusion of defying gravity.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

An inflatable sofa by Polish brand Malafor, a chair and a side table have been fixed to the ceiling, along with a crumpled skirt and a pair of shoes that appear to have been discarded onto the simulated floor above.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

White-painted steel pipes protrude from the walls, ceiling and floor, snaking around the perimeter of the space and forming rails from which clothes appear to hang in both directions.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

A circular dressing room wrapped in a grey fabric curtain extends the full height of the shop, connecting floor to ceiling as though it could be accessed from either plane.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

An upside-down balloon that appears to be made from concrete hangs from the ceiling, seemingly reversing the rules of gravity.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

The same balloon, when viewed from the reversed perspective, appears to be floating but held to the ground by a brick. This deceptive installation was created by Polish artist Joanna Gwóźdź, whilst Daiusz Kwiet – another Polish artist – was commissioned to paint the walls of the shop to look like the sky.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

Vintage light fittings are dotted around the space, including 1940s American train lights, 1960s Polish tram lights and a Japanese mirrorball from the 1970s.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

All the soft furnishings throughout the shop are made from the same grey melange fabric that the Risk. Made in Warsaw designers use to make their clothes.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

Other shop interiors we’ve recently featured on Dezeen include the Who*s Who fashion boutique by Italian designer Fabio Novembre and a series of five outlets designed by Zaha Hadid for Milan-based fashion designer Neil Barrett. See all our stories about shop design.

Risk. Made in Warsaw Shop by smallna

Photography is by Celestyna Król.

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RIBA Regent Street Windows Project 2013

Six architecture studios present window installations created for stores along London’s Regent Street in this movie filmed by Dezeen.

RIBA president Angela Brady introduces this year’s Regent Street Windows Project, which pairs local architecture practices with six retailers to create displays along one of the most iconic shopping streets in Britain.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Topshop window installation by Neon

Starting at the north end of the street, George King and Mark Nixon from Neon present a rotating wheel of manequins that allows different outfits to be presented in the window of fashion brand Topshop at different times of the day.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Karen Millen window installation by Mamou-Mani

Next up, Arthur Mamou-Mani‘s installation made from sportswear fabric and cable ties flows along the 30-metre-long display of the Karen Millen store facade.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Ferrari Store window installation by Gensler

Drawing on the emotional experience of driving a Ferrari, John Tollitt and his team at Gensler crafted a heart and a brain for the windows of the car brand’s London flagship, then brought them to life using digital animations to represent the heartbeat and firing neurons.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Esprit installation by naganJohnson

Across the street, naganJohnson transformed the atrium of Esprit into a beach scene complete with a wave of chestnut paling fencing.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Jack Spade window installation by Carl Turner Architects

Carl Turner Architects referenced American artist Gordon Matta Clark’s images of cut-out buildings to create fantasy New York streetscapes on the facade, in the windows and on blackboard illustrations at Jack Spade‘s Brewer Street store, just off Regent Street.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Moss Bros window installation by AY Architects

Finally, AY Architects used interlocking panels to form freestanding screens at Moss Bros, creating a three-dimensional herringbone effect.

The installations for the Regent Street Windows Project are on display until 6 May. Photographs are by Agnese Sanvito.

See more stories about window installations »
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Ambra Medda launches online store for collectible design

Ambra Medda

News: Ambra Medda, the director and co-founder of Design Miami/Basel, has announced the launch of L’ArcoBaleno, a website offering unique and limited edition pieces for sale alongside reports from the design world.

Launching in May, L’ArcoBaleno – which means rainbow in Italian – will combine an online shop with original reports and movies about culture and design trends.

Founder Ambra Medda, who left Design Miami in 2010, said: “L’ArcoBaleno will reflect the entire spectrum of design – that includes collectible objects, but also fashion, food, music, architecture, art and technology.

“Our hope is that it will influence the global design conversation, and inspire and engage collectors, curators, and devotees of creative fields.”

The website’s CEO Oliver Weyergraf added: “We have developed the site with a ‘mobile first’ approach, building it to address the needs consumers have today, and what we anticipate their needs will be in the future as commerce becomes an increasingly mobile function.”

Ambra Medda launches L'ArcoBaleno

L’ArcoBaleno will be guided by an advisory board that includes architect David Adjaye, Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos, gallery owner Suzanne Demisch, musician and design fan Pharrell Williams and British designer Tom Dixon, with whom Medda partnered in 2011 for the launch of the MOST exhibition space in Milan.

Earlier this year the founder and CEO of online furniture retailer One Nordic criticised the way design is sold to the public. “I just feel that this whole industry is terrible at seeing that many people are moving online and willing to buy furniture online,” Joel Roos told Dezeen. “In the furniture field many, many companies retail exactly the same way as they did in the seventies.”

Last autumn, in a reversal of the trend for physical shops moving their business online, the homeware webstore Made.com opened a showroom in a west London office tower.

See all our stories about retail »

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Coach Omotesando by OMA

OMA’s new Tokyo store for American accessories brand Coach is a glazed cube with a herringbone-patterned display system (+ slideshow).

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Inspired by the categorised wooden storage systems of Coach‘s original 1940s stores, Coach Omotesando features a modular shelving system that Rem Koolhaas’ OMA has developed for all of the brand’s new stores.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Here, the shelves form a herringbone pattern that covers the glazed facade of the two-storey shop. Frosted glass panels were used to build the boxy shelves on the inside of the walls, while on the outside they form a system of horizontal louvres.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Once the store is open each box will be filled with an item from Coach’s latest collections, which include outerwear, footwear, jewellery, handbags and other accessories.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

A staircase is positioned at the centre of the store, connecting womenswear on the ground floor with menswear on the first floor. This area also features a modular shelving system, although here it is broken up into a rectilinear grid.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Lighting is installed within the staircase tower, intended to create a central beacon that illuminates the store 24 hours a day.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

OMA first revealed designs for the display system during the summer. Since then the studio has installed a smaller version at a Coach kiosk within Macy’s flagship Herald Square store in New York.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

This week Dutch firm OMA has also revealed a collection of furniture for US furniture brand Knoll. See more architecture and design by OMA.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Other notable shop designs on Dezeen include Peter Marino’s Louis Vuitton Maison on London’s Bond Street and Schemata’s flagship for Japanese fashion brand Takeo Kikuchi. See more shops on Dezeen.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Here’s some more information from OMA:


Coach Flagship, Omotesando

Founded in 1941, Coach began as a leather goods retailer, displaying their products in a single row of library-like, wooden shelving that categorized their handbags and wallets. The brand’s repertoire has since expanded to include a full range of lifestyle merchandise including outerwear, footwear, jewelry, watches and sunwear, which are now sold in a variety of retail environments from specialty boutique to department store.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Inspired by the clarity of Coach’s original, systematic filing retail strategy, OMA designed a modular display unit that is flexible enough to accommodate the specific needs of each product and retail environment. The spatial possibilities of this highly functional system reinforce Coach’s mission to represent ‘logic and magic.’ For the first iteration at a kiosk within Macy’s department store at Herald Square, acrylic display units were assembled into a floor-to-ceiling high, “V” shaped wall. Products appear to float amidst maintained views to the accessories floor beyond.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Coach’s ninth Japan flagship is a two-story, corner site on Omotesando, a prominent retail corridor in Tokyo. In comparison to the increasingly decorative elevations that characterize Omotesando, OMA’s design integrates display into the façade, seamlessly communicating the brand’s presence from the inside out.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

The display units are stacked in a herringbone pattern of vertical and horizontal orientation to facilitate a range of curation scenarios. Dimensioned to accommodate Coach’s standard merchandising elements (ex. mannequins, busts, bags), the unit measures 1800 mm x 520 mm. Frosted glass that provides shelving within the store is further articulated to the façade as louvers.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Viewed from the exterior, the double-height storefront presents an uninterrupted survey of Coach’s full collection in a single view, with a dedicated frame for each product. Viewed from the interior, the display unit’s translucency creates an active backdrop for merchandise, filtering Omotesando’s streetscape into the shopping experience.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Above: display concept

In addition to the façade, OMA designed a floating tower of illuminated units that encase the store’s central stair, seamlessly connecting the women’s first floor and men’s second level. Consolidating the display on the facade and circulation creates a condition in which the shopper is continuously surrounded by product, while simultaneously liberating floorspace. In the evenings, the circulation tower illuminates the façade as a dynamic, 24-hour window display from within.

Coach Omotesando by OMA

Above: cross section

Status: Commission January 2012; Completion April 2013
Client: Coach, Inc.
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Site: Ground and second floor of new construction on Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan Program: 444.75 m2 / 4787.25 sf
Façade: 210 glass units Circulation Tower: 105 acrylic units
Partner-in-Charge: Shohei Shigematsu
Project Architect: Rami Abou Khalil
Team: Yolanda do Campo, Benedict Clouette with Jackie Woon Bae, Cass Nakashima, Phillip Poon, David Theisz
Local Architect and Engineer: Obayashi Corporation Façade Consultancy: Michael Ludvik
Interior Architecture: Nomura, Co., Ltd.

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La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

Here are some photos of the refurbished womenswear floor of La Rinascente department store in Milan by Japanese designers Nendo.

La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

Nendo used architectural elements observed while exploring Milan on foot as inspiration, explaining that the studio was “inspired by the unexpected encounters with shop windows, courtyard gardens and public squares that come from wandering Milan’s back streets.”

La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

They divided the space with 17 window frames covered with a film that’s opaque when viewed from an angle but transparent when seen straight-on. “This allows products to suddenly appear in front of shoppers’ eyes as they move through the space and creates a constantly changing spatial experience, much like the constant but unpredictable small surprises of Milan itself,” say the designers.

La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

Mobile rails and shelving units are made of white metal with stands that look like they’re peeling away. Pendant lights were inspired by those seen hanging from wires between buildings above the streets in Milan and concessions are tucked into archways referencing Milanese architecture.

La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

Womenswear is located on the fourth floor of La Rinascente, the city’s best-known department store, which is situated alongside the Duomo cathedral. The department reopened in September but these images had not been published until now, in time for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in the city next week. See all our previews of design at Milan 2013 here.

La Rinascente womenswear department by Nendo

Other stories about designs by Nendo include tables coloured in with crayons and chairs with tall backs for extra privacy. See all our stories about designs by Nendo »

Photos are by Daici Ano.

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