The never-ending urban highways, the pale and empty grandeur of Tian’anmen Square, the heavy traffic and the mantle of dust which is just occasionally swept away by the bitter winds from Mongolia—these don’t necessarily make China’s capital a place you fall in love with at first sight. On the…
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Shopping and machining combine in Story’s latest concept store
In yet another stellar iteration of Story, Rachel Shechtman presents “Making Things,” a temporary concept store focused on the act of creation. Part retail experience, part educational series, Story partnered with GE to debut “GE Garages,” a community venture that hopes to provide professionals and novices alike with education…
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Our interview with the proprietors of Portland’s first pop-up shop and gallery space highlighting Maine-made goods
A hybrid between a retail and gallery space, Seawall is home to Portland, Maine’s first pop-up shop and also its newest clothing line. Founders Daniel Pepice, Sara Lemieux, Thom Rhoads and Brook Delorme opened Seawall this spring with the hope to open people’s eyes to talented Maine designers. Housed…
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Five local picks for food and drinks in the New England fishing hub
True to its name, Portland, Maine is first and foremost a bustling port. Inseparable from Portland’s character, the harbor is both a blessing and a curse. A kind of tourist attraction in and of itself, the harbor brings literally boatloads of cruise passengers into the city, flooding the all-too-popular…
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Beijing’s 798 Art District gets a design store
The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is the most dynamic art center in Beijing’s 798 Art District, and since 2007 its UCCAstore has been a small temple for vanguard design within the gallery. The original store, now UCCA @ ART.BOOK, is still offering a glut of Chinese art…
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The source for Communist-era Czech vintage design treasures
Adam Štěch Providing arguably the most comprehensive collection of salvaged modernist design from the former Czechoslovakia or Eastern and Central Europe is Prague-based Nanovo. Founded by Adam Karásek and Jiří Mrázek two years ago, the online shop is a platform for collecting and selling vintage, mostly anonymous pieces from furniture…
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A multi-faceted gold block dominates this perfumery in Wrocław by Polish interior designers Theza.
A beauty salon and back office have been squeezed inside the block and can be glimpsed through perforations in its brushed gold exterior.
The rest of the shop is divided into monochrome halves, with the main space in white and the passageway in black.
Boxy lights jut out from the roof at angles, complementing the faceted block.
The shop, which is the flagship salon of the Frivol perfumery brand, is located in the recently opened Sky Tower in central Wrocław.
Theza are a group of young architects and designers from Poland, based in Silesia.
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Photographs are by Ludwik Kaizerbrecht and Bartłomiej Zabój.
Here’s some more information from the designers:
Frivole Prestige perfumery is located in the centre of Wrocław in the recently opened skyscraper Sky Tower. The project is a flagship salon of the Frivol perfumery network, which is based mainly on the outlet sales.
The decor stores Frivol network consists of white and black colour scheme, complemented by the leading colour and structure of the polygons.
The guideline for the interior is to use mono colour and to develop polygonal structures. The new leading tone got the colour structure of brushed gold.
The interior is divided into two zones: white – high, located in the depths, and black – low, located along the passage. Zones are compatible with the products range and type of sales.
A gold polygonal structure is visible throughout the whole interior. The block is two sided – golden from the outside, white from the inside. The interior of the shell hides a beauty salon (manicure, massage, waiting room) and back office.
In the cosmetic structure part there is a self-supporting three-dimensional structure attached to the floor and partly to the wall.
Due to a parametric perforation, the coating becomes semi-transparent, partly allowing sight of the interior of the structure.
Function: Perfumery/Cosmetic Treatments
Design: Theza architects
Building site: Sky Tower, Wrocław, Poland
Total floor area: 240 sq. m.
Design period: 12.2011 – 02.2012
Construction period: 02.2012 – 05.2012
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by Theza appeared first on Dezeen.
Dezeen Wire: this week Harrods opened the doors to its first gender-neutral toy department, designed by London and Singapore-based interior architects Shed.
The London department store commissioned the multi-million pound Toy Kingdom to be grouped by theme rather than gender, with new zones including an enchanted forest, a miniature toy world, a circus big top and a sweet shop.
Last year Shed also completed an Art Deco-inspired shoe salon at Harrods. See all our stories about Shed here.
Photos are by Ed Reeve.
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toy department at Harrods appeared first on Dezeen.
Studio Toogood has filled a pop-up fashion boutique in London with rubber-coated objects and glass tabletops mounted on piles of industrial fabrics.
The Opening Ceremony shop in Covent Garden features tables and chairs by Faye Toogood based on recurring shapes first seen in her Assemblage collection from 2010.
One table has sheets of foam, carpet and other textured fabrics sandwiched between its glass tabletop and supporting trestles.
Another glass tabletop appears to balance delicately on a foam-stuffed tube, a black sphere and a stack of fabric. An earlier version of this table used stone, brass and sycamore as supports.
Upstairs, a similar table rests on an empty white tube, a skeletal sphere and cube with threaded sides. A white display cabinet also uses thread to create a subtle screen door.
The Spade chair, with its distinctive handle-shaped backrest, has been reproduced in ash wood, and one of the chairs is also coated in rubber.
Rubberised geometric constructions provide an abstract window display.
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Photography is by Leon Chew.
Here’s some more information from Studio Toogood:
Studio Toogood has created a series of mechanical-looking constructions to coincide with the launch of Opening Ceromony’s first pop-up shop in London. Reflecting the immediacy and the temporary nature of the “pop up”, the rubberised pieces marry the handmade with the industrial. Each constellation plays with the ideas of construction, transparency, texture and abstraction that are characteristic of Studio Toogood’s aesthetic.
Working with Opening Ceremony, Faye Toogood has created a number of pieces to complement the architecturally deconstructed pop-up shop. Toogood’s pieces are featured throughout the space, and include stacked industrial forms in the basement, and translucent, light pieces on the ground floor.
Opening Ceremony, 31-32 King Street. Convent Garden WC2. July – October, 2012
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by Studio Toogood appeared first on Dezeen.
The owner of a nouveau salon shares her top spots to visit
A combination art gallery and hair salon, L’atelier Friseur is the brainchild of French hairstylist Julie Monin, who moved to Berlin five years ago from London. Three years ago, noticing a lack of distinct stylists in Berlin, Monin chose to open up a salon of her own in Kreuzberg, a neighborhood formerly overrun by cheap chop shops but she describes now as “really special.” “People here may not have a lot of money, but they come here because they feel free,” she adds.
Every three months Monin invites an artist to take over the salon’s interior walls and paint or decorate it however they want, which is marked by a party with performances by some of Berlin’s best electronic artists. As an international stylist fully immersed in the local arts scene, we had to ask Monin for her top city picks. Next time you’re in Berlin, here’s what she says not to miss.
Nea and Steffen run this coffee shop and café in Mitte. Try the great sandwiches made by Steffen, who takes care of all the food and always uses top notch ingredients. Nea, who’s Brazilian, gives off a contagious energy and good mood that’s just what you need in the morning to get your day started.
You’d never find this little bakery unless you were looking for it. Owners Claudio and Cora brew some of the best coffee in Kreuzberg. Have lunch or an early dinner and try their excellent paninis and italian charcuteries, pasta, salsa and wine. They can also do kitchen courses for groups.
I get all the books for the salon from Alexis, a French guy who owns this well curated arts book and magazine store just across the street from L’atelier Friseur.
A strange and lovely artsy bookstore that hosts events and exhibitions and gives a student discount. They are both a book seller and publisher of artists’ books, monographs and three magazines, Archive Journal, The Exhibitionist, and No Order, Art in a Post-Fordist Society.
Stephan, who also runs the Weltempfänger Café, is the owner of this all-in-one Alexanderplatz destination. When I don’t know what to do or where to go, I go to HBC because I’m sure to find friends, good food, interesting, crazy music or exhibitions. There’s always something happening for all tastes.
Run by a small Italian family, this is Italian food like your grandmother makes it—if you have an Italian grandmother, that is. If you don’t, come to Vai Mo for la cucina della mama, an authentic meal like you don’t see in many other restaurants.
Saveur Champagne is my absolute favorite! The owner not only offers a great selection of wines, but he sells cheese and charcuterie, too. Come on Saturday or Sunday for the shops’ weekend food market where you can pick up a wider selection of delicacies to snack on while you sip your wine.
A fun concept shop in the heart of Kreuzberg, A Loja fuses fashion, art and design. This is a great place to pick up something unique from a young new designer your friends back home will have never heard of.
When you go gallery hopping be sure to check out Appel Design, the best design gallery in the city. Then head to L’atelier Kunst Spiel Raum for conceptual art and work in progress. Galerie Thomas Fischer is a small, smart gallery with great shows and an ideal location.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
