Luxury fashion brand Self-Portrait has opened a store in London with mirrored surfaces and Cornish clay walls that combines “minimalism, materiality and colour.”
Located on the corner of Kings Road and Duke of York Square in Chelsea, London, the 200-square-metre store was designed by Self-Portrait founder and creative director Han Chong in collaboration with New York-based architect Andreas Kostopoulos.
“Inspired by spatial design and the idea of self-reflection, features in a myriad of textures including chrome and mirror dominate the interior walls and reflect tonal surfaces in mint green,” Self-Portrait said of the interior.
“By leveraging on minimalism, materiality, and colour, we wanted to create an intimate, sensory and focused experience, free from any interferences or visually distracting architectural qualities and functions that can typically overwhelm retail environments,” said Kostopoulos.
The store interior is characterised by natural materials. Mint-pigmented Cornish clay covers its walls and provides a textural quality through its visible markings, which are reminiscent of limewash.
Custom terrazzo flooring in hues of white, grey and mint blankets the majority of the floors while some areas, including fitting rooms, were decorated with plush carpets in matching colours to add a softer touch to the space.
Between the textural clay walls, expanses of mirrored panels adorn the vertical surfaces and surround street-facing windows from floor to ceiling to visually extend and blur the boundaries of the retail space.
“I love the idea of spatial perception, blurring the lines between the interior and exterior, vertical and horizontal,” explained Chong.
While using rich and textural materials, Chong and Kostopoulos also looked to create a space that was minimalist and free from distracting architectural elements by reducing the store to its bare essentials.
Overhead lighting throughout was subtlety concealed behind a gridded, drop ceiling that creates a contemporary and modernist look while also adding a contrasting textural quality.
“I am so proud of the space we have created – it’s the perfect blend of art and architecture, which provides a serene and minimalist home for our collections,” Chong continued.
“For me, this store has become the perfect physical manifestation of our brand – it’s a contrast of the effortless and the studied, with a focus on quality, materials and craft.”
Self-Portrait’s ready-to-wear collections were displayed on chrome-finished clothes rails in front of windows while accessories were organised across chrome display tables.
Antique furniture was combined with contemporary pieces throughout the store. A Max Lamb chair was neatly placed in a mirrored corner of the retail space, while wooden chairs were scattered throughout.
Self-Portrait is a contemporary luxury brand that was founded by Chong in 2013 after he graduated from womenswear design at Central Saint Martins.
Elsewhere in London, AMO created a terracruda-clad shop-in-shop at Selfridges that featured curving display areas and brutalist-style furniture for French fashion brand Jacquemus.
Design studio Perron-Roettinger recently unveiled its design for a pop-up store for Kim Kardashian’s homeware brand SKKN, which the studio clad in raw plaster and cement.
Source: Rooms - dezeen.com
