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    AMO experiments with materials for Stone Island store in Chicago

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    Fashion brand Stone Island has debuted a retail concept by Dutch studio AMO, which includes surfaces made from compressed shredded paper, burnt cork and sand-coated steel.

    The research studio, affiliated with architecture firm OMA, created the store concept to celebrate Stone Island’s 40th anniversary.
    Stone Island’s Chicago store features a digital chandelier at its entranceAs well as an update to the look and feel of the interiors, AMO has designed the spaces to host a program of public presentations, salons, workshops and private events beyond store opening hours.
    For the store’s architecture, the studio referenced the “innovative” approach taken by the Italian brand to transforming materials for its products, particularly outwear.
    The interior was designed by AMO to reflect the brand’s experimental approach to materials”Research and innovation are at the core of Stone Island,” said AMO director Samir Bantal, who worked with Natalie Konopelski, Giulio Margheri and Mateusz Kiercz on the project.

    “The space, materiality, and program of the stores underpin the brand’s ethos, and reinforce a sense of belonging of its community of like-minded people,” he continued.
    Walls are lined in cork that has been burnt, sandblasted and coatedThe inaugural store to be designed based on this direction is the 180-square-metre space in Chicago, Stone Island’s first in the city.
    The space features altar-like niches for displaying archival pieces and prototypes to highlight Stone Island’s focus on technology and development.
    A niche at the back of the store displays archival products and prototypesSurfaces throughout the store are intended to look like stone, though none are actually made from it. Instead, off-the-shelf materials have been treated in a variety of ways to replicate the same visual qualities.
    Shredded paper and resin were compressed under high pressure to produce durable panels that mimic concrete, and used to create sculptural displays for products.
    Sculptural display stands are formed from shredded paper and resin that’s compressed to look like concreteCork – which is a staple in existing Stone Island stores – was burnt, sandblasted and coated to create a dark texture. Applied to the walls, the material helps to both absorb sound and control humidity, while the ceiling is covered with a sawtooth arrangement of translucent light boxes.
    Corrugated steel panels were sand-coated to create a softer finish and used to form a curved partition around the fitting rooms.
    The fitting rooms are surrounded by sand-coated corrugated steelAt the store’s entrance, which has a bright orange floor, a digital chandelier is suspended from the ceiling and broadcasts messages to shoppers.
    Following the opening of the Chicago store in October 2022, plans are in place to roll out the concept at locations including Seoul, Munich and Stockholm.

    AMO cocoons Jacquemus store in pillows to create “bedroom-like” interior

    “Stone Island and AMO share values of innovation, functionality, and passion,” said Stone Island creative director and president Carlo Rivetti.
    “I am very happy to begin this important partnership, a new visual approach for our stores, to speak to our communities.”
    Stone Island’s research is explained through displaysAMO was founded as the research arm of OMA, and has developed long-standing relationships with several fashion brands.
    One of its most frequent collaborators is Prada – the studio has designed a number of environments for the Italian brand’s runways shows over the years.
    The Chicago store is the first iteration of the concept by AMOMost recently, AMO worked with French brand Jacquemus to create a Paris boutique with a “bedroom-like” interior and a terracruda-clad shop-in-shop at London’s Selfridges.
    The photography is by Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of Stone Island and OMA/AMO.

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      AMO cocoons Jacquemus store in pillows to create “bedroom-like” interior

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      Dutch studio AMO has used pillows to form the display stands and line the walls in this tactile womenswear boutique by fashion brand Jacquemus in Paris, France.

      The 60-square-metre shop, set in the department store Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, was designed to feel like a bedroom according to AMO, which is the research and design arm of architecture firm OMA.
      AMO has lined a Jacquemus store with large cream-coloured pillows”The location of the shop within the Galleries Lafayette – without windows or daylight – led to the idea of creating a bedroom-like environment: a room entirely made of pillows,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon.
      “It is a cocooning and relaxed atmosphere, inviting customers to lounge and browse for as long as they want,” she told Dezeen.
      The store is designed to feel like a bedroomThe linen pillows were designed to reference the textiles of Provence, where Jacquemus founder Simon Porte Jacquemus grew up.

      “We explored a material palette that aims to capture the atmosphere of Provence,” said OMA architect Giulio Margheri.
      “The fabric of the pillows is a reference to the linens of the South of France,” he told Dezeen.
      Linen pillows reference the textiles of ProvenceAMO also added a stack of pillows to serve as a seating area for shoppers, as well as a spot to showcase Jacquemus’ signature tiny bags.
      The studio completed the store’s easy-going atmosphere with the help of a stripped-back scheme, including cream-coloured carpet, soft lighting and clothing rails in a milky beige hue.

      Jacquemus creates surrealist interpretation of his own bathroom for Selfridges pop-up

      AMO previously designed another store for Jacquemus inside the London department store Selfridges. Much like the brand’s Paris outpost, the shop was wrapped entirely in a single material – clay.
      “The design of the Jacquemus boutiques in London and Paris began with the idea of testing the limits of working with a single material,” Van Loon explained.
      “Instead of working on the design first and deciding on the materials afterwards, we let the materials dictate their presence in the space.”
      Changing rooms are coloured in the same creamy hueThe Jacquemus store is one of many retail interiors AMO has designed in Paris.
      Among them is a pop-up shop by Tiffany & Co that showcases an array of jewellery pieces and a flagship store for clothing brand Off-White that features abstract interpretations of Parisian courtyards and flea markets.
      Project creditsPartner: Ellen van LoonArchitect: Giulio MargheriTeam: Valerio Di Festa, Camille Filbien and Mattia Locci
      The photography is by Benoit Florençon, courtesy of AMO.

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      AMO recreates “Provence atmosphere” with clay Jacquemus shop-in-shop

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      Dutch studio AMO has created a terracruda-clad shop-in-shop with curving tiered shelving for French-fashion brand Jacquemus at luxury department store Selfridges.

      The boutique was installed as a permanent retail space located on the ground floor of London department store Selfridges and is host to Jacquemus bags and accessories.
      The permanent Jacquemus shop-in-shop was designed by AMODesigned by AMO, the research and design arm of architecture firm OMA, it incorporates curving, floor-to-ceiling display shelving clad in a clay-based material that is said to echo materials local to Provence.
      Between rows of curving and tiered display shelving, plinths, totems, tables and chairs decorate the retail space’s interior and display the brand’s latest bags and accessories.
      Terracruda clay was used across the interiorHidden compartments and cabinets were fitted within display units to create a sense of discovery while also tying the space to the trio of surrealist Jacquemus pop-up installations that ran through May in and around Selfridges and Oxford Street.

      The permanent retail space follows as a result of the success of the Le Bleu surrealist pop-up installations that were created by Dutch experience design firm Random Studio and invited customers to explore and discover the brand’s products.

      Jacquemus creates surrealist interpretation of his own bathroom for Selfridges pop-up

      Terracruda clay was applied by hand across the interior of the store to create an uneven surface and natural look. The earthiness of the clay visually juxtaposes against the rigid and solid forms that are populated by colourful bags and accessories.
      Seating areas set within the curving displays are framed by views out to Duke Street and the nearby David Chipperfield-designed entrance that was added to the store in 2018.
      Terracruda clay was used to reference the South of France”The inspiration for the design of the Jacquemus space owes to the brand’s origins in the south of France,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon.
      “We wanted to capture the atmosphere of Provence through the materiality of the space, which led us to approach the design in a different way altogether,” she continued.
      “Instead of working with form and deciding on the materials afterwards, we chose the materials at the outset and let them guide the shape of the space.”
      Seating areas decorate the boutiqueSwedish streetwear label, Axel Arigato recently unveiled its “upside-down” pop-up sneaker store in the luxury department store that features an office-themed interior.
      In Paris, Acne Studios opened a monolithic store on Rue Saint Honoré that is clad in Parisian limestone and references a Stockholm skatepark.
      The photography is by Lewis Ronald.

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      Virgil Abloh and AMO design flexible flagship Off-White store in Miami that “can host a runway show”

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      Fashion designer Virgil Abloh and AMO director Samir Bantal have designed the Off-White flagship store in Miami Design District to be a fulfilment centre and a multipurpose events space. Abloh, who owns the brand Off-White, and Bantal, director of architecture firm OMA’s research arm AMO, designed the store to rethink how physical shops should operate amid the growing popularity of digital shopping.

      “We’re niche entities, AMO, Off-White, Samir and myself, so we’re able to sort of wear our heart on our sleeve or our brain on our sleeve,” Abloh told Dezeen. “The first slide that Samir sent for the development was like, is shopping relevant?”

      “If we’re able to kind of fulfil our needs by ordering a lot of things online, what’s the role of a physical store?,” Bantal added.

      The idea is that the store is flexible, according to Abloh, who citied the annual Art Basel and Design Miami events that take place in Miami as examples of when it could be used to host a variety of activities, like art and music events, and talks.
      “There might be 1,000 people, you know, in key moments of that year where the shop can host a runway show, it can host a talk, it can host a cafe,” Abloh said.
      “It’ll be a cafe that extends out into the street, it’ll be what the environment needs it to be rather than the betting on, hey, this square footage needs to be used for retail 24 seven,” he added.
      “Who knows, by the time it opens I might turn it into like an Uber delivery of Off-White – that’s the freedom and the fun.”

      In response, the store is stripped back to only provide storage space for apparel on sale so it could easily be used for a variety of activities and cultural events.
      “We played with the idea of translating the store into a fulfilment center,” Bantal explained. “Fulfillment of not only the monetary transaction you do by buying a product, but also fulfilment in terms of like the engagement you have with a brand, or the aura of a brand.”
      “This, of course, being in Miami Design District led to the idea of creating a space that is adjustable and transformable over time,” Bantal continued. “We should be able to kind of compress the retail parts to almost like a storage element in the store, and open the store to a kind of variety of cultural events.”

      Located at 127 NE 41 Street, the two-storey store is fronted with an opaque polycarbonate wall on the ground floor that can be pushed back, squeezing the storage of the apparel to the rear and opening the front to the street.
      “You almost push everything that is retail and compress it in the space behind and then of course, ultimately it ends up in storage,” said Bantal. “While the space in front of that facade is completely open and free and can be used for any function.”
      Above the moveable wall is the word Shop with a red cross in front – a tongue-in-cheek nod to the concept behind the project.
      “This is the first Off White store to have a facade you know, that street level so the expression, the signage, you know, as the words Shop is a shop, but then has like, an X through the middle, and it’s very, like monolithic,” said Abloh. “The face of the concept is expressed on the facade.”

      Inside, the team aimed to continue to the theme of the fulfilment centre through a stripped-back industrial aesthetic – including floors rendered in lightly stained concrete, walls lined in corrugated metal and mesh ceiling panels.
      Off-White apparel will be displayed on either stainless steel shelving or black marquina and white Carrara marble rails. All the furniture is placed on wheels or is collapsible so it can be moved about to accommodate events.
      The pared-back style acts as a backdrop to a series of artworks that will be installed in the store and the bold electric blue stair that leads to the first floor. On this level, the brand intends to host more intimate events like dinner parties.

      Abloh, who is also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection, founded his Off-White brand as a ready-to-wear streetwear label in 2012. He previously teamed up with Bantal to design Figures of Speech, a retrospective exhibition of his career at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA).
      The store joins a number of fashion flagships in Miami Design District, which Craig Robins transformed from a formerly neglected area into the hub for design boutiques, luxury fashion brands and art galleries.
      Others include Joseph, which London firm Sybarite design with a spiral black staircase, Christian Louboutin, which is covered in tree bark, Dior, which has a boutique sheathed in curved white concrete panels, and Tom Ford, which is housed in a pleated concrete shop designed by ArandaLasch.

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      Countryside, The Future exhibit has “nothing to do with architecture” says Rem Koolhaas

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      Rem Koolhaas’s exhibition exploring the countryside at New York’s Guggenheim museum aims “to put the countryside on the agenda again”. Koolhaas developed the Countryside, The Future exhibit with his research studio AMO, its director Samir Bantalm and a series of collaborators. The aim is to highlight advancements in rural areas through a series of case studies. “This […] More