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    Crosby Studios creates office-themed installation in LA for The Frankie Shop

    New York-based Crosby Studios has piled office equipment around a long metallic table as part of a pop-up installation for fashion brand The Frankie Shop in Los Angeles.

    The month-long installation titled The Office was launched to coincide with LA Art Week and the Sag-Aftra film festival and marked the New York label The Frankie Shop’s first presence in the Californian city.
    A long, metallic conference table formed part of The Office installation created by Crosby StudiosThe brand’s founder Gaëlle Drevet and Crosby Studios creative director Harry Nuriev met at his studio, talked for 2.5 hours and decided to work together.
    The resulting installation occupies a trapezoidal building on Sunset Boulevard wrapped in metallic film on all sides.
    Equipment like printers, office chairs and water coolers were arranged around the perimeter of the spaceInside, the warehouse-like space features a long table also covered in a reflective material, with matching cube-shaped stools set along either side.

    Articulated desk lamps, microphones and bottles of water were arranged on the table as if set up for delegates at a convention.
    The central table featured microphones and water bottles as if set up for a meetingAround the perimeter, Nuriev placed recycled office equipment, such as a large printer, a stack of binders and a pile of plastic-wrapped office chairs.
    A row of water coolers was lined up along one end of the room, encircled with glowing light boxes to create sharp silhouettes of the equipment in front.
    Light boxes that encircle the space create sharp silhouettes of the office furniture placed in front”It’s not really about the office, it’s more about what happens after the office,” Nuriev told Dezeen. “I was thinking it’s time to officially move on from the office and consider the future. However, in this project, we’re uncertain about what the future holds exactly.”
    A selection of apparel by The Frankie Shop is interspersed among the vignettes, while a “storage” area in the back serves as a fitting room.
    Some of the furniture is plastic-wrapped, appearing as though just installed or ready to be shipped awayTogether, the industrial style of the building, the silvery materials, the lighting and the equipment served to highlight the brand’s reinterpretation of businesswear.
    “The pop-up design blends a dynamic combination of fashion and nostalgia, where the power suits of the past seamlessly align with the modern attitude of The Frankie Shop,” said the team.

    Crosby Studios looks to the “signature red” of David Lynch for Silencio New York

    Metallics are commonplace in Nuriev’s interior projects, appearing prominently in a Berlin jewellery store, a Moscow restaurant and his own New York apartment amongst others.
    However, he is vague about the reasons or intentionality behind this recurring theme.
    The exterior of the building on Sunset Boulevard is also covered in reflective film”I don’t really think about ‘why’; it’s just my instincts, and I prefer to follow my feelings,” said Nuriev. “For this project, I had a vision of silver, and I think it works perfectly.”
    Originally from Russia, the designer founded Crosby Studios in 2014 and is now based between New York and Paris.
    The month-long installation marks The Frankie Shop’s first presence in LA and was timed to coincide with the city’s art weekHe recently completed the interiors for New York nightclub Silencio, based on the original location in Paris designed by film director David Lynch.
    Nuriev frequently collaborates with fashion brands, on projects ranging from a virtual sofa upholstered with green Nike jackets to a transparent vinyl couch filled with old Balenciaga clothing.
    The photography is by Josh Cho.
    The Office is on show in Los Angeles from 23 February to 24 March. For more events, talks and exhibitions in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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    Eight compact garden studios with neat storage solutions

    From cantilevered shelves to customisable pegboards, our latest lookbook rounds up eight examples of garden studios with storage designed to make the most of limited space.

    Garden studios are becoming increasingly popular in homes around the world, prompted largely by the evergrowing trend of remote work.
    Often slotted into small spaces, these structures typically have compact footprints and require efficient storage solutions to keep them clutter-free.
    The examples in this lookbook demonstrate some of the ways storage can be suitably integrated within a garden studio, helping save valuable space within their small footprints.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring Mexican holiday homes, full-length curtains and living spaces with swings.

    Photo by Wai Ming NgCork Study, UK, by Surman Weston
    Birch shelves and twin desks cantilever from the walls of Cork Study, which Surman Weston created in the narrow garden of a home in north London.
    The set-up was designed to help maximise space within the compact studio, which measures just 13 square metres and was created as a workspace for a musician and a seamstress.
    The two desks, complete with their own cubby holes, are broken by a long vertical window in the rear wall, illuminating the workspaces with natural light.
    Find out more about Cork Study ›
    Photo by Nancy ZhouNightlight, New Zealand, by Fabric
    Green storage boxes on wheels slot neatly below the workbench of this outbuilding in New Zealand, which occupies the future garden of a home being developed on the site.
    There are also slender slats mounted to the wooden framework of the 10-square-metre structure, forming minimalist shelves from which tools can be hung.
    Find out more about Nightlight ›
    Photo by Ashlea WesselThe Garden Studio, Canada, by Six Four Five A
    The founder of architecture studio Six Four Five A built storage into the wooden shell of his tiny studio, which he created in the garden of his Toronto home.
    Exposed vertical studs double as supports for shelves and a large standing desk made from birch plywood along one side, preventing cluttering up the 9.3-square-metre space.
    Find out more about The Garden Studio ›
    Photo by Jonas AdolfsenWriter’s Cottage, Norway, by Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects
    This cabin-like studio sits at the end of a garden in Oslo, where it acts as a compact and secluded workspace for the owner who is a writer.
    Among its storage solutions is a plywood staircase that incorporates a shelving system beneath it, leading up to a mezzanine sleeping area that tucks beneath its pitched roof.
    Find out more about Writer’s Cottage ›
    Photo by Wai Ming NgWriter’s Shed, UK, by Surman Weston
    Another project by Surman Weston on the list is the Writer’s Shed, a shingle-clad garden studio designed as a writing retreat for an author.
    Inside, a cluster of shelves has been built around the chimney of the wood-burning stove, which is used to heat the compact structure. While providing valuable storage space, they are also intended as “a centrepiece for the client to store his library of books”, Surman Weston said.
    Find out more about Writer’s Shed ›
    Photo by Sarah BurtonTerrazzo Studio, UK, by Sonn
    In east London, architect Tim Robinson designed and built himself a little studio and workshop at the end of his garden.
    The narrow workshop contains a line of storage units raised above the floor, alongside a large pegboard for storing tools. Next door in the studio space, a rear wall of cabinets incorporates a concealed fold-down bed, enabling the space to become a guest bedroom.
    Find out more about Terrazzo Studio ›
    Photo courtesy of Boano PrišmontasMy Room in the Garden, UK, by Boano Prišmontas
    This modular pod is a prototype for a garden studio, developed by London studio Boano Prišmontas in response to an increase in people working from home prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
    Inside, the plywood structure can be fitted out with customisable elements including pegboards from which desks, shelves and storage can be hung.
    “My Room in the Garden was created with comfort and customisability in mind,” said the studio. “We wanted to allow people to be able to decide what their interior would look like or how much storage they would have, and we do that by creating a system of interchangeable elements.”
    Find out more about My Room in the Garden ›
    Photo by Shannon McGrathWriter’s Shed, Australia, by Matt Gibson
    This deceptively spacious garden studio that architect Matt Gibson created in Melbourne is hidden behind ivy-covered walls.
    An angular desk slots into one corner, with one side nestled below two generous high-level shelving units on the walls. Plywood was used across all of the surfaces, giving the interior a unified look that adds to the sense of spaciousness.
    Find out more about Writer’s Shed ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring Mexican holiday homes, full-length curtains and living spaces with swings.

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    Fala Atelier designs Lisbon home with “very Portuguese” materials

    Architecture studio Fala Atelier decked out the angular spaces of the 087 house in Lisbon with oversized spots and stripes, which also feature on its bold marble facade.

    Designed by Porto-based studio Fala Atelier, 087 is a three-storey home in the Portuguese capital with a rectilinear facade decorated with chunky marble shapes.
    The 087 house features a facade decorated with chunky marble shapesThe studio, known for its playful use of geometry, created custom carpentry from locally sourced materials to accommodate the home’s curved and staggered walls and the sloping ceilings within the building.
    A garden-facing kitchen on the ground floor includes terrazzo flooring and stepped timber cabinetry decorated with bold black and white stripes and topped with marble slabs.
    A funnel-shaped extractor fan adds an eclectic touchUnusual features such as a funnel-shaped, teal-hued extractor fan add an eclectic touch. This Fala Atelier-designed piece can also be found in a windowless garage in Lisbon that the studio converted for a couple.

    “There are no elegant extractors on the market,” Fala Atelier partner Filipe Magalhães told Dezeen.
    “All of them look like nasty appliances. With the kitchen in the way of the window, we knew we would have to integrate the fan. Since we couldn’t make it disappear, we celebrated the piece,” he added.
    The open-plan kitchen is connected to the living spaceThe open-plan kitchen connects to the living area, which is characterised by pinewood flooring dotted with geometric walnut accents.
    “The colours of the stripes and the dots on the floor really try to be noble,” said Magalhães.
    Bespoke Fala Atelier-designed doors and window frames match the kitchen cabinetsThe space also features doors designed by the studio and caramel-coloured Ligne Roset Togo sofas – a quilted and low-slung design classic created by Michel Ducaroy in 1973.
    This seating was positioned next to a boxy fireplace clad with gleaming white ceramic tiles and a squat display plinth finished in veiny black marble.
    Custom cabinetry also features on the upper floors”We tried to diversify the material palette as much as possible while still making it quite banal,” explained Magalhães.
    “The choices are very Portuguese, but the mixture aims at being more than just that,” added the architect.
    Board-formed concrete ceilings were included throughoutUpstairs, the same bespoke cabinetry as in the kitchen was used to form larger cupboards across the curved and angular private spaces of the two upper floors.
    Board-formed concrete ceilings, which also feature downstairs, were paired with oversized rounded mirrors in the bathrooms and a mixture of timber and marble flooring.

    Fala Atelier nestles “very tiny palazzo” in garden of Porto home

    The garden-facing facade follows the same geometry as its street-facing component, also featuring circular and rectilinear decorative shapes.
    “This house is a lot about the relationship with the garden,” said Magalhães, noting the floor-to-ceiling glazing that connects the indoor and outdoor spaces.
    087 focuses on “the relationship with the garden”Fala Atelier has designed several homes in a similar style, including six micro-houses in Porto with geometric forms and concrete finishes and another Porto property topped with a striped concrete roof.
    The photography is by Francisco Ascensao and Giulietta Margot.

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    Children in social housing “sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor”

    Increasing numbers of people in social housing are living in inhospitable conditions because they are unable to afford even basic furniture and flooring, Dezeen reports as part of our Social Housing Revival series.

    In the UK, social-rented homes are usually handed over to new residents in a sparse state – lacking basic elements of decoration and furnishings, as well as essential appliances.
    As the cost of living continues to rise and the availability of crisis-support services diminishes, a growing number of people are unable to afford to furnish these homes, meaning they are sometimes forced to live in a harsh environment for months at a time.
    Top: before – many UK social-housing residents live with furniture poverty. Above: after – London charity Furnishing Futures makes new interiors for women who have fled domestic abuse”For the families who we work with, the point that is most distressing is the void condition – the homes are given and [social landlords] don’t bother painting the walls, and there’s absolutely no flooring down,” said Emily Wheeler, founder and CEO of Furnishing Futures.
    “Most people over time can manage to get some furniture together that’s gifted to them from the local church or friends or family or whatever, but it costs thousands and thousands of pounds to put flooring down, even in a one-bedroom flat.”

    London charity Furnishing Futures was recently established to address the issue among women fleeing domestic abuse, creating interiors to a high standard using furniture donated from brands.
    Emily Wheeler founded Furnishing Futures after realising that the poor condition of social housing was driving women back to abusive partners. Photo by Penny WincerDomestic-abuse survivors and people leaving care or who were previously homeless are particularly at risk of furniture poverty since they are less likely to have items to bring with them.
    Wheeler said Furnishing Futures is seeing increasing demand for its services as more people come under financial pressure.
    “Initially we were only working with women who were in receipt of benefits or experiencing severe poverty or destitution,” explained Wheeler.
    “But now we’re working with families who are using the food bank but the woman is a midwife, or she’s a teaching assistant, or she is a teacher, and that is new.”
    The charity increasingly encounters families living in destitute conditionsSometimes the conditions the charity witnesses are shocking, Wheeler told Dezeen.
    “People are experiencing real hardship,” she said. “We’ve frequently come across people who have no food, no clothes, no shoes for their children.”
    “The kids are sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor – there’s nothing in the flat whatsoever,” she continued. “And those people might even be working as care assistants, or teaching assistants. So it’s really, really difficult at the moment for people.”
    Furnishing Futures seeks to deliver interiors that “look like show homes”. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteAccording to the campaigning charity End Furniture Poverty, more than six million people in the UK lack access to essential furniture, furnishings and appliances – including 26 per cent of those living in social housing.
    Only two per cent of social-rented homes in the UK are let as furnished or partly furnished, the charity’s research has found.
    Wheeler is a trained interior designer who formerly worked in child safeguarding.
    The charity decorated and furnished 36 homes in 2023. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteShe was prompted to set up Furnishing Futures after discovering that many women in social housing who had left dangerous homes were driven back to their abuser by poor living conditions.
    “When women were placed in new housing after having escaped really high-risk situations, they sometimes felt that they had no choice but to return because they couldn’t look after their children in those conditions – there’d be no fridge, no cooker, no washing machine, no bed, no curtains on the windows,” she explained.
    “People are expected to go to those places at a time of great trauma and distress, and recover, but those places are often not conducive to that because of the design and the environment.”
    Wheeler said the interiors industry could be doing more to have a bigger social impact. Penny WincerThe charity overhauled 36 homes in 2023, helping 99 women and children. It takes a design-led approach with an emphasis on finishing interiors to a high standard.
    “We professionally design them and they look like beautiful homes – they look like show homes when they’re finished,” Wheeler said.
    “And the reason we do that is because it’s really important that the women feel that they have a beautiful home and they feel safe there, that they feel for the first time that someone really cares about them,” she added.
    “It also supports the healing and the recovery journey for those women.”

    Social housing means “I can breathe again” say residents

    To help ensure quality, the charity only works with new or as-new furniture. It works with brands to source items that would otherwise be sent to landfill – usually press samples or items used at trade shows, in showrooms or on shoots.
    Donating partners include Soho Home, BoConcept, Romo Fabrics and House of Hackney.
    Wheeler is keen for Furnishing Futures to expand beyond London but the charity is currently held back by limited warehouse capacity and funding.
    “If we had more money and more space we could help more people, it’s as simple as that, really,” she said.
    The charity relies on donations from furniture brandsThe charity continues to seek donations from brands, particularly for bedroom furniture and pieces for children.
    As well as calling for social-housing providers to let their properties in a better state, Wheeler believes the design industry could be doing more to help people facing furniture poverty.
    “I do think that where the industry could catch up a little bit is working with organisations like ours,” she said.
    For example, charities are unable to take furniture lacking a fire tag – which tend to be removed – so imprinting this information onto the items themselves would make more usable.
    The charity is often in need of items for children’s bedrooms. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteIn addition, donating excess items as an alternative to sample sales could be a way to reduce waste with much greater social impact, she suggests.
    “There’s probably millions of people across the country living without basic items and yet there’s massive overproduction, but the waste isn’t necessarily coming to people who actually need it,” Wheeler said.
    “There are things that the industry could be doing that will create a huge social impact very easily.”
    The photography is courtesy of Furnishing Futures unless otherwise stated.
    Illustration by Jack BedfordSocial Housing Revival
    This article is part of Dezeen’s Social Housing Revival series exploring the new wave of quality social housing being built around the world, and asking whether a return to social house-building at scale can help solve affordability issues and homelessness in our major cities.

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    Bruno Mars and Yabu Pushelberg design cocktail lounge at Las Vegas casino

    Musician Bruno Mars and design studio Yabu Pushelberg have teamed up to create the interiors of a cocktail lounge and live music venue at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.

    Named The Pinky Ring, the 5,000-square-foot (465-square-metre) lounge is accessible directly from the casino floor, but designed as an entirely separate experience away from the bright lights, bustle and noise.
    The stone bar at The Pinky Ring is surrounded by golden drapes that are reflected in the mirrored ceilingGrammy Award-winning artist Mars collaborated with Canadian studio Yabu Pushelberg to craft an elevated and luxurious space within the Bellagio Resort and Casino.
    The bar serves a curated collection of cocktails and hosts live entertainment by top musicians and DJs – though no phones are allowed inside.
    A huge crystal chandelier hangs in the centre of the lounge and is visible from all cornersThe entry sequence begins with a dimly lit mirrored passageway, where Mars’ collection of Grammy trophies is displayed.

    “Inspired by contemporary museum design, the corridor was designed as a soothing and discreet exhibition space where guests can cleanse their visual palette from the outside world and begin to submerge into The Pinky Ring,” said the design team.
    A VIP area is lined with faceted mirrored panels that create infinite reflectionsGuests arrive at the main bar and lounge in front of a sunken conversation pit, wrapped with a wavy banquette and furnished with soft armchairs gathered around a series of small tables.
    The carpet, the leather and the velvet chair upholstery are shades of green – colours also found in the richly veined stone tabletops.
    Other niches with additional seating feature dark wood-veneer panelsA giant halo-like chandelier with tiers of glowing crystal hangs from the ceiling above, providing a central focal point that can be seen from every corner.
    At the rear of the space is a gently curved, dramatically patterned stone bar, topped with a row of metallic Flowerpot lamps by Verner Panton.
    In the central conversation pit, various shades of green were chosen for the carpet, chairs and banquettesThe back bar is housed within an elongated pill-shaped, mirrored recess, which displays a wide range of liquor bottles and is ringed with stepped cove lights.
    Golden drapes run floor to ceiling across the back wall and are reflected in more mirrors on the ceiling.
    The green hues of the seating are echoed in the richly veined stone tabletopsOff the main lounge are various niches and VIP areas that offer additional seating, some lined with dark wood-veneer panels.
    “See or be seen, each area is composed of its own suave and purpose that echoes into the next,” said the team.

    AvroKO designs Supper Club restaurant at Justin Timberlake’s The Twelve Thirty Club in Nashville

    One organically shaped space is lined with faceted, smokey mirrored panels that create infinite reflections, and features a banquette that wraps around a large table fitted with a giant ice bucket for chilling drinks.
    An important factor in the design was the lighting, which comprises under-seat and ceiling coves, along with wall lights with five globe-shaped diffusers attached to vertical brass rods.
    Patterned crushed velvet covers the curved banquette back, while the seat is wrapped in leather”In the pursuit of perpetual allure, where lighting not only transforms spaces, but perceptions, The Pinky Ring unveils a strategic lighting innovation, schemed to make people look and feel their best,” the team said.
    “Through a strategic interplay of low-level, contrast, and accent lighting, The Pinky Ring lighting design unveils the unseen.”
    Mars joins a long line of famous musicians to open entertainment venues. Among others is singer Justin Timberlake, who put his name behind an AvroKO-designed Nashville dining and drinking destination in 2021.
    Pink-red stone tiles across the bathroom walls nod to the lounge’s nameYabu Pushelberg was founded by George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg in 1980, and the studio has designed some of the most recognisable hospitality interiors over the past four decades.
    Shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2021 design studio of the year and judges for the program in 2023, Yabu Pushelberg’s recent projects include the Moxy and AC Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles – of several they’ve completed for the Moxy brand – and The Londoner hotel on Leicester Square in the UK capital.
    The photography is by Sean Davidson.

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    Studio Aisslinger transforms historic Berlin art squat into Fotografiska Berlin

    A former department store that became a famous artists’ squat is now home to Fotografiska Berlin, a photography museum featuring interior design by German designer Werner Aisslinger.

    Once the second-largest shopping arcade in Berlin, the building is best known as the Kunsthaus Tacheles, home of the Tacheles artist collective, who occupied it from 1990 to 2012.
    Fotografiska Berlin is located in the former Kunsthaus Tacheles. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAisslinger’s Berlin-based office, Studio Aisslinger, has transformed the former artist spaces into a new location for Fotografiska, which also has venues in New York, Shanghai, Stockholm and Tallinn.
    This follows a major renovation overseen by architects Herzog and de Meuron, which included a pyramid-shaped roof extension and the addition of apartments and office spaces.
    The venue combines exhibition galleries with hospitality spaces. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAs a for-profit organisation, Fotografiska’s model is different from other museums and galleries in that it blends exhibition space with hospitality.

    Fotografiska Berlin stays open until 11pm, allowing visitors to combine an exhibition visit with dining or drinks.
    The design responds to this with spaces designed in the spirit of a members’ club. There are seven floors, including a restaurant, two bars, a cafe, a bakery, a shop and a ballroom.
    Historic graffiti is preserved throughout the interior. Photo is by Nicoló Lanfranchi”It’s a complex cosmos that reminds one of a large hotel, only with exhibitions rather than overnight stays,” explained Aisslinger.
    “A house like this doesn’t live from ticket sales alone. If you wanted that, you would have to calculate with state aid,” he continued.
    “But that’s not what’s supposed to happen here. That’s why the many catering and event areas play a very important role.”
    A ground-floor cafe and bar features velvet seating booths. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAisslinger said the aim was to create interiors that weave together the building’s different layers of history.
    Located on the corner of Oranienburger Strasse and Friedrichstrasse, the building was first inaugurated in 1909 as the Friedrichstrasse Passage.

    Roman and Williams creates “romantic” Veronika restaurant inside New York’s Fotografiska museum

    It was repurposed many times over the following decades – during the Nazi regime the building served as the headquarters for the party’s German Labour Front and its SS corps – and was due to be torn down before the Tacheles group moved in.
    As the Kunsthaus Tacheles, the building became a symbol of the post-reunification era, filled with large-scale graffiti works that are now protected by preservation orders.
    The department store’s original floor tiles are retained in the museum shop. Photo is by Patricia Parinejad”We tried to let the historic substance shine through a new use,” said Aisslinger.
    “It was important to give the substance room to breathe. But that doesn’t mean that we frame the old walls and graffiti-like pictures and illuminate them with spotlights. It was more a question of proceeding carefully.”
    Studio Aisslinger’s design aims to balance old and new. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiMany spaces are characterised by a careful balance between raw, industrial materials and more comfortable, luxurious elements, including decorative lamps and heavy, patterned fabrics.
    The Verōnika restaurant on the fourth floor is a key example of this.
    Verōnika is a restaurant organised around a central bar. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiThe space incorporates one of the building’s best-known artworks – depicting former German chancellor Angela Merkel with a mohawk hairstyle – in a private dining room featuring solid wood furniture and velvet upholstery.
    The ground floor has more of a casual, public feel. The cafe bar has fluted tiles and curving leather and velvet banquettes, while the shop features both original floor tiles and steel and wood shelving systems.
    Industrial materials are paired with soft lighting and patterned fabrics. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadThe level of intervention varies throughout, depending on the nature of each space.
    A light touch was adopted for the grand double-height ballroom, known as the Golden Hall, which was used as a theatre venue by the Tacheles.
    A different approach was required for Bar Clara, which is located under the new pyramid-shaped roof. Offering a panoramic view of the city skyline, it combines mirrored walls with shades of smoky grey, light blue and purple.
    The ballroom space was previously used as a theatre. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiFotografiska Berlin opened in September, although some of the bar and restaurant spaces came later.
    Some critics have questioned whether a private museum is an appropriate use of a building that had become synonymous with Berlin’s underground creative scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
    Aisslinger, whose previous projects in the city include the 25hours Bikini Berlin Hotel, believes the new model brings back the social spirit that came to define the Kunsthaus Tacheles.
    Bar Clara is a rooftop space offering panoramic views. Photo is by Nicoló Lanfranchi”The Tacheles was always an event space as well,” he said. “It was always a bit more. In this respect, one can say that this social aspect already existed in the house and that it is being brought back to life right now.”
    “We want to look ahead to the future whilst embracing the past, and to do so in a casual way,” he added. “That is very Berlin.”
    Main image is by Nicoló Lanfranchi.

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    Cúpla decorates Rixo Marylebone store with hand-painted murals

    Interior design studio Cúpla has completed a boutique for fashion brand Rixo in central London that features hand-painted illustrations and colourful zellige tiles.

    The clothing store on Marylebone High Street was revamped by Cúpla, whose creative director Gemma McCloskey is the twin sister of Rixo co-founder Orlagh McCloskey.
    The interior designer had previously designed the brand’s flagship store on the King’s Road and wanted the refurbished Marylebone location to have a similar feel.
    Rixo’s Marylebone store is covered in hand-painted murals”We wanted the store to embody everything we had previously created for Rixo’s flagship store but within its own right,” Gemma McCloskey told Dezeen.
    “A sense of escapism paired with a welcoming warmth within a boutique setting were the key emotions we wanted the customer to feel.”

    As the brand sells hand-painted prints, the designer wanted the store’s interior to feature illustrations to reflect the style of the clothes.
    It features modified vintage furniture”Understanding Rixo’s roots and the fact their USP is hand-painted prints, it felt tangible to represent the brand’s values and beginnings with the illustrations,” Gemma McCloskey said.
    “Given the space is quite small, we treated it almost like a living room space within a home and felt we could make it all-encompassing and personal.”
    Artist Sam Wood created colourful illustrations for the storeArtist Sam Wood hand-painted murals and illustrations throughout the store, which has a bright and playful colour palette and also features traditional glazed Moroccan zellige tiles.
    “We wanted the colour palette to feel really fresh and bright,” the designer explained.
    “Although there is an abundance of colours used, every line of the mural or the ‘random’ coloured zellige tile layout was methodically composed to ensure a right balance between the colours was struck.”

    James Shaw installs jumbo foot in London Camper store

    The studio added decorative arches and classical mouldings to the store in a nod to the architecture and heritage of its Marylebone neighbourhood.
    The store also features bespoke fitting room curtains with pickle-green and flora-pink stripes by fabric brand Colours of Arley.
    Moroccan zellige tiles add to the playful interiorCúpla used vintage furniture pieces throughout the store, which sells Rixo’s full collection including ready-to-wear and bridalwear.
    “We actually modified existing pieces of vintage furniture, which had been previously sourced by [Rixo founders] Orlagh and Henrietta years ago in the early days of Rixo,” Gemma McCloskey said.
    “They were the perfect fit for the space but didn’t have the functionality we required, so we decided to alter these instead or replace them.”
    The store is located on Marylebone High Street”It was much more sustainable and because the pieces were from the early years of Rixo, they had sentimental value so we didn’t want to replace them,” she added.
    Other recent London stores featured on Dezeen include a Camper store with a giant foot sculpture and a stationery store with a demountable interior.
    The photography is courtesy of Rixo.

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    Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy combines glass bricks and walnut for first store

    Bottega Veneta’s creative director Matthieu Blazy has designed the brand’s Avenue Montaigne flagship store in Paris, which is dominated by walnut wood fittings and glass bricks.

    The 800-metre-square shop features industrial, square glass blocks integrated into the floors, ceilings and walls, creating a geometric grid which diffuses light throughout the store.
    Glass bricks feature on the walls, floors and ceilings of the storeWalnut wood panels frame the textured glass blocks. The same wood was used in transitional spaces for a spiral staircase, curved corridor and for statement details like a display table and wooden columns.
    The interior design aims to balance volume and scale throughout the space – from blown-up elements, like the wooden details echoing the woven leather “intrecciato” reminiscent of Bottega Veneta’s handbags, to the thousands of glass bricks.
    Walnut panelling echoes the brand’s famous intrecciato woven leather techniqueThe store in central Paris is the first designed by Blazy, who has led Italian luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta since 2020.

    According to the brand the store’s design aims to “celebrate Italian craftsmanship with a modernist sensibility”.

    “Woven” leather sofas and chairs are positioned in the spaceWithin the space, enclaves of soft seating and carpeted dressing rooms create smaller areas, contrasting the wide open stretches of glass brick in the main store.
    Sofas and chairs were styled in giant woven leather panels, also echoing the “intrecciato” technique Bottega Veneta is famous for in their handbag design.
    A spiral staircase leads to a second floorThe woven pattern is echoed in the carving of walnut tables and columns. Wool carpets and mirrored clothes rails complete the interior scheme for the open-plan space.
    The front door of the shop features a unique glass handle by the Venice-based Japanese glass artist, Ritsue Mishima.
    The store’s entry door features a bespoke glass handle by Ritsue MishimaOther retail design recently featured on Dezeen includes James Shaw’s installation of a jumbo foot in London Camper store and a “sensual” Ferragamo store by Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen.
    The photography is by François Halard.

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