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    Co.arch Studio creates show kitchen for candied fruit specialist Cesarin

    An Italian company that makes candied fruit now has a dedicated space for cookery demonstrations, designed by Milan-based architecture office Co.arch Studio.

    Cesarin has produced its fruity bakery products at a factory between Verona and Vicenza in Italy for over 100 years.
    The plywood structure is installed within one of Cesarin’s factory buildingsCo.arch Studio founders Andrea Pezzoli and Giulia Urciuoli worked with the company to create a pop-up kitchen for hosting live-audience events and filming videos for social media.
    Built from plywood, this double-height structure is located on the first floor of one of the company’s existing factory buildings.
    It provides space for hosting events and filming cookery videosIt incorporates a demonstration counter area, a kitchen, a meeting room, and storage and toilet facilities.

    The design concept developed by Pezzoli and Urciuoli was to create the impression of a singular, solid volume within the room.
    “The new volume was designed as a large piece of furniture, inspired by Antonello da Messina’s painting San Girolamo Nello Studio,” explained the duo.
    The demonstration counter is designed to move aroundThe Renaissance artwork they refer to depicts a priest sitting in a study room where architecture and furniture appear as one.
    “This painting is known for the impeccable use of perspective, restoring the image of a space that is lived in but at the same time utopian and rigorous,” Pezzoli and Urciuoli said.

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    Here, a similar effect is created. The structure was designed to look like a box with openings carved out of it, each incorporating a different function.
    The demonstration counter sits within a large void at the front, although it is set on castors so it can be moved around.
    An arched doorway leads up to the mezzanine levelA rectangular niche in the side wall creates a casual seat, while an arched doorway frames a staircase that leads up to a mezzanine level that functions as the meeting space.
    The kitchen and toilet facilities are located within the volume, accessed from either a side door or via the counter area, while a cloakroom slots in underneath the stairs.
    The meeting space sits directly beneath the roof trusses”The wooden volume highlights the height of the ceiling, defining the rhythm of the spaces with plays of solids and voids, and creating unprecedented internal views,” said the architects.
    The plywood is made from okumè, a timber with a similar appearance to cherry.
    The okumè plywood has a similar appearance to cherry woodThe idea was to reference the fruit that Cesarin is best known for; the land surrounding the factory is famous for its Prunus Avium plantations, which produce a particularly sweet type of cherry.
    Behind the plywood panels is a balloon-frame structure, with pillars and beams made from fir wood.
    Toilet and storage facilities are located within the wooden volumeThe entire construction was prefabricated by a carpentry workshop in South Tyrol, allowing the architects to achieve “a quality that would otherwise be impossible”.
    The rest of the space is painted white, allowing the wood to stand out.
    Pezzoli and Urciuoli liken the overall effect to that of a theatre. “To emphasise the theatrical aspect of the space, light wavy curtains resembling a curtain were used to darken the numerous windows,” they added.
    Other recent projects in Italy include the Boyy flagship in Milan designed by Danish artist Thomas Poulsen and a sushi restaurant designed to resemble a futuristic spaceship.
    The photography is by Simone Bossi.

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    Studio Paul Chan references Wes Anderson at Boisson bottle shop in LA

    The opening scene from a Wes Anderson film provided a starting point for the interior of this bottle shop in Los Angeles, by locally based Studio Paul Chan.

    The first LA location for Boisson combines elements of mid-century Hollywood design and art deco in a 1,160-square-foot (108-square-metre) space to showcase a selection of non-alcoholic beverages.
    Studio Paul Chan has designed the first Boisson store in Los Angeles”Inspired by great storytelling and glassware in Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch opening scene, where a server scales five flights of stairs to deliver a tray of aperitifs, absinthe, dry white wine, a coke, and an affogato to a meeting of editors, we endeavoured to create a space for the aesthete,” said studio founder Paul Chan.
    The studio installed walnut-stained wooden wall panelling with areas of “calming” dusty green lime wash spaced evenly in between.
    A lamp by Gae Aulenti sits atop a custom glass block counterThese materials are contrasted by thin stainless steel shelves upon which the products are displayed along both side walls.

    “The layered narrative mixes artisanal materials with machine-made elements, creating a conceptual parallel between non-alcoholic drinks and traditional wine,” Chan said.
    A central rack displays and stores bottles of non-alcoholic wineA long narrow wooden table runs through the centre of the space, creating another spot for presenting the bottles on top, and adding storage in the form of open racks below.
    Chan also took cues from Maison de Verre, a modernist house completed by Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet in 1932, for elements of his design.
    Stainless steel shelves are mounted onto dusty green lime-washed wallsAt the back, illuminated glass bricks are stacked within a steel structure to form a curved counter, upon which a curvaceous Pipistrello Table Lamp by Italian architect Gae Aulenti is placed.
    Sconces that echo the shapes of the glass blocks are positioned on the walls, together creating a warm glow within the space.

    Ten cinematic interiors that could be in a Wes Anderson film

    “There is delight in using the ordinary in extraordinary ways, and I like the element of surprise,” said Chan.
    “Light and shadow can become materials too and as if by magic, heavy things can become unexpectedly weightless.”
    The shapes of the glass blocks are echoed in the wall sconces. Photo by Avery J KleinThe popularity of non-alcoholic wines, beers and spirits has risen significantly over the past few years, and designers have been tapped to imagine both spaces and packaging to market these goods.
    For example, Barber Osgerby created the packaging for a non-alcoholic drink invented by wine writer Matthew Jukes in 2020, while University of Huddersfield graduate Holly Thomas imagined a venue for the consumption of these beverages.
    The glass block counter was influenced by the modernist Maison de Verre. Photo by Avery J KleinThe pastel colours and symmetry in films by visionary director Wes Anderson have influenced many interiors around the world, from a restaurant in Moscow to cafes in Melbourne and Stockholm.
    The director himself also designed a bar inside the Fondazione Prada in Milan, based on old landmarks and cafes in the city.
    The photography is by Ye Rin Mok unless stated otherwise.

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    EBBA Architects transforms former jellied-eel restaurant into eyewear store

    Local studio EBBA Architects has designed a store for eyewear brand Cubitts that preserves and draws on the original 1930s interior of the traditional F Cooke restaurant on London’s Broadway Market.

    The restaurant, which sold cockney dishes such as jellied eel and pie and mash, had been located on the east London street since 1900 but was given a modernist update in the 1930s.
    The Cubitts store on Broadway Market is located inside a former restaurantEBBA Architects turned the space into a 145-square-metre Cubitts store but kept almost all the original interiors of the Grade II-listed restaurant, which had been unoccupied since 2019.
    F Cooke’s marble tables were given new legs made from stained birch plywood and now hold eyewear display cases in a sunny hue that matches the original wall tiles.
    Pale yellow tiles clad the walls”The tables are original but we designed the legs to kind of make it feel like a new feature,” EBBA Architects founder Benni Allan told Dezeen.

    “The table has just been scrubbed up,” he said. “Imagine how many nice pies have been eaten on that table.”
    “I think what’s nice is that everything below [the tables] has had this quite warm treatment to bring in a nice texture and tone, and then everything above is much lighter.”
    Different coloured material samples are displayed on wooden shelvesThe studio also kept the original stained-glass windows and the counter that used to serve food, turning it into a point of sale, while a repair station for glasses fills the window facing the street.
    Pale yellow tiles bordered by bands of contrasting blue and turquoise tiles decorate the walls. These are the original interior from 1930 and were cleaned using “loads of elbow grease”, Allan said.
    The former food counter was turned into a point of saleIn the main showroom of the two-storey store, the studio also kept the restaurant’s mirrors, only removing one to create a display case and sales point.
    “All the additions are kind of appendages or accoutrements on the base of the original structure,” Cubitts founder Tom Broughton told Dezeen.
    An orange staircase leads to the lower floorDownstairs, EBBA Architects made more interventions, as the space was dark and hadn’t been furnished to the same level as the main upstairs space.
    “It was really quite dark and dingy down there, so the colours from upstairs informed this really bright orange in the staircase,” Allan said.

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    The studio used stained plywood to create a sliding wood screen with a square pattern based on the tiles in the main store, as well as creating a bright-coloured staff room with a “secret door”.
    It also added tiled floors with a decorative pattern in a colour palette that references that of the restaurant.
    “There’s that really beautiful intricate detailing upstairs, so we wanted to sort of mirror that down here with these different patterns in the floor,” Allan said.
    EBBA Architects designed a sliding door for the eye-test roomDownstairs also holds the eyewear testing centre, which is located underneath the street above.
    Broughton and Allan tried to keep as many of the original details from the restaurant as possible. The tank where the live eels were once kept before being boiled is left standing in an outdoor space downstairs and the restaurant’s sign remains above the front door.
    The store has retained its original signage and one of the benchesOne of the benches, on which people used to sit and eat, has been placed outside the store. And the Cooke family behind the restaurant chain – which still has two outposts – has lent Cubitts some of its original pie tins alongside the bowls used to serve jellied eels and a picture of founder Bob Cooke.
    The Cubitts Broadway Market store is located in an area that has become increasingly gentrified over the past decade, with many local shops being taken over by chains.
    Original stained-glass windows decorate the interiorThough some people have been nostalgic about the time when the store was a pie-and-mash shop, Allan and Broughton said there have also been positive reactions to the refurbishment
    “People have actually been really chuffed that it stayed the same,” Allan said.
    “Someone could come in here in a decade or two and actually put it back into a pie and mash shop. Even though [the changes] feel purposeful, it’s quite a light touch. If anything, we’ve kind of given it a new lease of life, because it was actually pretty grimy.”
    A repair station sits in the windowThis is also the general tactic for Cubitts, Broughton said. When looking for new stores, the brand focuses on finding spaces that have existing interiors, with other outposts set in a 19th-century townhouse in Belgravia and a Victorian arcade in Leeds.
    “Ideally, [the store] already has this existing structure and framework that you can clean up and add a bit of product and a few fittings to,” he said.
    “And that’s the really nice thing, right? If you can take something that’s already beautiful, give it a new lease of life and make it relevant to someone today, that’s really cool.”

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    6a Architects brings Soho sex shop windows to JW Anderson Milan flagship store

    British fashion brand JW Anderson has opened a flagship store in Milan that was designed by British studio 6a Architects and draws on the local atmosphere as well as Soho sex shops.

    The 53 square-metre-store is located on the Via Sant’Andrea luxury shopping street in Milan’s Quadrilatero shopping district. It is set across a single floor and comprises two rooms.
    JW Anderson’s first Milan store was designed by 6a ArchitectsWhile the boutique primarily draws reference from its “bourgeoise” Milanese surroundings, the retail space also pulls from designer Jonathan Anderson’s first JW Anderson store in Soho and from the 2017 exhibition Disobedient Bodies, which was curated by him.
    It was designed by 6a Architects, who Anderson began working with in 2017 after selecting the studio to design the set for Disobedient Bodies at The Hepworth Wakefield.
    It draws on a Milanese atmosphere”I thought [6a Architects] really grasped how to take my visual language and turn it into something which was able to be educational,” Anderson told Dezeen.

    “They’re very good at hybrid, old or new. They’re very good at this combination, they’re great architects.”
    “The store actually is a combination of Disobedient Bodies and a store. It’s a little bit more elevated,” he said. “The front of the building feels Soho, and as you go in, it feels more kind of domestic Milanese.”
    It carries over elements from the Soho storeIn a nod to the store frontages of the sex shops found in London’s Soho area, the windows of the Milanese store were decorated with neon lighting and rainbow-slatted curtains.
    Anderson and 6a Architects used the design as a juxtaposition against the more typical Milanese interior.
    “For me, there is something very sexual about neon lighting,” said Anderson. “I think we associate it with grand gestures and I felt like a window is kind of like a television set. There’s something with neon that it does, it kind of tricks you.”
    Traditional Italian furnishings and finishes fill the interior”There are little alleyways and they have all these amazing sex stores on and these curtains,” Anderson continued.
    “I liked the idea that we have this in Milan and then suddenly you enter into a kind of Milanese setting, something which is very bourgeoise.”

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    Inside, gridded handmade terrazzo covers the floor and visually divides areas of the interior through bespoke contrasting tones of grey and sand.
    Brassy, metallic curtains ripple along the rear walls of the store, in a similar way to 6a Architects’ use of curtains in the exhibition design for Disobedient Bodies.
    Jonathan Anderson selected furniture and artwork for the interiorAluminium scaffolding, which was also carried over from Anderson’s Soho store, was translated into display shelving and brought an “angst” to the interior that contrasts against traditional Italian furnishings, such as fluted walnut panelling that envelops two curved walls.
    “There is something slightly more underground in terms of the construction of a JW Anderson store, whereas, I think Loewe [for which Anderson is creative director] is about a heightened perfection,” said Anderson. “With JW Anderson, there’s always a bit of slight angst to it.”
    “It’s softer inside, and then you have this harshness with the windows where there’s neons and sex curtains and it’s kind of like a theatre. It has moveable parts and in a weird way the store becomes a giant window.”
    It has furniture by Mac CollinsFurniture and artworks personally selected by Anderson fill the interior.
    Designer Mac Collins’ black Iklwa chair was paired with matching side tables, while a Cardinal Hat pendant light by Lutyens Furniture is suspended from the ceiling of the main space.
    Oil paintings by Chinese artist Hongyan appear to float on the ripples of the brass-coloured curtains, and images by photographer Wolfgang Tillmans sit on the walls of the store’s fitting room.
    An image by Wolfgang Tillmans is placed in the fitting room”I don’t believe that stores should be completely cookie-cutter,” said Anderson. “I feel like the key is to make sure that each store has a different universe because there’s no point in having something which is just a duplication, duplication, duplication.”
    Jonathan Anderson founded his eponymous label JW Anderson in 2008 and was appointed creative director of Spanish luxury house Loewe in 2014, which recently announced the winner of its sixth annual craft prize.
    During London Fashion Week, JW Anderson presented a “parallel world of people trapped in their computers” for its Spring Summer 2023 collection.
    The photography is by DePasquale+Maffini, courtesy of JW Anderson.

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    Ringo Studio positions sex toys in athletic-themed room at Contact Sports

    Brooklyn-based Ringo Studio has reimagined the experience of shopping for sex toys, creating a store in New York modelled on a collegiate locker room.

    The Contact Sports shop on Mercer Street in Soho is designed to feel very different to the typical spaces in which products for sex are purchased.
    The store interior features walnut panelling and mosaic flooring”In a survey conducted before launch, the majority of people reported feeling uncomfortable walking into a sex store,” said the studio. “Uninviting exteriors felt intimidating, the aisles were hard to navigate, and the shelves stocked hundreds of products that were hard to decipher.”
    Working with Ringo Studio founder Madelynn Ringo – who has designed retail spaces for Glossier, Bala and Our Place – the brand devised a shopping experience based around sport, and used cues from this world to inform the interiors.
    Merchandise is displayed on brass rails and shelvingThe retail space includes an area at the front that sells long-stem roses in singles or bundles, including a 15-foot (4.5 metre) wall on which the fresh-cut red flowers are stored.

    Beyond, dark walnut panelling, brass rails and shelves, and green cushions give the store a collegiate atmosphere, while mosaic floor tiles and baskets of towels evoke a locker room.
    Walnut panelling forms locker-like cubby holes for displaying productsVintage sporting ephemera like tennis rackets, boxing gloves and American football helmets are displayed on higher shelves.
    Below, the selection of “entry-level gear and sensual gifts” from brands such as Kiki de Montparnasse, Lelo, Dame, Maude, Future Method and more are merchandised in locker-style cubbyholes.

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    “Contact Sports flips the traditional model on its head and takes a more curated approach, stocking only 70 products at launch,” the studio said.
    “Their team spent more than a year vetting a category that includes tens of thousands to offer only the best of the best, with unexpected touches that enhance the full experience around the sport.”
    The store features a Joe Chair shaped like a baseball gloveThe space is illuminated from above by a light box behind a wooden lattice, while softer lighting is installed in the cubbies.
    An iconic chair shaped like a giant baseball mitt by designers Jonathan de Pas, Donato D’urbino and Paolo Lomazzi sits next to the white counter, above which the brand’s cursive logo glows in neon.
    Long-stem red roses are sold at the front of the storeThe sex toy industry has grown significantly in recent years, as taboos have broken and social acceptance has widened. See some of the most unusual sex toys featured on Dezeen.
    However, “the retail experience itself had yet to evolve,” said the Contacts Sports team, which hopes the store will change how shopping for sex gear should look and feel.
    The photography is by Anna Morgowicz.

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    Boyy flagship in Milan reveals layers of the store’s history

    Danish artist Thomas Poulsen, also known as FOS, has revamped the flagship store of accessories brand Boyy in Milan, keeping time-worn surfaces left over from the site’s former fit-outs.

    This marks the third time that FOS has refreshed the space on Via Bagutta since 2021, as part of the artist’s plan to create a dynamic “evolving” store.
    FOS has redesigned Boyy’s flagship in MilanIn its first incarnation, the Boyy flagship had funhouse-style mirrors, walls draped in faded pink fabric and cobalt-blue carpets emblazoned with everyday objects.
    This colour scheme was inverted for the second iteration of the store featuring blue walls and bubblegum-pink carpet. Elements of both of these schemes now remain in the store’s third and final form, which was left purposefully unfinished.
    Unpanelled sections of the wall reveal the store’s past fit-outs”This space was an experiment in formulating a shared language for how Boyy could develop as a brand,” FOS explained.

    “We started by creating an installation – the first rendition – then used that experience to create a second installation, and finally built upon the combined experience to create this final permanent space that we have now arrived at.”
    “We always envisioned the third rendition as the final act,” added Boyy co-founder Jesse Dorsey.
    Accessories are displayed inside illuminated glass vitrinesThe Boyy flagship now has walls panelled with the same grey ceppo stone that clads the store’s facade.
    Some areas were left without panelling, revealing the aged, fabric-lined walls left behind by a previous occupant – a 50-year-old antique shop that sold quaint Americana-style objects for the home.
    Blue fabric can also be seen hanging in the rear corner, saved from FOS’s second overhaul of the space.

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    These swathes of time-worn fabric were enclosed inside aluminium window frames, as were some of the store’s display units.
    Elsewhere, Boyy’s selection of shoes and handbags can be showcased in several illuminated glass vitrines or on the ledge that runs around the periphery of the store.
    The store has been finished with terrazzo flooringFOS also created a display shelf around a crumbling structural column that sits in the middle of the floor plan.
    A couple of tiered, sea-green bench seats were dotted throughout the store as decoration, complementing the flecks of greens stone that are found in the terrazzo floor.
    Curved benches provide seating throughout the storeMilan is home to an abundance of visually striking retail spaces.
    Others include the Moschino flagship, which was designed to reference the history of ancient Italy, and the Off-White store, which is decked out with natural materials like Patagonia granite.

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    Anne Holtrop organises Parisian jewellery boutique around wavy acrylic wall

    Dutch architect Anne Holtrop has used rippled sheets of acrylic to create a water-like partition inside this Parisian boutique by jewellery designer Charlotte Chesnais.

    The store is set along Boulevard Saint Germain and is the second retail location that Anne Holtrop has devised for the brand.
    Anne Holtrop has designed a boutique for Charlotte ChesnaisLike the inaugural branch – which features a striking acrylic display table – Chesnais wanted this space to present her jewellery in a way that fosters a “unique spatial experience”.
    Holtrop’s answer was to use acrylic again – but this time to construct a towering partition wall.
    A wavy acrylic wall runs through the middle of the boutique”In the first store, we included a very large table that is almost the full size of the space,” he told Dezeen. “In the second store, we flipped this concept as the existing space has a great height and small floor area.”

    The translucent partition runs across the middle of the store and was CNC milled to have a rippled, almost watery surface texture. The divider is also inbuilt with tiered shelves and drawers, meaning any rings, necklaces or bracelets showcased inside seem to float.
    An infinity mirror is one of the few other decorative items in the storeThe rest of the store’s interior was largely kept simple. Walls surrounding the partition were washed with beige marmorino plaster and decoration was restricted to a curvaceous gold sculpture that mimics the form of Chesnais’ designs.
    There is also a trompe l’oeil infinity mirror and a small wooden stool.

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    A doorway in the acrylic partition guides customers to a curved flight of stairs at the rear of the store.
    These lead up to a mezzanine-level room that’s dedicated to showcasing the brand’s fine jewellery collection.
    A curved staircase leads up to a room where fine jewellery is displayedAcrylic was used here again to make an expansive wall-mounted display unit. Other surfaces were coated with glossy forest-green epoxy paint.
    A plump sofa was set into the room’s back wall and a thick jade-coloured carpet was been laid across the floor.
    “We wanted to give it a different, more intimate atmosphere, in which you sit and relax like in a little cocktail bar,” Holtrop said.
    The second room is covered with glossy green paintThis isn’t the first time that Anne Holstrop has designed a space for a fashion brand.
    In 2021, the architect remodelled Maison Margiela’s London store, where he inserted a series of gypsum walls that resemble fabric cuttings.
    The photography is by James Nelson. 

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    JUJU Studio creates “poetic and romantic” flagship for Miss Circle in New York

    Pools of red carpet spill across the floor of this women’s fashion boutique designed by JUJU Studio in New York City.

    For fashion brand Miss Circle, New York-based JUJU Studio created the interiors of its 2,600-square-foot (242-square-metre) store on West Broadway in SoHo.
    The Miss Circle flagship in occupies a long, narrow space designed by JUJU StudioThe space has a long, narrow footprint, so studio founder Jing Ju devised a variety of display techniques for the brand’s womenswear garments.
    “Unlike typical fashion retail spaces, the Sensorial Flagship Store is inviting and relatable, encouraging customers to engage with the brand in a fully stimulating way,” said the studio.
    At the front of the store, a sliding counter can be used for multiple purposesThe majority of surfaces are finished in beige plaster, providing a neutral backdrop for more dramatic moments.

    These include areas where red carpet appears from the walls in fluid forms and spreads across the floor to look like pools of liquid.
    Red carpet extends from the floor to the ceiling beside the entrance”The smooth yet durable surfaces add texture and visual interest to the space, while the beige hue creates a sense of lightness and spaciousness,” the studio said.
    “This helps to create an accommodating atmosphere in the closed retail environment, where customers are likely to take their time browsing through the store’s selection of clothing and accessories.”
    Matching the carpet is a curvaceous red sofaAt the front of the store, the same also extends up the wall behind a curvaceous sofa of the same colour and seeps onto the ceiling.
    A sliding counter can be used for checking in guests during events, or for displaying accessories at other times.
    Garments are displayed in niches formed by arched colonnades on either side of the store”The sleek and minimalistic design of the counter complements the overall aesthetic of the store and demonstrates a thoughtful and efficient use of space,” said the studio.
    Along both sides of the store are arched colonnades, with cove-lit niches that each display a selection of clothing designs.

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    More outfits are presented on chrome railings and mannequins in the centre of this double-height space, above which a long skylight is positioned.
    Towards the back of the boutique is a carpeted staircase that leads up to a mezzanine level, where the fitting rooms are located.
    Fitting rooms and a lounge area for customers is located upstairsRed satin furniture, designed by Thehighkey, forms a seating area for customers to relax beneath another skylight, while plenty of mirrors are provided for those trying on garments.
    “The warm lighting adds to the overall golden atmosphere, and the use of red provides a poetic and romantic sensation, making for a truly captivating experience,” the studio said.
    The Miss Circle store is on West Broadway in SoHoSoHo is renowned as a shopping destination for both fashion and furniture, and new stores are always appearing in the neighbourhood.
    Recent openings include a Khaite flagship with a tree planted in the centre, an outpost for Road to Awe that includes red fitting rooms and a lofty Moroso showroom.
    The photography is by David Luo and Justin Missner.

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