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      Concrete infrastructure informs Acne Studios' limestone-clad Rue Saint Honoré store

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      Fashion brand Acne Studios has opened a “monolithic” store on Paris’ Rue Saint Honoré, designed in collaboration with architecture studio Arquitectura-G, that references a Stockholm skatepark and its Parisian setting.

      Located on Rue Saint Honoré, a historic street and renowned shopping destination in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, the store was created by Acne Studios founder Jonny Johansson in collaboration with architecture studio Arquitectura-G.
      Acne Studios Rue Saint Honoré store was created in collaboration with Arquitectura-GJohansson explained that after spending time in a skate park situated beneath a concrete bridge in Stockholm, he wanted to replicate the look and feel of sitting under a piece of concrete infrastructure within its Paris store.
      “It’s finding these poetic spots – under a bridge, where you have sort of like a beautiful concrete wave motion, and this whole idea of being under a bridge where nobody wants to be, where it’s beautiful, I thought was quite a beautiful idea,” he said.
      “I want it to feel like you’re sitting under the bridge. So that’s when the whole idea – because I like that, sort of like a secret society – I thought it was good for us as a brand on the big fashion street.”

      The design was informed by skateparks and concrete infrastructureThe interior of the store can be characterised by Arquitectura-G’s use of Saint Maximin stone, a French limestone sourced from a nearby quarry that is synonymous with Parisian buildings as a result of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann’s radical reimagining of Paris, which was built from the stone.
      Rectangular slabs of the golden-hued stone cover the walls, floors and ceiling of the store blending the 19th-century, Saint Maximin stone-clad exterior with the now similarly clad interior.

      Acne Studios taps into fashion-school cool for interiors of Stockholm HQ

      Arquitectura-G opened up the ground floor of the store incorporating a double-height space that is connected to its first floor through glass balustrades lined between stone columns.
      Black, amorphous-shaped furniture and dyed-fabric display units by long-time collaborator Max Lamb were positioned throughout the store like soft, quarry boulders.
      It used Saint Maximin stone throughout”If you look at [Paris] as a whole, it’s beige. If you squint you see this stone, this pale colour,” Johansson said.
      “Then you have these dots of black which are like cars. And they’re moving fast, and sort of shiny and black, quite scary in one way. That’s Max’s work.”
      Furniture and display units were designed by Max LambLighting by designer Benoit Lalloz was organised throughout the store and placed across its stone-lined ceilings to mimic the effect of daylight.
      Acne’s West Hollywood store, which was opened in 2018,  features a bright yellow interior that was designed by London-based firm Geoff Crowther Architects.
      In 2019, the fashion brand relocated its headquarters to a 1970s brutalist-style building, that belonged to the former Czechoslovakian embassy, in Stockholm.
      Photography is courtesy of Acne Studios.

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      Victorian balusters pattern surfaces at Aesop Yorkville store by Odami

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      The history of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood informed this store for skincare brand Aesop, which local studio Odami has given ruby-toned walls and smooth beige counters.

      Odami, a design studio based several blocks west of the Aesop Yorkville shop, used features typical of the area as a starting point for elements of the design.
      Aesop’s third store in Toronto includes a “fragrance library” for testing the brand’s new aromas”The interior takes inspiration from the downtown area’s architectural and societal history – starting with the Victorian houses that populate the district, and the lanes and squares where communities have gathered over the decades,” said a statement from the brand.
      The profile of balusters found across nearby buildings and porches is translated as a closely repeated pattern that forms maple wainscoting around the interior.
      The profile of a Victorian baluster forms wainscoting around the storeWalls and ceiling are painted oxblood red, creating a dusky and intimate atmosphere inside the compact space.

      “The design is anchored by a sense of warmth, and sees traditional materials imagined anew,” said Aesop. “The geometry is akin to that of a bustling town square: a large and open space with smaller enclaves around its perimeter.”
      Walls, ceilings and furniture are coloured ruby red, while counters and sinks are beigeSeating and counters that are coloured to match the walls blend into the background, while units that have sinks for testing skin and hair products stand out in pale beige.
      The largest basin is positioned in the centre of the store, incorporating three faucets and doubling as a tea station.
      The wall colour creates an intimate atmosphere, while allowing the signature Aesop bottles to stand outA slender, metal light fixture is suspended horizontally above, directing light from a trio of tubes down onto the central counter.
      Three pale-toned cylinders set into the back wall form a “fragrance library” for the brand’s growing collection of aromas.

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      Two tubes display the signature Aesop bottles, while the third has a clear front and acts as an infusion chamber for items of clothing.
      Odami was founded in 2017 by Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo and Canadian designer Michael Fohring, and has completed several interiors in its base city.
      The central countertop includes a long sink and also doubles as a tea stationThey include the Sara restaurant, where a roughly plastered wall curves over the dining area, and a renovated 1980s apartment with a green-painted sunroom.
      This is the third Aesop location in Toronto, following a store designed by MSDS on Queen Street West, and another in the Downtown district.
      The history of the store’s Yorkville location provided references for its designThe brand regularly collaborates with local architects and designers on its store interiors around the world.
      Among the most recent are an outpost in Tokyo by Case-Real that features coarse plaster walls, and another in London by Al-Jawad Pike that’s filled with red sandstone from Scotland.
      The photography is by John Alunan

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      Axel Arigato opens “upside-down” pop-up sneaker shop in Selfridges

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      Trainers injected with magnets climb the walls and polystyrene ceiling tiles line the floor of Axel Arigato’s “upside-down” office-themed sneaker pop-up in London’s Selfridges department store.

      Installed in Selfridge’s first-floor menswear department for 12 months, the topsy-turvy pop-up store is a departure from the stone displays and pared-back colour palette ordinarily associated with the Swedish streetwear label’s retail environments.
      The Axel Arigato shop-in-shop is located in SelfridgesInstead, the design team conceived the store as an upside-down office featuring all of the typical, run-of-the-mill materials and fixtures that you would expect to find in an office, such as ceiling tiles, strip lighting, corrugated metal, exposed wires, pipes and steel beams but all installed to create the impression of being upside down.
      Typical polystyrene grid ceiling tiles are installed across the floor, while shiny vinyl floor tiles are used on the ceiling.
      It was themed around an upside-down office interiorThe sneakers, which include the latest season and popular carry-over footwear silhouettes, are injected with magnets and stuck to the wall while customer’s receipts are dispensed from behind a set of elevator doors that open at the touch of a button.

      “The concept was to flip the script both physically and figuratively on what customers expect from a pop-up, turning all elements upside down through an industrial office lens in which the ceiling becomes the floor and vice versa,” said the brand, calling the pop-up its most “ambitious and boundary-pushing” to date.

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      The endeavour was facilitated by British footwear retailer, Kurt Geiger, who provides the footwear offer for Selfridges.
      The store is a continuation of the brand’s co-founder and creative director Max Svärdh’s mission to disrupt the traditional retail module. A digitally native business, Axel Arigato began its life online in 2014, opening its first physical store in London’s Soho in 2016.
      Metal lines the walls of the shop-in-shopFrom the beginning, the brand elevated the status of its products to art by displaying them on plinths in the centre of the store like pieces of sculpture. The concept was in contrast to other sneaker brands at the time, which typically displayed as many shoes as possible across shop walls.
      The brand’s permanent stores are also distinguished by the use of monolithic blocks of stone. In Paris, goods are displayed on blocks of travertine, concrete in Copenhagen and terrazzo in London.
      The photography is courtesy of Axel Arigato.

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      Masquespacio designs “metaverse world” for Mango Teen store

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      Spanish design agency Masquespacio has created the interior of the first Mango Teen shop in Barcelona, which was informed by the metaverse and aims to provide an interactive and dream-like shopping experience.

      Designed for customers aged 11 to 13, Masquespacio used graphic shapes to outline clothing displays and a colour palette of oranges and greens for the fashion shop interior.
      The shop interior is divided into two sections by the use of green and orange colours”The new Mango Teen store is established as a world of dreams with its different perspectives and different incoherent elements, just like when we are dreaming,” said Masquespacio.
      “In this place, the dreams are made reality through the design elements that play with your mind and invite the user to interact with the objects surrounding them, bringing the metaverse world to reality.”
      A swimming pool-style step ladder is used to display clothingMasquespacio created the design elements in the shop interior to showcase as much clothing as possible, while also functioning as attraction points that provide a unique shopping experience.

      At the entrance is a “futuristic” arched tunnel with strip lighting designed to guide customers inside. Shelving displays on the shop floor feature tiled surfaces and metal step ladders that mimic swimming pools.
      Masquespacio designed an arched tunnel with strip lightingThe shop front and interior are divided by a bold colour choice of green and orange.
      “At the initial point, we chose a lighter and more pinkish palette, but as this is getting a bit outdated, we decided to play with two colours that are not so explored and combined them,” Masquespacio co-founder Christophe Penasse told Dezeen.

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      The order counter was designed to be reminiscent of a hotel reception and the store also features a clothes-recycling drop-off point that looks like a washing machine, which releases bubbles when customers open the door.
      The futuristic tunnel, swimming pool, hotel reception and washing machine elements are intended by the studio to “invite the teens to enter a universe in which a new use is given to the objects, giving them the opportunity to let their imagination flow and use the space how they dream about it.”
      The changing rooms are designed for TikTok-loving teens”We searched to convert the design elements to an attraction point for the teens’ TikTok life, but at the same time create them as elements that have a function, such as an order bar or an exhibition point like the swimming pool and tunnel,” Penasse said.
      The shop’s changing rooms further encourage interaction with the digital world. Integrated phone holders and ring lights make it easy for customers to take photos for social media, while the reflective walls and ceiling create a futuristic backdrop.
      Masquespacio created functional elements to appear like other objects, including a recycling point that looks like a washing machineAs the first Mango Teen shop to open in Barcelona, Masquespacio’s design aims to create a distinct brand identity.
      The fashion brand had previously launched pop-up shops, from which they identified colourful interiors and places to take photos and videos as main points of interest for teenage shoppers.
      Other projects by the studio include a burger joint designed to look like a swimming pool and a greek restaurant informed by ancient ruins.
      The photography is by Luis Beltran.

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      Foster + Partners designs Apple Brompton Road as “calm oasis” in London

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      UK studio Foster + Partners has unveiled an Apple Store in west London that incorporates stone columns, Ficus trees and terrazzo flooring.

      Located between the Harrods and Harvey Nichols department stores in Knightsbridge, Apple Brompton Road is the latest store designed by Foster + Partners for the technology brand.
      Foster + Partners designed Apple Brompton Road. Photo courtesy of AppleIts main entrance occupies the arched entrance to the former Brompton Arcade, which was created in 1903 to connect Brompton Road with Basil Street, with the store occupying two bays on either side that were formerly shops.
      A mezzanine level was removed to create a seven-metre high space that the studio describes as a “calm oasis”.
      It has a seven-metre-high ceiling”Apple Brompton Road is a calm oasis in a bustling and vibrant part of London,” said Foster + Partners senior executive partner Stefan Behling.

      “Customers interact with Apple’s incredible range of products and experience their personalised customer service in a unique setting which incorporates historic and natural elements.”
      Stone columns and trees define a central spaceThe shop is topped with an arched timber ceiling that mirrors the four-meter-wide arched openings on the building’s historic facade.
      A series of six Castagna stone columns, along with four Ficus trees in planters that double as seating, mark out a central spine in the space.

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      Timber tables on either side of the central walkway are used to display Apple’s phones and iPads, with accessories displayed in furniture built into the Castagna stone-clad walls.
      At the rear of the store, an event space is defined by a large video wall and a mirrored ceiling.
      The store’s terrazzo floor was made from a castor oil resin, aggregate and recycled glass. It marks the first time the plant-based resin has been used in an Apple store.
      An events space is located at the rear of the store. Photo courtesy of AppleApple Brompton Road forms part of a wider redevelopment of a block in Knightsbridge, which is being led by UK studio Fletcher Priest. Along with the Apple Store, the reorganised block will include seven shops, a 10,750-square-metre office building and 33 apartments.
      Foster + Partners, which is the UK’s largest architecture studio, has designed Apple Stores in cities all around the world. Recent shops include the conversion of Los Angeles’ historic Tower Theatre and a “floating” spherical store in Singapore.
      Photography is by Nigel Young unless stated.

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      Ciguë imagines car-free city inside Cowboy's electric bike shop in Paris

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      Limestone blocks and crushed earth feature in this electric bike shop in Paris, designed by local studio Ciguë to visualise how a car-free city of the future might look.

      The store belongs to Cowboy, an e-bike brand aimed at urban cyclists, and is located in the department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche.
      Ciguë has designed an e-bike store for Cowboy in ParisFor its interior, Ciguë designed a minimalist landscape that is “organic and fluid, free from the angst-inducing presence of cars”.
      Walls and ceilings throughout the space are covered in raw earth while on the floor, a winding concrete walkway reminiscent of a cycle path is surrounded by crushed earth. Roughly hewn blocks of limestone serve as seating.
      Tooled waxed concrete forms a winding pathway through the interiorOne of Cowboy’s bikes is suspended above a circular pit of crushed earth in the centre of the store, so it is visible from the street through one of the store’s three street-facing windows.

      Overhead, a screen shows footage of clouds streaking across the horizon to create the impression that the bike is “suspended between earth and sky”.
      An e-bike hangs over a pit of crushed earth in the centre of the storeAs the outpost in Le Bon Marché is Cowboy’s first shop without direct access from the street, Ciguë wanted to create an immersive interior that makes customers feel as if they are outdoors.
      “We had to reconnect the shop with the exterior,” said Ciguë founder Alphonse Sarthout.
      “Videos of the sky conjure up the idea of movement and the passage of time. Similarly, suspending the bike in mid-air contributes to the idea of speed and effortlessness associated with electric bikes.”

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      The bike is suspended using subtle wires while other models are displayed throughout the space using narrow aluminium stands, which create the impression that the bikes are standing upright of their own accord.
      These pared-back displays were intended to reflect the seamless design of Cowboy bikes.
      “The absence of visible welds and the materials used for the bike are embodied in Ciguë’s display,” said Cowboy founder Tanguy Goretti. “The interplay of textures on the walls, the benches and the aluminium rack reflects this tactile technology.”
      Blocks of limestone serve as seatingThe warm-toned earth used throughout the interior was sourced from the Oise region of northern France.
      This could become a consistent feature across other Cowboy stores in the future, according to Ciguë, with different earth tones being used for different locations.
      Other retail environments designed by the Parisian studio include a bamboo-covered boutique for Isabel Marant in Bangkok and five different Aesop shops, among them an outpost above a record store in Nottingham.
      The photography is by Maris Mezulis.

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      Unusual colour combinations make up Durat showroom in Helsinki

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      Finnish interior designer Linda Bergroth has brought together unexpected colour combinations for the Durat showroom in Helsinki, which is filled with the manufacturer’s terrazzo-like surface material made from plastic waste.

      The showroom occupies around 100 square metres of space in central Helsinki on the site of a former coffee shop.
      Durat’s showroom shows off the brand’s surfacing material across multiple displaysDurat’s speckled surface material can be used in sheets or moulded into basically any shape, so the company wanted a showroom that would convey a sense of endless possibilities.
      To this end, Bergroth made almost everything in the store out of Durat surfacing, including three display areas, a wall of colourful samples and a central kitchen-style island.
      Interior designer Linda Bergroth combined unusual coloursThe display areas were designed to show off the material’s different thicknesses, joints and mounts while using a broad selection from the brand’s range of more than 1,000 colours.

      One display features different washbasins, either integrated into a countertop or mounted on top. This area combines tones of turquoise, salmon pink and mustard with a white worktop that looks as if it was topped with a scattering of rainbow sprinkles.
      The displays showcase some of Durat’s different shapes, joints and thicknessesAnother display features a freestanding orange soaking tub set against an apple-green wall. Two shelves line the walls, holding more colourful material samples cut into contrasting shapes to invite play.
      “The showroom is mostly serving architects and designers,” Bergroth told Dezeen. “So it was easy for me to relate to the needs of the customer, who wants to understand the anatomy and possibilities of the material.”
      Material samples are displayed on floating shelves”Many of the decisions were made to communicate these possibilities and not define how someone’s compositions should look,” she continued. “Untypical colour combinations and mismatched patterns are also a way of freeing the user to find new ways of thinking.”
      Bergroth finished the showroom with minimal furnishings and fittings, including matt white Vola faucets she describes as resembling “immaterial cut-outs in the heavily patterned surfaces”.

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      There is also a storage room and a private office area, both concealed behind doors that blend into the display areas.
      The shopfront features big windows in two directions, which Bergroth and Durat used to their advantage by creating a design that could be experienced from the street as much as from the inside.
      An office and storage area are hidden behind doors in the displays”The layout is designed in a way so it can be well explored from the street, also outside office hours,” said Bergroth. “This brings a nice brand visibility and brightens up the neighbourhood during the dark months.”
      Durat surfacing is made from 30 per cent post-industrial plastics and is fully recyclable. The company aims to create a closed-loop material cycle where all Durat surfaces are repurchased at the end of their life and turned into new products.
      Durat surfacing can also be used to form furniture piecesBergroth also worked with the material in some of her previous projects, including the pop-up Zero Waste Bistro she designed for the WantedDesign Manhattan fair.
      Other projects by the interior designer include another Helsinki shop interior for the brand Cover Story, which makes plastic-free paint.

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      David Chipperfield Architects designs minimal Akris boutique in Washington DC

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      The Milan office of David Chipperfield Architects has designed a minimalist boutique for fashion brand Akris in Washington DC, featuring pleated walls and displays suspended from thin wires.

      The store in the US capital is the first execution of a new retail concept created for Akris, a family-run fashion house founded in Switzerland in 1922.
      The Akris store is located on I St NW in the US capitalBrothers Albert and Peter Kriemler, the grandchildren of founder Alice Kriemler-Schoch, collaborated with David Chipperfield Architects Milan (DCA Milan) on the concept that debuted in DC, and has since also been applied in Tokyo.
      “DCA Milan’s design intent for the project was to enhance the materiality and fine craftsmanship of Akris collections through a solid, three-dimensional architecture associated with a light display system, defining a space where carefully chosen materials take centre stage,” said the design team.
      The boutique debuts a new design concept for the brand’s retail spacesLocated downtown, a few blocks from the White House, the boutique is lined with white-painted maple panels arranged to look like fabric pleats.

      These panels wrap three walls and also cover the ceiling, giving the impression of a room within a room.
      White-painted wood panels form pleats across the walls and ceilingGrey limestone flooring, large cylindrical columns and other surfaces continue the neutral colour palette, providing a backdrop for the brand’s bright clothing and accessories.
      Shelves, clothing rails and mirrors are suspended from thin cables connected to the ceiling or high up on the wall panels.
      Mirrors and rails are suspended from thin wiresInfluenced by the work of Italian artist Bruno Munari, the taut wires form subtle lines across the pleated panels.
      “The design references Bruno Munari’s tensile spatial structures, whose fundamental nature lies in the contrast between two opposing forces: tension and compression,” DCA Milan said.

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      To partition the space, large sheets of stainless steel mesh hang from the ceiling. Anodized aluminium counters create a flow of movement around the store.
      Ivory-coloured horsehair – a material long associated with Akris – is used on the fitting rooms walls and ceiling along with grey felt furniture, while wool carpet covers the floor.
      Lighting is hidden with the shelving displaysSpotlights installed on ceiling tracks are directed at specific products and other lighting is hidden in the shelves.
      Overall, the interior is designed to be subtle and restrained, to keep focus on the items for sale.
      David Chipperfield Architects Milan collaborated on the design concept with Albert and Peter Kriemler, the grandchildren of Akris founder Alice Kriemler-SchochBritish architect David Chipperfield founded his eponymous firm in 1984, and it has become best known for cultural venues like Berlin’s Neues Museum and Mexico City’s Museo Jumex.
      But the studio, which has offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai, also has past experience in luxury retail with projects including the New York headquarters for watch brand Rolex and a minimal Montreal boutique for fashion label Ssense.
      The photography is by Alberto Parise.

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