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      Crosby Studio and Zero10 launch fashion pop-up that lets people “try on” virtual clothes

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      Design firm Crosby Studios has teamed up with augmented reality technology company Zero10 for a pop-up store in Manhattan that aims to provide a virtual retail experience.

      The pop-up, which is located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood, lets visitors digitally try on a selection of outfits in interiors designed by local studio Crosby Studios.
      Crosby Studio designed a store oriented around AR fashion technologyThe physical space of the pop-up was designed to complement the augmented reality (AR) experience and be a “physical entrance into the metaverse”, according to the team.
      “This is my first experience working with digital clothes and rather than try to blend the digital with the physical — to soften the virtual reality aspect of it if you will — I instead sought to celebrate the digital nature of the collection,” said Crosby studio founder Harry Nuriev.
      The interiors are covered with a pixelated designThe facade of the store features a classic pillared SoHo storefront painted over with grey-and-white checkers to suggest the integration of the physical and virtual.

      Visitors enter the space into a stark-white antechamber that leads into a hallway covered with a checkered fluorescent “pixel” pattern that features in many of Crosby Studios’ designs.
      The entrance hallway leads to a large lounge areaOn one side of this hallway is a bar area where the team provides boba tea to visitors.
      At the end of the hallway is a large lounge area with booths lining the walls, as well as plush stools and cocktail tables. The same pixelated pattern continues in almost every aspect of this room, and ceiling tiles have even been removed to suggest the pattern.
      The space is geared towards the digital fashion experienceFrom here, visitors can enter “changing rooms” equipped with QR codes that streamline the digital retail experience.
      A digital-only fashion collection featuring five different was also developed by Crosby Studios together with Zero10.
      The space has no physical clothingVisitors try the clothes on by downloading an app on their smartphones and then point the phone at themselves in the mirror to see how the clothes would look on them, or at another person to project the clothes onto them.
      The collection features a series of glossy, futuristic outfits that change size depending on the body type of the wearer.

      Crosby Studios designs virtual sofa upholstered with green Nike jackets

      The goal of the project was to make consumers more comfortable with digital fashion by integrating it with the familiar routine of visiting a physical storefront, according to the team.
      “Our project with Crosby Studios is a showcase of how the design and technology could co-exist in both physical and digital worlds that merge more and more,” said Zero10 CEO George Yashin.
      Changing rooms with QR codes allow visitors to “try on” the clothing”We wanted to create a new concept of pop-up space responding to retailers’ needs to attract a new generation of consumers but also evolving the format of pop-ups that are not about product display any longer,” said Yashin.
      Crosby Studios is based in New York City. Other of its design projects include a couch upholstered with Nike jackets and an apartment with industrial details and purple couches created for the founder.
      The images are courtesy of Crosby Studios.
      The pop-up is open to visit from 7 to 18 September in SoHo. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      FADAA uses bio-concrete screens to shade D/O Aqaba retail space

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      Crushed shells were used to form the bio-brick partitions at this store for a decor brand in Aqaba, Jordan, by architecture studio FADAA.

      Designed by the Jordanian studio for Decoration One, the D/O Aqaba retail space is a flexible showcase for the local brand’s craft-focused homeware and ornaments.
      Bricks made from crushed shells act as sun shades and spatial dividers in the D/O Aqaba storeTo protect the interior from the harsh south sun, the studio implemented partitions of stacked hollow rectangular bricks based on the traditional mashrabiya screens found in Islamic architecture.
      These bricks are made from the shells of oysters, mussels and clams left over as waste from the coastal city’s seafood restaurants.
      The bio-bricks are stacked into gridded screensThe shells were crushed and used as aggregate for a bio-based concrete that sequesters the carbon from the molluscs’ protective calcium carbonate coverings.

      This material is pressed into a mould to form the brick shapes, dried to harden, and finally assembled into the gridded screens.

      As well as shading the shop, the partitions help to divide the boutique and guide customers around the interior.
      “Working alongside Decoration One’s craftspeople, a materiality-driven approach created the concept of a flexible retail store that embraces craft and low-carbon materials,” said the FADAA team, led by architect Bisher Tabbaa.
      Colour is introduced through blue zellige ceramic tiles cladding the sales counterLime-plastered walls and native plant species also feature in the store to create a “healthy indoor environment”.
      To accommodate Decoration One’s ever-changing collections, modular oak tables and sheer curtains can be moved and rearranged to organise the space as desired.

      Bio-bricks made from human urine could be environmentally friendly future of architecture

      More tables, made from hand-chiselled local basalt and limestone, contrast the wood furniture and offer alternative ways to display the products.
      A splash of colour is introduced by the zellige ceramic tiles that clad the curved sales counter.
      The bio-bricks are formed in moulds and feature hollow centres”Embracing the craft nature of the project as well as economically supporting local industries, materials such as zellige and mother of pearl inlaying were used throughout the design,” FADAA said.
      D/O Aqaba is shortlisted in the Sustainable Interior category for this year’s Dezeen Awards, along with projects including a restaurant in London and an office in Tokyo.
      The crushed shells form aggregate for the bricks and are visible across the surfacesBio-bricks are growing in popularity as a sustainable building material and a variety of compositions have been trialled over the past few years.
      Bricks made from mushroom mycelium, sugar cane, charcoal and even human urine have all been put forward as environmentally friendly options.
      The photography is by Bisher Tabbaa.
      Project credits:
      Team: Bisher Tabbaa, Sarah Hejazin, Qussai Yousef

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      Balenciaga opens tinted-glass couture store beneath historic Paris atelier

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      Fashion house Balenciaga has opened a couture store with smoked-glass-panelled walls in the same building as its original couture salon in Paris.

      The store is located beneath Balenciaga’s historic atelier at 10 Avenue George V, which was recently renovated to exactly replicate the interior of the original couture salon that was first opened in 1937.
      The interior of the store was clad in tinted glass”The newly renovated space at 10 Avenue George V is dedicated to preserving Balenciaga’s heritage in its original couture location, first opened in 1937, as well as creating a couture for today,” said the brand.
      The design of the store beneath the couture salon was created by long-time Balenciaga collaborator Sub, a Berlin-based architecture studio that was founded by Niklas Bildstein Zaar and Andrea Faraguna.
      The store is located in the same building as Balenciaga’s original couture salonThe boutique’s exterior is marked by oversized serif Balenciaga signage, a nod to Balenciaga’s 20th-century branding that also forms a distinction from the narrow, sans serif typeface that currently identifies the brand.

      Beneath the signage, four arched openings frame swooping curtains that are given a golden hue by the brown-tinted glazing.
      Grey curtains zone spaces throughout the storeThe interior of the couture store echoes Balenciaga’s raw architecture concept, which was applied internationally across the interior of its stores, but this edition has been clad in panels of tinted glass instead of concrete.
      Between the unfinished but glass-clad walls, ash-hued curtains conceal carpeted areas while wrinkled-leather ottomans were placed throughout the two-storey store.

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      Wrought iron balustrades and a curving marble staircase, with glass panelling slotted around it, hint at the building’s history and the former decor and interior scheme of the atelier above.
      “The concept of the couture store is a gateway to couture, which remains a very closed universe, especially for new generations,” said Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit.
      Remnants of the store’s history were incorporated into the design”In this new store, products, made-to-measure services and retail excellence are a reinvention of the Balenciaga client experience,” said Charbit.
      “It is exciting to be able to present this level of craft, creativity and made-in-France savoir-faire in our historical address.”
      Balenciaga’s couture atelier is located above the storeMetal shelving was decorated with couture items, ranging from artisanal to technological, from the brand’s most recent Autumn Winter 2022 couture show.
      Items on display include its speaker bag, which was created in collaboration with Danish audio brand, Bang & Olufsen.
      Earlier in 2022, Balenciaga wrapped its Mount Street store in London in a bright pink faux fur to celebrate its Le Cagole bag.
      Photography is courtesy of Balenciaga.

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      Bernard Dubois incorporates nightclub references into Courrèges' Paris store

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      Thick carpets, mirrored panels and fabric-covered walls populate this clothing store in Paris designed by Belgian architect Bernard Dubois.

      The 232-square-metre boutique is located near the Champs-Élysées and belongs to Courrèges – a Parisian label that was launched by fashion designer André Courrèges in 1961.
      Courrèges’ second store in Paris was designed by Bernard DuboisOptimistic and full of energy, the late designer’s creations placed emphasis on structured lines and featured a predominantly white colour palette.
      For the brand’s flagship store, Courrèges’ artistic director Nicolas Di Felice asked Dubois to create an interior that blends this distinctive visual language with subtle references to nightclubs.
      Its interior is lined in fabric and thick carpetThe result is a monochrome space with fabric-lined walls and ceilings, thick carpets and rows of mirrors that are set at an angle in a nod to the perspective-bending decor often found in nightlife venues.

      “White has always been part of the Courrèges universe,” Dubois told Dezeen. “We decided to embrace this and make it our own, by making it warm, intimate, silent, plush.”
      Other references to the brand’s history include shelves and cabinets that were part of a store interior designed by Courrèges in 1967 before being redesigned to match the proportions of the new store.
      Upside-down arches frame the way to the changing roomsCurved U-shaped elements resembling upside-down arches feature alongside the mirrors towards the back of the store in a homage to classical architecture and space travel.
      “I always like to play with classical elements of architecture in my projects, sometimes placing them in different contexts, at different scales than their usual size or context,” Dubois said.

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      “In this case, placing them upside-down is also a reference to spaceships, where the absence of gravity naturally places things upside down and creates different structural constraints,” he added.
      In some areas of the Courrèges store, Dubois deliberately exposed the raw concrete walls, creating a contrast with the softness of the fabric and the carpet.
      The interior is rendered almost entirely in beigeThe mirrored panels were added to provide perspective and direct the eye to the dressing rooms at the back of the store.
      “I always like to structure spaces,” Dubois explained, “give them some depth, play with perspectives, create relationships between different shapes of spaces, giving the impression that the visitor enters into a coherent world.”
      Only clothing displays provide a colourful contrastThe store is the larger of two Courrèges outposts in Paris. The other store in the Marais neighbourhood was also designed by Dubois.
      Bernard Dubois set up his eponymous firm in 2014 after graduating as an architect from La Cambre in Brussels in 2009. Other projects from the studio include a store for Aesop featuring distinctive yellow bricks and a narrow “runway-like” sneaker store for APL.
      The photography is by Romain Laprade.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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      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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