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      Studio XAG creates fixtures for Coach pop-up using discarded leather scraps

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      A colourful, reconstituted leather made from cutting room scraps was among the recycled materials used to create the fixtures and fittings for Coachtopia, a London pop-up store for American label Coach.

      Located in the Wonder Room at Selfridges in London, the temporary store was created to launch a new collection of Coach products crafted from reused leather bags and recycled materials.
      Called Coachtopia, the collection seeks to challenge fashion’s linear system where most products end up in landfill.
      Coachtopia was located in department store Selfridges’ Wonder RoomEach of the products in the Coachtopia collection has a clear pathway for reuse and recycling, according to the brand, and comes with an embedded NFC chip that tracks its lifecycle.
      Chosen by Coach for its sustainable approach and B Corp-certified status, retail experience agency Studio XAG was commissioned to create a temporary store space to launch the product line.

      The resulting space, which features a modular display system made of recyclable parts that slot together, has been shortlisted in the retail interior (small) category of Dezeen Awards 2023.
      It features display counters made from reconstituted leather”The Coachtopia product line is designed to be ‘circular from the start’ – considering the future life of a product proactively, rather than reactively,” Studio XAG said.
      “We mirrored Coach’s circular ethos for the collection through three approaches to the physical space.”
      The first approach was to keep the use of virgin materials to a minimum by using repurposed neon flex, recycled leather scraps and Ecoboard – a material made from agricultural waste.
      The modular fixtures were “made to be remade”Secondly, Studio XAG ensured that the modular fixtures, like the products on sale, were ‘made to be remade’ and could be disassembled and repurposed at the end of their current use.
      Finally, the studio selected materials that offer meaningful recycling opportunities at their eventual end of life and said it considered the embodied carbon, toxicity and afterlife opportunities in every component.

      Akin Atelier houses Gallery Shop at Sydney Modern in “translucent bubble”

      “The challenge was to create a pop-up that would have visual impact, but could be dismantled and rebuilt in new locations, again and again,” explained Studio XAG.
      “Any items which couldn’t be used in a future pop-up, such as the hoarding and some of the wall panels, were donated to Selfridges to use in their future launches.”
      Studio XAG used Ecoboard to create displaysThe collection’s slogan Have Taste Love Waste, which serves as a statement of intent and action, was boldly written in neon signage crafted from offcuts of neon flex that would otherwise be discarded.
      The lighting will be reused for other key stores, including Coach’s flagship on Regent Street.
      The store’s slogan was made from reused neon flex”To create a sustainable lighting solution was a challenge, as most neon alternatives are manufactured from virgin materials,” explained Studio XAG.
      “To resolve this, we contacted a lighting manufacturer and requested that they collect all their offcuts from previous projects over the months leading up to the installation of Coachtopia,” it added.
      “All of these offcuts were then meticulously threaded together to make a unique set of signs, made up of hundreds of individual scraps which would have otherwise been thrown in the bin.”
      Studio XAG chose materials that “offer meaningful recycling opportunities”The Coachtopia tables and display units are covered in reconstituted leather made using scraps from the cutting-room floor that might have otherwise gone to landfill.
      These modular pieces can easily be taken apart using a system of slotting together rather than permanent glueing or fixing.
      Colourful leather scraps were used to create displaysEcoboard – a carbon-negative material manufactured in the Netherlands from seasonal agricultural waste like straw, seeds, rice and corn – was used in place of MDF. Unlike MDF, Ecoboard does not emit any damaging organic acids.
      “In the Wonder Room, visitors are given insight into what circularity means for the future of fashion,” commented the studio. “The space feels exploratory and educational, using sustainable materiality and clear signage as a guide.”
      Other projects shortlisted in the retail interiors (small) category include a gallery shop in Australia housed in a “translucent bubble” and a steel-clad boutique in Bratislava.

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      Spacon & X designs “hyper-eclectic” showroom for car dealer Lynk & Co

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      Danish design studio Spacon & X has carved a cave out of cardboard and installed a bare tree in the Lynk & Co car showroom in Düsseldorf, Germany.

      The studio aimed for the 400-square-metre space to have more of an impact than the cars on show.
      A mesh curtain separates the car from the rest of the showroom”The overall design is in intentional contrast to your average car dealership, with the spatial design as a louder experience than the actual product – the car,” Spacon & X founding partner Svend Jacob Pedersen told Dezeen.
      “The spatial design is hyper-eclectic, with a new immersive spatial experience waiting to ambush you around each corner.”
      A purple light floods the showroom from the outsideLynk & Co describes its showrooms as “clubs” from which members can buy, lease or borrow a car, and the Düsseldorf space was designed not to look like a traditional showroom from the exterior.

      Instead, purple lights, clothes on hangers and a corner with a colourful sofa makes the car dealership resemble a lifestyle store.
      The Lynk & Co showroom contains a variety of materialsOnce inside, customers are met by an unusual, cave-like space.
      “The cave space is made of multiple plys of laser-cut sheets of cardboard,” Pedersen said.
      Spacon & X created a cardboard cave for the storeOne car is always on display inside the dealership. This sits next to the cardboard cave, and is partly hidden behind a light chain curtain.
      Spacon & X worked with multiple different materials, including bare wood and aluminium, to create the Lynk & Co space.

      Spacon & X creates casual diner for Noma’s burger spinoff POPL

      “With the very eclectic direction of the space, a wide palette of materials have been brought into play,” Pedersen explained.
      “To highlight a few – cardboard has been used for the cave, to create an unexpected balance between the immersive and organic expression of the cave and a very familiar, inexpensive material like cardboard,” he added.
      “We have used aluminium chain curtains to create a light transparent frame around the car on display.”
      The meeting room has an all-pine interiorThe studio also created an organic feel for the Lynk & Co meeting room, which has an all-wood interior with a pale tree at its centre.
      “Another material to highlight is the all-raw pine meeting room with an actual tree stripped of the bark, underlining our appreciation of raw untreated materiality,” Pedersen said.
      A “melting” streetlight features in the showroomFor the main space, Spacon & X designed a “melting” corner, with a streetlight that has bent over and chairs that appear to float into a puddle on the floor.
      The showroom’s “disco” bathroom has a bright-red colour palette with an op-art style black-and-white patterned floor that resembles an interior in a David Lynch film, while a fitting room has been filled with large gold baubles that appear to sprout from a wall.
      The bathroom has an op-art design”Our spatial expression creates a tapestry of diverse scenarios within the Düsseldorf store, from serene conversations to otherworldly caves,” the studio said.
      “We seamlessly blend contrasting elements, from warm wooden meeting rooms to rough concrete displays, and from melting furniture lounges to dazzling champagne fitting rooms.”
      Spacon & X has previously designed the interior for restaurant Noma’s burger spinoff POPL and created a kiosk-like design library for its own Copenhagen HQ.
      The photography is courtesy of Lynk & Co.

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      Akin Atelier houses Gallery Shop at Sydney Modern in “translucent bubble”

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      Curved resin walls define this retail space, which architecture studio Akin Atelier has created for the Sydney Modern extension at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

      Designed by Akin Atelier with surfboard designer Hayden Cox, the Gallery Shop is located in the entrance pavilion of the gallery that was recently completed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning studio SANAA.
      The retail space is conceived as a “translucent bubble” within the entrance area, the studio said, and it aims to challenge the typical commercial experience in a museum shop.
      Akin Atelier has created the Gallery Shop at Sydney Modern”The shop captures natural light throughout the day, bringing dynamic reflections and refractions of the city while holding people, objects, and books within its centre,” Akin Atelier told Dezeen.
      “[It] showcases products to passers-by through the lens of the resin walls – gently maximising the identity of the space while preserving the architectural experience of the new building.”

      The Gallery Shop comprises two resin walls that curve around its displays, with a gap between the two of them forming the entry point.
      It has curved walls made from a resinThe installation is placed in the northwest corner of the entrance pavilion, to the left-hand side of its entrance, meaning that its distinctive resin walls are visible from the street.
      Its walls are constructed of 29 modules formed of 12 tonnes of resin. According to the studio, the resin is a type of “bio-resin” manufactured to incorporate biological matter.
      It sits within the building’s entrance pavilion that was designed by SANAA”It is composed of a minimum 26 per cent biological matter,” said the studio.
      “[This reduces] the amount of embodied carbon as well as reducing toxicity during the manufacturing process.”

      SANAA designs Sydney Modern to be “harmonious with its surroundings”

      The distinct tonal gradient of the bio-resin was achieved by hand pouring layers of colour into custom moulds – a process that took 109 days.
      Meanwhile, its glossy translucency was achieved through hand sanding followed by seven rounds of hand polishing.
      The translucent material allows natural light through the space. Photo by Tim SalisburyThe resin’s earthy hues reference the sandstone used in the original Art Gallery of New South Wales, while its gradation is a nod to the layered nature of Sydney’s bedrock of sandstone.
      “The handmade nature of resin casting and finishing allowed for experimentation across colour and form while addressing the patinated qualities of the outside environment,” explained Akin Atelier.
      Two curved walls enclose the shopInside the Gallery Shop, adjustable resin shelves line the curved walls, housing books and publications. Stainless steel is used for display plinths, providing a contrast to the warm tones of the resin.
      The project has been shortlisted in the small retail interior category of the Dezeen Awards.
      Akin Atelier also recently used tactile materials such as onyx, plaster and travertine to form the interiors of a branch of the womenswear store Camilla and Marc in Melbourne.
      The photography is by Rory Gardiner unless otherwise stated. 

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      Barde vanVoltt draws on Japanese zen gardens for Calico Club interior

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      Dutch studio Barde vanVoltt has used rippled mirrored glass, boulders and pebbles to create the interior of Calico Club, a retail store located in a century-old farmhouse in the Netherlands.

      The studio aimed to combine Dutch heritage with Japanese tradition to create an “unexpected” but never overwhelming interior for the store, which is located in the village of Nistelrode.
      Pebbles decorate the floor in Calico Club”The main objective was to pay respect to the monumental 100-year-old farmhouse that Calico Club moved into,” Barde vanVoltt co-founder Valérie Boerma told Dezeen.
      “The challenge was to find ways to add materials we could remove easily to keep the original state of the construction as it was,” she added.
      Barde vanVoltt added plants to the interiorBoerma and her co-founder Bart van Seggelen added several organic details to the space, which has been divided into different sections.

      “The floor plan is shaped like a Japanese zen garden and its traditional elements of rock, water, and plants have been interpreted in more modern and abstract ways,” Seggelen explained.
      Boulders are scattered throughout the spaceOn polished concrete flooring, the studio placed whitewashed boulders that are used as retail displays and created elevated pebble islands above which garments are hung.
      Barde vanVoltt also designed matching islands made from walnut wood. The same warm wood is also used for the fitting rooms, cabinets and counters.
      Walnut wood is used for the counters inside the storeMateriality is an important aspect of the project, with rippled mirrored glass added in a nod to the water features that are often included in zen gardens.
      “Rippled mirrored glass and silver colour was to create contrast and depth,” Boerma said.

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      “The rippled glass keeps changing from wherever you look at it, this added an extra layer to the space, much like water, that is always changing,” she added.
      The aim was for the interior to “nourish creative flow, harmony and support it with a screen-free store policy to create calm in an unpredictable world,” the studio said.
      A large tree adds a touch of nature at the back of the storeAt the back of the store, a tree sits inside a round glass bench behind a metal wall divider.
      “Encased in a circular glass bench, the tree and the fashion collection opposite is given its moment thanks to a sheet of curved, rolled metal to separate it from the fitting rooms,” Seggelen said.
      “And at the front of the store, customers are shown the best of the collection with floating glass display cylinders filled with hay.”
      Calico Club is located in a red-brick former farmhouseThe pared-back designs and shiny materials inside the store contrast against its exterior, a rustic red-brick farmhouse.
      “With every project we do, we feel the responsibility to search for high quality, natural materials that are produced in a sustainable way,” Boerma said.
      “These materials and heritage come with earthy tones and it suited well with our Japanese reference,” Seggelen added.
      Rippled glass references the water in zen gardensCalico Club has been shortlisted in the retail interior (large) category of Dezeen Awards 2023.
      Previous projects by Barde vanVoltt include a former garage in Amsterdam that was transformed into a family home.
      Other recent projects in the Netherlands include an underground house and a wood-lined home in Zwaag.

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      D415 reimagines mundane materials for Bratislava boutique Som Store

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      Design studio D415 has used standard construction materials such as plasterboard and steel profiles in unexpected ways to create a concept store in Bratislava, spotlighting young fashion designers from Slovakia and neighbouring Czechia.

      Set inside the Nivy shopping centre, Som Store gives each featured fashion brand an equally-sized space in which to showcase its work with the aim of helping the region’s designers reach a wider audience.
      D415 has designed the SOM Store boutique in BratislavaIn order to present these Sometimes disparate collections in a cohesive way, D415 opted for an approach the studio calls “introvert x extrovert”.
      By enveloping each collection within panels of steel, positioned at a 45-degree angle from the entrance, only glimpses of the products can be seen from the storefront.
      The shop offers different local fashion designers a small retail spaceAs they venture further into the store, customers are gradually able to see and browse the different collections.

      “When entering the store, the entire space has an introverted character,” D415’s Peter Gonda told Dezeen. “All the models on display can be seen only in a hint and the number of outfits on display is not distracting.”
      “The extroverted character of the space is only apparent upon entering the store, where the individual models on display are revealed from behind the rotated walls.”
      Each unit is framed by steel walls placed at a 45-degree angleRather than putting off customers, Gonda has found that this set-up helps to create a sense of intrigue that draws them into the store.
      “The client was concerned that the insufficient presentation of clothes from the entrance to the store would have a negative impact on the store’s traffic,” he explained. “The opposite turned out to be the right solution.”
      “Customers are attracted to enter the store by a certain degree of mystery, which is not typical for fashion stores in large shopping centres, where the new collection is already in the store window.”

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      These 45-degree angles are repeated throughout the whole space, with its angled grid layout created using a matrix of steel profiles.
      Here, this humble material – commonly used for framing drywalls – is exposed and celebrated as the hero material of the space.
      “The element was used raw, with a standard galvanized surface treatment just as it is sold for building structures,” Gonda said.
      The “floating” cash register has a simple rectilinear designThe steel profiles are used against a backdrop of unpainted plasterboard. Both are typically unappreciated materials, according to Gonda, and both have a matt grey in colour while being distinctive enough to create a subtle visual contrast.
      “It’s a demonstration of how it is possible to create a final element that is not only functional but also decorative from simple building elements, which were primarily intended as a supporting secondary structure,” Gonda said.
      Finished in the same pale grey tone, the resin floor was chosen because it can easily be repaired by tradespeople, which according to D415 makes it more sustainable.
      A multifunctional furniture piece provides seating and display spaceSimilarly, the steel elements can be unscrewed and reused for their original purpose further down the line.
      To ensure that the clothes remain the focal point, the furniture elements including the versatile display cabinets and the “floating” cash desk are simple, rectilinear in design and made from birch board.
      At the centre of the space is a long multifunctional furniture element that variously serves as a display stand for accessories and a bench that provides seating for trying on products and for any fashion shows and events that will be held in the store.
      The changing rooms are hidden behind beige curtainsOut-sized squashy seats dot the space around the changing area, colour-coordinated with the full-height curtains that frame the fitting rooms.
      Som Store has been shortlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Also in the running is a plastic-free paint shop by Linda Bergroth and a skincare store finished in salvaged materials and biotextiles by Nina+Co.
      The photography is by D415.

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      Studio FB creates gallery-like interior for Frame store in Marylebone

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      French interior design Studio FB and the co-founder of fashion brand Frame, Erik Torstensson, have designed a California-informed store for the brand in London.

      The store’s concept draws from the brand’s Californian origins as well as European influences, which is reflected in the lighting, furniture and materials.
      Studio FB designed a minimalist store for Frame”The Californian universe with these modernist architectures with a free plan, skylights and the opening of spaces to the outside was our inspiration basis,” Studio FB told Dezeen.
      “We imagined this new concept design layout as open as possible, which can be compared to a gallery.”
      The store is arranged round a large central pillarTo create a greater connection with the street, the studio redesigned the facade by adding a curved, full-height glazed wall, which was set behind the original piers.

      “We designed a long-curved glass like a contemporary insert which contrasts radically with the classic London pillars preserved,” said the studio.
      The studio aimed to create a gallery-like atmosphereWithin the store, the studio aimed to mimic the atmosphere of an art gallery with a polished concrete floor serving as a base for a central pillar constructed from stained birch wood veneer.
      The store’s rails were custom-designed with a distinctive hand-moulded abstract-shaped end-piece serving as the highlight
      With in the fitting room, the ceiling, walls and doors were upholstered in fabric by textile company Kvadrat.
      Custom-designed rails were created for the store”The rounded central wooden element was designed as a sculptural object, which gives a residential feeling from the 50s,” the studio explained.
      “The backspace invites the cabins and lounge area becomes more intimate all-in fabric and brings sophistication to the space. Pieces of furniture and artwork sublimate the atmosphere,” the studio continued.
      “The general atmosphere is similar to an art gallery with raw materials such as concrete on the floor and white walls.”
      The stores changing areas have fabric wallsFB Architects and Torstensson worked together to acquire artwork and collectable design pieces to reinforce the gallery atmosphere.
      “It was a thorough process to ensure the most unique response possible to Frame,” said the studio.
      “Erik had a precise vision of his brand, so we exchanged a lot together on many artistic fields to build the brand’s architectural DNA.”

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      A sculpture by Serbian visual artist Bojan Šarčević crafted from wood and limestone sits in the display window. Also in the store are two original 1950s Gio Ponti stools, crafted from wood and textiles.
      The store was decorated with wall-mounted fixtures designed by French lighting designer Jean Perzel, as well as geometric fixtures created by French architect Pierre Chareau, to create a soft and gentle lighting ambience.
      Artworks feature throughout the storeTorstensson used AI as a sketching tool to design custom objects for the space, such as large brutalist stone tables and chrome custom-made sculptures that were then realised by architecture studios including Bucktron Studio Sweden.
      “I’ve been learning and expanding my skills with AI for the last year, it creates a superpower when it comes to speed, as it allowed me to generate the visual concept at a greater pace and scale,” said Torstensson.
      “This creates exciting results and provides a new outlook on design. I simply use it to visualise my initial ideas in greater detail in order to bring my ideas to life.”
      The store is Frame’s second in the UKOther retail interiors recently featured on Dezeen include a stationery store interior made from white-oiled wood by Architecture for London and a store interior for Ms MIN in Shanghai, China, by Neri&Hu.
      The photography is courtesy of Frame.

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      Customers exchange urine for soap at Het Nieuwe Instituut pop-up shop

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      Cultural centre Het Nieuwe Instituut is rethinking the archetypal museum shop with a pop-up at Dutch Design Week, designed to encourage more ethical, resource-conscious consumption.

      Instead of offering a straightforward exchange of wares for money, New Store 1.0 gives patrons the opportunity to trade their urine for a piece of Piss Soap and encourages them to place their phones on specially designed fixtures to provide lighting for the venue once the sun goes down.
      Het Nieuwe Instituut has launched its debut pop-up shop at Dutch Design WeekTaking over Residency for the People – a hybrid restaurant and artist residency in Eindhoven – the pop-up also serves up two different versions of the same seabass dish, one made using wild locally caught fish and the other using fish that was industrially farmed and imported.
      The pop-up is the first of two trial runs for the New Store, aimed at helping Rotterdam’s Nieuwe Instituut work out how to design its own museum shop to prioritise positive social and environmental impact over mere financial gain.
      Arthur Guilleminot’s Piss Soap is among the projects on offerIn collaboration with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and research consultancy The Seeking State, the second trial will take place at next year’s Milan design week, with the aim to open the first dedicated shop in the museum’s Rotterdam location in 2025.

      “It all started out with the idea that we don’t have a museum shop per se,” Nieuwe Instituut’s programme manager Nadia Troeman told Dezeen. “A museum shop, as we know, has books and trinkets and gadgets. And it’s not really doing well for the planet or the environment.”
      “So we were like, how can we make the act of consuming better? How can we consume differently to help not just ourselves but the environment as well?”
      Visitors are invited to donate their urine via a poster in the toilet. Photo by Jennifer HahnFor the Dutch Design Week (DDW) pop-up, Nieuwe Instituut found the three featured projects by Dutch designers Arthur Guilleminot, Brogen Berwick and Arnout Meijer via an open call.
      The aim was to help the designers trial their ideas for how the exchange of goods could be less extractive and transactional in a real-world scenario.
      This can then be placed on a shelf outside the bathroom. Photo by Tracy Metz”The project is part of a broader institutional agenda of ours to become more of a testing ground,” explained the museum’s director Aric Chen. “It’s part of rethinking the role of cultural institutions as being places that can do more than host debates, discussions and presentations.”
      “So our aim is to take some of these projects that try to think about how we can do less damage, take them out of the graduation shows, take them out of the museum galleries, take them out of the biennales and put them into the real world, with real consumers, audiences and real people to see what we can learn from it,” he continued.

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      Guilleminot used the opportunity to expand his ongoing Piss Soap project, with a poster in the venue’s toilet inviting visitors to donate their pee by relieving themselves into designated cups and discreetly placing them on a newly added shelf outside the bathroom window.
      This can then be exchanged for a piece of soap, made using urine donated by previous participants and other waste materials from human activities such as used cooking oil.
      The soap takes three months to cure and is entirely odourless, helping to break up dirt and grease thanks to the urine’s high ammonia content.
      Those who are eating at the New Store can choose between two kinds of fishThe aim of the project is to find a new application for an underutilised waste material and engage people in a kind of circular urine economy.
      “The idea was to revive the ancient tradition of using pee to make soap, which was done for many centuries, including in ancient Rome,” said Guilleminot.
      “Could I make a modern product using this ingredient and, in the meantime, also change our feelings of disgust about our golden organic liquid?”
      The shop’s interactive lighting fixtures were designed by Arnout MeijerThose having dinner at the New Store can choose between two iterations of the same fish dish.
      The first uses wild seabass that was caught locally by fishers Jan and Barbara Geertsema-Rodenburg in Lauwersoog while the other was farmed in Turkey and imported by seafood market G&B Yerseke.
      Devised by Berwick, who is a design researcher and “occasional fisherwoman”, the project challenges diners to ask themselves whether they are willing to pay the higher price associated with locally caught fish in exchange for its environmental benefits.
      “With the fish, they get a receipt of transparency,” Troeman added. “And one is obviously longer than the other.”
      The shop is open until 29 OctoberDiners were also asked to provide their own illumination as the sun goes down, in a bid to make them aware of our overconsumption of energy and the adverse effects our light pollution has on the natural rhythms of other animals.
      For this purpose, Meijer designed two wall-mounted fixtures inside the New Store that have no internal light source and are simply composed of discarded glass shards topped with wooden shelves made from old beams.
      If they require more light, guests have to place their phone on this ledge with the flashlight on, funnelling light onto the glass shard through a narrow slit in the wood.
      It takes over Eindhoven’s artists’ residency and restaurant Residency for the PeopleThis reflects and refracts light around the space while revealing various crescent moon shapes engraved into the glass in a nod to the circadian rhythm.
      “It’s really about our dependence on the constant supply of energy,” Troeman said. “Can we embrace the dark and hence be more environmentally friendly? It has benefits for everyone and everything.”
      Exploring more circular forms of exchange was also on the agenda at last year’s Dutch Design Week, when designer Fides Lapidaire encouraged visitors to trade their own poo for “shit sandwiches” topped with vegetables that were fertilised with human waste.
      The photography is by Jeph Francissen unless otherwise stated.
      Dutch Design Week 2023 is taking over Eindhoven from 21 to 29 October. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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      Architecture for London creates demountable wood interior for Present & Correct store

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      Local studio Architecture for London has designed an interior for stationery store Present & Correct in London,  which features gridded joinery and draws on “wunderkammer” cabinets of curiosities.

      The studio designed bespoke joinery and storage for the Present & Correct shop in Bloomsbury, central London, which sells vintage and new stationery from across the globe.
      The store interior was made from white-oiled woodArchitecture for London constructed a fully demountable interior for the store, which could be moved in the future if needed.
      “Rather than building the joinery around the existing building, we treated each unit as a freestanding cabinet,” Architecture for London director Ben Ridley told Dezeen.
      Trays showcase old and new stationery”Aside from the kiosk, most of the joinery was constructed offsite, so we had to consider whether the cabinets fit through a standard door width and could it easily be carried,” he continued.

      “In the long term the interior needs to adapt to multiple environments; the current shop has uneven floors, to accommodate this the cabinets have adjustable feet concealed within a recessed plinth, while slender legs appear to be bearing the weight.”
      Architecture for London developed a grid design for the interiorPresent & Correct’s aesthetic is often built around an organised grid that holds different-shaped pieces of stationery, and the studio aimed to replicate this in the interior of the store.
      “The shop joinery provides order through a grid which becomes progressively smaller as you enter the shop, providing scale to the eclectic collection of objects,” Ridley said.
      The store design references the nearby British MuseumIt also drew on the idea of a wunderkammer, informed by the store’s location close to the British Museum, to display the goods as “objects of desire”.
      “The wunderkammer is an environment which provides order to a collection of objects through compartmentalisation which could otherwise be observed as a chaotic mess,” Ridley explained.
      “So it’s about how we display hundreds of tiny objects like pens, pencils and rubbers alongside toolboxes and trays in a considered and legible way.”

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      The aim was for the cabinets to be durable and as long-lasting as old museum vitrines. However, budgetary constraints meant that Architecture for London couldn’t use hardwood for the joinery.
      Instead, it chose to work with maple plywood and ash.
      “We created the appearance and durability of solid timber by applying a rule that all edges of the maple plywood are finished with 25-millimetre British ash, which can take the knocks from a busy shop floor,” Ridley said.
      The furnishings are fully demountable”The maple plywood grain is free from imperfections and has a calm grain, so we didn’t feel the need to use additional veneers,” he added.
      “Although the joinery is built with an off-the-shelf material, by concealing the raw plywood edges the interior avoids the DIY aesthetic that can come with working with plywood.”
      A neutral colour palette was used throughoutIt was important to Present & Correct that the interior would allow the products to shine, rather than compete with them.
      This led Architecture for London to use a neutral colour palette and a grid layout that lets the materials speak for themselves, rather than more eye-catching designs.
      “At the concept stage, we produced designs which incorporated more playful elements such as large columns shaped like pencils,” Ridley said.
      “The shopkeeper understood their product well enough to know that there was enough humour in the stationery, so it didn’t need to be represented in the architecture.”
      Other recent projects by Architecture for London include a light-filled extension to a Hackney home and an energy-saving home in north London designed for Ridley.
      The photography is by Building Narratives.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Architecture for LondonInterior designer: Architecture for LondonMain contractor: AFL Build

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