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    Isern Serra turns renderings into reality to form pink Moco Concept Store in Barcelona

    Design studio Isern Serra has transformed a computer-generated image by digital artist Six N Five into a rose-coloured retail space for the Moco Museum in Barcelona.

    Situated in Barcelona’s El Born neighbourhood, the Moco Museum exclusively exhibits the work of modern artists such as Damien Hirst, Kaws, Yayoi Kusama and Jeff Koons.
    The institution’s eponymous concept store has a similarly contemporary offering, selling a mix of design, fashion and lifestyle goods.
    The store’s interior is completely covered in pink micro-cementIts surreal pink interior started out as a computer-generated image by Six N Five, a digital artist known for envisioning other-worldly dreamscapes in pastel hues.
    Barcelona-based design studio Isern Serra then brought the image to life, using pink micro-cement to achieve the same uniform, ultra-smooth surfaces seen in the drawing.

    Products are displayed inside huge circular display niches”The Moco Concept Store represented an interesting challenge, as I had to combine the purpose of the store with actual architecture remaining true to our original dreamy world I had built in CGI,” explained Six N Five, whose real name is Ezequiel Pini.
    “But these concepts were able to go one level further, both in decisions and execution, thanks to Isern Serra who brought its extraordinary talent and experience.”
    Arched and square niches have also been punctured into the wallsThe store’s rosy interior can be seen through two large openings in its facade – one of them is rectangular, while the other is slightly curved and contains the entrance door.
    A series of chunky columns run through the middle of the space. Surrounding walls have been punctured with arched, square and circular display niches, some of which are dramatically backlit.
    Rows of shelves and a frame for a tv screen have also been made to project from the wall.
    A faux skylight sits directly above pink display plinthsThe store’s largely open floor plan is only interrupted by a few pink cylindrical plinths used to showcase products, and a bespoke pink cashier desk with an integrated computer system.
    Custom spotlights have been installed on the ceiling, along with a faux skylight.
    The store’s custom furnishings, like the cashier desk, are also rendered in pinkAn increasing number of creatives are making their virtual designs a reality.
    Last year, digital artist Andres Reisinger collaborated with furniture brand Moooi to produce a physical version of his Instagram-famous Hortensia chair, which was initially a rendering.
    The piece is covered with 20,000 pink fabric petals, emulating the almost fluffy appearance of a hydrangea flower.
    In Sweden, designer Christoffer Jansson passed off a virtual apartment as an Instagram home renovation project.
    The photography is by Salva Lopez.
    Project credits:
    Authors: Six N Five and Isern SerraBuilder: Tegola Rosso SL

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    Nina+Co uses salvaged materials and biotextiles for Big Beauty’s first store

    Design studio Nina+Co has used materials informed by the ingredients used in natural skincare products for Big Beauty’s first store in Hackney, London.

    For its first retail space, Big Beauty founder Lisa Targett Bolding wanted to create a space that was an extension of the brand’s ethos. She worked closely with Nina+Co, which chose to incorporate waste materials and biomaterials like mycelium into the design.
    According to Nina+Co founder Nina Woodcroft, every material choice was aimed at minimising waste or reviving waste products.
    The Big Beauty shop was designed by Nina+Co”Lisa was determined to push the boundaries of material use and circularity and is willing to take risks, which is necessary when experimenting with materials and processes that are new,” she told Dezeen.
    “There are many great materials and solutions that we desperately need to become mainstream, but making them commercially viable can be a slow and long-winded process,” she continued.

    “The goal at Nina+Co is to bridge this gap, to show how beautiful and useful these materials and processes can be, and to work on changing attitudes towards waste and considering end-of-use.”
    The project features salvaged and biomaterialsRaw stone edges, metal patination, and earthy tones were blended with soft, oversized, rounded forms to create a calming effect throughout the space where, besides the retail area, there is a private treatment room for massages and facials.
    The main space was designed to be flexible and host events, with seating arranged around a large travertine stone table, which was sourced 50 per cent from salvage and 50 per cent from offcuts.
    Salvaged travertine stone was used for the central table with only minimal shaping to some edgesThe travertine used for the central table was kept in the large slabs in which it was found, with only minimal shaping to some edges, in a bid to reduce wastage and retain integrity for future applications.
    As well as the reclaimed natural stone, Nina+Co used expanded cork blocks that were shaped into storage units and salvaged steel, which has been re-worked into shelving.
    Expanded cork blocks are used to create storage unitsMany of the materials chosen were informed by the minerals and ingredients used in natural skincare such as clay, seaweed and mushroom extracts.
    Mycelium was grown to form plinths and legs using the reishi species. Reishi mushroom and clay were also used to pigment curtains of a seaweed biotextile, which have tiny trapped air bubbles to look like sea foam or bath bubbles.
    The seaweed biotextile, along with hemp fabric, was hung as a backdrop for the window display that shades the interior.
    Seaweed biotextile panels feature tiny trapped air bubblesWhen asked about the challenges of working with mycelium, Woodcroft said “every project has its hiccups. Mycelium needs precise conditions to grow and contamination is tricky to avoid without serious lab facilities.”
    “We inoculate organic waste with mushroom spores then the fungus digests the substrate and binds together with tiny hyphae threads into a homogenous form within a mould; when gently dried, the mycelium becomes inert and we are left with strong, organic pieces of furniture that are ultimately compostable,” she explained.
    “There’s so much more to explore with mycelium and I intend to.”
    A glass block wall encloses a private treatment room.Also as part of the renovation, the studio removed the existing timber floor and underlay, which were both sold locally with proceeds going to charity.
    The grey concrete beneath was then stained to a warmer brown using iron sulphate, a common grass fertiliser. Cork tiles with a natural hard wax finish were used for the kitchen and toilet. The walls and ceiling were coated with a limewash paint made from clay, minerals and natural pigments.
    Mycelium and Reishi mushroom species were used to create plinths and legs for the displaysAccording to Woodcroft, each area of the shop tells a story of material exploration and experimentation.
    The space offers – as the brand puts it – “a sense of provenance, connection and reverence” for the natural components of the skincare products on the shelves.
    Big Beauty’s windows feature panels of mycelium biotextileNina+Co has previous experience working with ancient and pioneering materials like mushroom mycelium, algae and bioplastics. The design studio worked on the fit-out of Silo, a zero-waste restaurant in the London suburb of Hackney Wick, and more recently the MONC eyewear store also in the British capital.
    The photography is by Anna Batchelor

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    Kim Kardashian brings poolside vibes to SKIMS swimwear pop-up at Selfridges

    A three-tiered diving board stands next to a metallic palm tree inside this pop-up shop that designer Willo Perron has created for Kim Kardashian’s lingerie brand SKIMS in London.

    The brand’s first physical retail space in the UK, at the Selfridges department store in London, follows the same formula as its debut shop in Paris. Here, surfaces were coated in panels of glossy plastic with gentle thermoformed curves to suggest the shape of the human body.
    SKIMS has opened a swimwear pop-up in SelfridgesBut for this temporary summertime pop-up, Perron abandoned the brand’s typical fleshy colour palette in favour of a pale blue hue reminiscent of a heavily chlorinated swimming pool.
    The resulting plastic panels are so glossy they look almost wet as they form everything from mirror frames and bench seats to wall panels and the shop’s monolithic till counter, which is embossed with the SKIMS logo.
    A three-tiered diving board sculpture forms the centrepiece of the storeA huge replica of a three-levelled diving board stands at the heart of the store, with a stepped base and springboards formed from lengths of the same baby-blue plastic.

    Shiny chrome tubes act as handrails and are repeated throughout the store in the form of gridded partitions and clothing rails, curving around the columns of the Grade II-listed department store.

    Kim Kardashian launches first pop-up SKIMS store in Paris

    Rounding off the poolside atmosphere is a matching metal palm tree sculpture, integrated into the long bench set that runs along the shopfront.
    To display stacks of rolled-up nude-coloured SKIMS towels, Perron also added two smaller freestanding platforms with the same steps and chrome handrails as the diving platform but minus the springboards.
    Thermoformed plastic panels in glossy blue glad most of the interiorTaking over Selfridges’ ground-floor pop-up space The Corner Shop until 8 July 2023, the shop will offer the brand’s core collection of swimsuits and bikinis alongside limited editions and seasonal colourways.
    Customers will also be able to buy ice cream to match their swimwear, stored in baby-blue freezers courtesy of London gelato company Chin Chin Labs.
    A metallic palm tree decorates the store”I’m thrilled to bring SKIMS Swim to London for the first-time ever and take over The Corner Shop at Selfridges with our most conceptual pop-up experience to date,” said SKIMS co-founder and creative director Kim Kardashian.
    “We have followers all over the world,” she added. “As we enter the next phase of SKIMS retail, I look forward to connecting with these customers through innovative shopping experiences on a global scale.”
    A metallic palm tree completes the poolside atmosphereReturning for its second year, SKIMS’s swimwear offering is pitched towards providing various levels of coverage for different body types and modesty requirements.
    This is an extension of the brand’s drive to create inclusive underwear and shapewear that works for people of different sizes and abilities, following the launch of its Adaptive Collection last year.
    Over the next three years, the brand is planning to open a roster of freestanding stores across the UK and EU.

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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.

    Cubitts eyewear store in Leeds taps into seminal design movements throughout history

    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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    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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