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      “Fashion meets art and design” at Pittsburgh boutique by NWDS

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      Global team NWDS took a spontaneous approach to designing the Tons fashion boutique in Pittsburgh, which contains a mix of modest materials and iconic furniture pieces.

      The Tons store in the city’s East Liberty neighbourhood occupies a long, narrow building with its shorter side facing the street.
      The Tons store features a variety of “mundane” materials, including concrete breezeblocks and metal cansFormerly an atelier, the two-storey structure was reimagined by NWDS to create a light-filled destination “where high-end fashion meets art and design”.
      “Inside is a spacious and light-filled interior that now hosts a multifunctional venue designed to meet the needs of a modern-day sartorialist equally interested in fashion, art, and culture,” said the group.
      In the lobby, new apparel collections are displayed below a tapestry-like artworkDesigning the interiors of the 400-square-metre space involved dividing up the floor plan into several distinct areas that all flow together, but serve different purposes.

      Throughout the various retail and office areas, a selection of unexpected materials were combined and layered.
      Some of the walls are splashed or streaked with white paintImmediately through the glass front door is a lobby where new collections are presented.
      Here, product displays were built from concrete breeze blocks, while the upper walls above the clothing rails were dressed in transparent plastic curtains.
      Glass panels are used to partition different retail areasThe ceiling above was covered with metal tubes of different lengths and diameters, and gives way to a double-height space where tall tapestry-like artworks by Sasha Brodsky hang over opposite walls, and white paint was seemingly dragged across another.
      “There was a lot of spontaneity and many design decisions taken on site: some surfaces were uncovered and left in an unfinished state, and some were splashed with white paint,” NWDS said.
      A selection of iconic furniture designs can be found around the store, including Frank Gehry’s Wiggle ChairFurther along, fitting rooms are lined up behind black and white streaked partitions to one side, facing a room defined by glass panels that hosts monobrand products.
      Towards the back, a lounge area that also displays shoes is reached by descending a short flight of stairs, which run parallel to a raised, built-in seating area.
      A built-in seating area at the back of the store overlook the sunken shoe roomThe lower floor level in this space results in a higher ceiling, which NWDS took advantage of by extending a mural the full height behind a wall-mounted shoe display.
      A staircase at the very back leads to the upper storey, where retail displays and office areas for store employees sit side by side, and a photography studio is in full view.

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      “Inside Tons, the client space and the workspace are blended,” said NWDS.
      “Buyers and managers have their work desks right next to the sale rails on the first floor, and store visitors are welcome to take a peek at the fashion photo shoot happening right there at Tons.”
      The unfinished aesthetic continues across the upper storey, where retail and offices spaces are blendedThroughout the store are a selection of iconic furniture pieces that continue the theme of unexpected materials and functionality.
      They include metal-mesh Hi Tech armchairs by Piero Lissoni, a Mate chair by (A+B) Dominoni, Quaquaro that doubles as shelving, and Frank Gehry’s compressed cardboard Wiggle Chair for Vitra.
      “An interior comprising modest materials is a backdrop for high-end Italian furniture pieces, a collection carefully curated by the NWDS team,” said the designers.
      An open photography studio allows shoppers to watch shoots as they happenNWDS was established in 2013 as a team of architects, designers, curators and researchers from cities including New York, Tbilisi, Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Yerevan, Lisbon and Dubai. The group’s projects span residential, retail, hospitality, culture, exhibition design and more.
      Other recently completed boutiques that feature unusual materials include the Boyy flagship in Milan, which reveals layers of the store’s history, and a Parisian jewellery store featuring rippled sheets of acrylic.
      The photography is by Ekaterina Izmestieva and Alexandra Ribar.
      Project credits:
      Design concept: NWDSSupervision and project management: Brnz BureauLighting design: Natalia MarkevichArt: Sasha Brodsky

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      Crosby Studios uses steel kitchen equipment to create Berlin jewellery store interior

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      A faux industrial kitchen and yellow camping furniture feature in this store in Berlin by Crosby Studios for jewellery brand Avgvst.

      The studio put the space together from scratch using repurposed furniture and fittings including office blinds, camping chairs and kitchen equipment.
      The store’s colour scheme is dominated by grey, silver and yellowThe space is situated on the ground floor of a 19th-century building and retains a conventional glazed shop front. In contrast, the interior aims to distance itself from traditional jewellery stores.
      “The main idea was to create a new sense of retail in a non-traditional commercial way,” Crosby Studios told Dezeen.
      Cookers, storage and washing stations have become jewellery display casesThe store draws on the concept of a dark kitchen, a fast food outlet that provides food for deliveries and takeaways but doesn’t have a dedicated area for in-house dining.

      “We purchased all the steel appliances and shelving from the kitchen supply store in Berlin,” the studio said. “We needed sturdy stainless shelves with sliding drawers, which is why we decided to repurpose restaurant equipment.”
      Splashes of yellow animate the store’s interiorThe interior scheme is unified by its use of yellow paint, which is Avgvst’s signature brand colour.
      Yellow details at the front of the store include a kitchen sink, a rinsing tap with a coiled arm and numerous small display stands for jewellery.

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      The back of the space features yellow storage cabinets, curtains and foldable furniture, as well as yellow and green flowers and plants that soften the space’s industrial feel.
      “Yellow is associated with gold, which is reflected in Avgvst’s jewellery,” the studio said.
      Yellow details are picked out in display stands, seating, signage and wiringAside from the dominant use of yellow, other features include the space’s original exposed brick walls and wooden door lintels that have been lined with slats from repurposed office blinds.
      Foldable camping tables, chairs and stools are set up as permanent furniture to add to the interior’s playful atmosphere.
      Yellow flowers and green foliage soften the industrial aesthetic of the shopJewellery has been laid out on top of stainless steel equipment in the spots once dedicated to food preparation, replacing ingredients and dishes with high-end jewellery.
      To celebrate the store’s opening, Avgvst designed a range of pieces that mimic the shape of knives, forks and spoons.
      The tattoo studio is situated towards the back of the spaceAs well as a jewellery shop, the space houses a tattoo studio and a garden area.
      “The tattoo studio works as a pop-up space for the artists, whose style and aesthetics we like,” the studio said.
      “They make their own tattoos, as well as the flash sets inspired by the designs of our jewellery. The garden will host yoga classes, meditation sessions and pop-up dinners.”
      Other retail design projects published on Dezeen include a clothing boutique in Shanghai that incorporates oversized buttons and an Aesop store in London piled high with sage green books.
      The photography is courtesy of Crosby Studios.

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      El Departamento designs Barcelona eyewear store as a “challenging visual exercise”

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      Slight variations in tone and texture differentiate surfaces inside the PJ Lobster glasses store in Barcelona, which Spanish interiors studio El Departamento has finished entirely in green.

      The shop in the El Born district features walls, floors and stuccoed ceilings all covered in soft, tranquil tones of seafoam green, creating an immersive experience designed to challenge the eye.
      The PJ Lobster store in Barcelona is finished entirely in green”The human eye is able to distinguish more different shades of green than any other colour,” El Departamento told Dezeen. “That’s because, deep inside us, we’re still hunters from the prehistoric era.”
      “So that’s what we wanted to aim for here, not to hunt anything but to recover the challenging visual exercise of exploring a wide range of greens.”
      A glossy counter stands at the centre of the shopThe practice was also influenced by Charles and Ray Eames’s short film Powers of Ten, which explores the scales of the universe.

      This informed El Departamento’s study of different textures within the store “from macro to micro”, from the small-grained velvety micro-cement on the floor to the rough textured plaster that was applied to the wall by hand to achieve the right level of thickness.
      “We wanted to get to the last step, just before a texture becomes a topography,” the studio said. “It was done manually, carefully and step by step to achieve the perfect state.”
      The examination room is located at the rear of the storeStainless steel is another key player in the store, used to create banks of display shelving that frame each pair of glasses, with the soft sheen of the metal creating a striking contrast with the deliberately blobby texture of the walls behind.
      Another textural juxtaposition is provided by the large, capsule-like counter at the heart of the store with its high-shine gloss finish and mirrored top.

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      Further back in the store is an area dedicated to visual examinations, delineated by a shiny pleather curtain and a softer carpeted floor.
      The result, according to El Departamento, is “a vibrant space that swings between the soft and the hard, the rough and the velvety”.
      Glasses are displayed on stainless steel shelvesThe studio has been collaborating with PJ Lobster since the eyewear brand was founded in 2018 under the name Project Lobster, helping the company to expand from an online business into real-life stores.
      With this latest outpost, El Departamento wanted to encapsulate the evolution of the brand and its products.
      The examination room is hidden behind a shiny pleather curtain”We wanted to show that the brand has matured,” the studio said. “We tried to show somehow the organic evolution of the brand by giving this space a more technical and precise atmosphere, where the wide range of textures speaks of the precision levels of the products.”
      Other monochrome eyewear stores include Lunettes Selection in Berlin, which is enveloped by mint-green floor-to-ceiling cabinets, and Melbourne’s Vision Studio where cool-toned industrial materials such as aluminium and concrete are paired with grey marble surfaces.
      The photography is by José Hevia.

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      FOG Architecture adds playful tailoring motifs to Xiaozhuo boutique in Shanghai

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      Chinese architecture studio FOG Architecture has completed a shop for local fashion boutique Xiaozhuo on Julu Road in central Shanghai that features oversized buttons and zippers.

      The 300-square-metre shop features tactile surfaces and playful motifs that reference the process of tailoring.
      The fashion boutique is located in central ShanghaiFOG Architecture used a glazed facade to open up the front of the shop, allowing plenty of natural daylight into the space while blurring the line between the interiors and the street to create a transitional waiting area.
      Beams from an original building on the site were kept and painted red. These support a roof installation comprised of a series of puffy pillows, arranged next to one another and covered in a canvas-like material to create a soft texture.
      A pavilion-like facade was designed to blur the interior and exterior”The result is an exterior of the shop that looks like a ‘small pavilion’,” explained FOG Architecture. “The red columns, the flat roof resembling overlapping tiles, and the antique style stone seats all contribute to this spatial image.”

      “Retail display is the project’s preset function but the pavilion-like exterior challenges it and adds the possibility for leisure, entertainment and social,” the studio added.
      “The front space not only serves as the connection between the shop and the street, but also creates an experimental space that allows contrasting events happen.”
      The entrance of the shop features a grid wallThe entrance of the shop also features a symmetrical gridded wall. Its design was informed by a skylight in the site’s original building, and creates a light-and-shadow effect that adds animation to the wall.
      Square tiles were selected as the main material of the floor and wall in the waiting area, while graphic striplights were installed between the gaps in the ceiling to match the straight lines of the gridded wall.
      Tailoring elements were used as furnishing throughout the shopFollowing the waiting area visitors enter the main area of the shop, where product display and fitting area are arranged on the west side. Packaging, inventory and other supporting functions are located on the east side.
      FOG Architecture decided to use the tools and accessories commonly used in tailoring as the main design narrative of the shop, in response to the fashion brand’s identity.

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      These include red seams, oversized buttons and zipper motifs, and sinuous metallic clothing racks designed to look like sewing thread that add a sense of fun and surprise to the off-white backdrop.
      “The waiting area and the product display area are in sharp contrast in terms of palette, material, shape, and scale — stone versus fabric, light grey versus off-white, straight lines versus curved surfaces — allowing the former to become a transitional area of functions and styles, connecting the interiors to the exteriors, while guiding customer behaviours by shifting views and texture,” the studio said.
      The fitting rooms at the centre of the shop are wrapped in canvas-like materialThe newly polished interior wall is wrapped in a material that resembles a mix of linen and leather and was created by mixing canvas, plush fabric and texture paint.
      The curved outline of the canvas-clad fitting rooms serves as the visual centrepiece of the space.
      Sinuous metallic clothing racks resemble sowing threadAccording to the studio, all finishing materials in the shop were sourced from the fashion brand’s leftover materials from its production line.
      FOG Architecture was founded by Zheng Yu and Zhan Di and has offices in London, Shanghai and Chongqing.
      Previously the studio has completed flagship stores for ToSummer in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Super Seed’s Hangzhou store featuring kinetic display.
      The photography is by INSPACE.
      Project credits:
      Design team: Zou Dejing, Huang Yingzi, Wang Shengqi, Zhunag Shaokai, Zheng Yu, Zhan DiLighting design: Liben Design, Zhang XuConstruction: Shanghai Guqin Construction Engineering Decoration Co., Ltd.Furnishing: Dongguan Lianwei Furniture Co., Ltd.Structure consultant: Tao Xinwei

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      Piles of green-hued books characterise London Aesop store

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      The interior of London’s most recent Aesop store in Marylebone was organised to reference a bookshop and features bespoke timber cabinetry by furniture designer Sebastian Cox.

      Skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team created the concept for the Marylebone store, which recently relocated from its original home in the London neighbourhood to Marylebone High Street.
      The Marylebone store features piles of green booksThe team took “material references” from the British Library on Euston Road and attempted to emulate the layout of traditional bookshops by choosing warm timbers and towering piles of pale green books to decorate the interior.
      Divided into a main shop and an area for personal skin consultations, the L-shaped store features handmade cabinetry by Cox throughout.
      Olivier Cousy added frescos to the ceiling troughsThe shelving is defined by gently rounded edges, which Cox crafted from lime-washed oak and stained with linseed oil to enhance the timber’s warm appearance.

      He designed the cabinetry with flexible joinery that would allow the furniture to be disassembled and transferred elsewhere if needed.
      Sebastian Cox designed timber cabinetry throughout the interiorOversized rattan lampshades were also chosen for the main shop area, which displays uniform rows of Aesop products and includes large, metallic communal sinks built into the timber cabinetry.
      The store’s also features ceiling troughs with custom-made geometric frescos by artist Olivier Cousy.

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      Cousy was informed by Marylebone’s many green squares when painting the designs, which are geometric arrangements of autumnal colours – compositions that take cues from expressionist artist Paul Klee’s 1922 work Tower in Orange and Green.
      “Architecturally, our design method is to connect to the context of the locale, weaving ourselves into its fabric,” said Aesop chief customer officer Suzanne Santos.
      Wooden sinks characterise the skin consultation areaIn the skin consultation area, a sandy-hued, floor-to-ceiling curtain can be pulled to give customers privacy while geometric timber sinks were built into the space’s cabinetry.
      Known for its array of stores that pay homage to their individual locations, Aesop’s other outlets include a branch in London’s Piccadilly Arcade with marble fixtures that filmmaker Luca Guadagnino designed to reference the area’s jewellery boutiques, and a Cambridge store by British studio JamesPlumb with hemp and bulrush accents that nod to the nearby River Cam.
      The photography is by Alixe Lay. 

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      Plantea Estudio designs intentionally unfinished Veja store “to look like we didn’t do anything”

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      Raw finishes and brutalist interventions feature in footwear brand Veja’s first dedicated shop in Madrid, complete with an in-house shoe repair workshop and interiors designed by local firm Plantea Estudio.

      The retail space is housed in a building in the centre of Madrid, which has functioned as a shop, a restaurant and a bank office since its construction around the turn of the 20th century.
      Plantea Estudio has completed Veja’s Madrid storeBy the time Veja took on the space, it had been stripped back to a shell and the team at Plantea Estudio immediately saw the potential in the raw, rough interior.
      “That kind of brick structure brings you to the origins of architecture, to a temporal language,” the studio said. “It comes from always and goes forever, it will never be out of time or fashion.”
      “For us, there was no better option than to work from there, to leave it exposed.”

      Monolithic concrete blocks serve as displaysThe decision to work with the existing architecture rather than introducing unnecessary new materials also mirrors Veja’s idea of having in-house repair shop, encouraging customers to fix rather than simply replace their run-down trainers.
      However, the shell required much more active intervention from Plantea Estudio than the store’s unfinished interior suggests.
      The shop also houses a repair workshop”We had to work a lot for it to look like we didn’t do anything,” the studio said. “We brought the structure to its best version.”
      Plantea Estudio made the windows taller and brought the internal openings back up to their original height. The internal walls were cleaned up, exposing more of the brick and removing countless additions and coverings that remained from previous fitouts.
      Graphic strip lights are integrated into the ceilingWhere the materials were low-quality and couldn’t be removed, Plantea Estudio spray-coated the walls in a mix of plaster and Perlite mortar, “which accentuates the irregularity of the base”.
      The floor was coated uniformly with cement mortar, creating a continuous surface throughout the interior while providing a contrast with the chunky cobblestones laid in the entrance hall.

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      The building’s functional pipes and pinewood supports were left exposed while the ceilings are clad in roughly textured sound insulation and embedded with graphic rows of strip lighting.
      To form display areas, benches and counters, Plantea Estudio opted for stepped blocks of concrete – a favourite material of the brutalist movement – cast in situ using moulds made from old wooden boards.
      Vintage Joaquim Belsa armchairs were used to furnish the spaceAs a clear contrast to the heavy solidity of these pieces, the store’s shelving is made of folded sheets of white-lacquered steel.
      “The main collection is displayed on these steel shelves, illuminated by a light that’s brighter than the general light in the store,” the studio said.
      A ficus tree stands near the entranceThe space is accentuated by large-format mirrors, applied to the building’s brick pillars, where Plantea Estudio says they work at “multiplying the cross views”.
      A large ficus tree marks the entrance while furniture was sourced from vintage design retailer Fenix Originals and includes 1960s armchairs by Catalan designer Joaquim Belsa.
      Simple metal shelves provide additional storagePlantea Estudio, which was founded by brothers Luis and Lorenzo Gil in 2008, has completed a number of interior projects in the Spanish capital.
      Among them is the neutral-toned Hermosilla restaurant, as well as a bar serving wine and small plates, where a cosy red “cave” room is hidden behind the main dining space.
      The photography is by Salva López.

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      Blobby sculpture functions as cash desk inside Rains’ Aarhus boutique

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      Rainwear brand Rains has juxtaposed minimalist restraint with free-form contemporary artworks inside its revamped flagship store in Aarhus, Denmark.

      The brand’s first-ever store, originally opened in 2016, was updated with the introduction of industrial touches such as graffiti and stainless steel hardware alongside custom works by local artists.
      “We want to tickle the customers’ curiosity,” Rains’ in-house design team told Dezeen.
      A blobby sculpture envelops the cash desk of this Rains storeAt the centre of the store, Danish artist Jacob Egebjerg played with the convention of the cash desk by creating a vast sculptural element to envelop this functional area.
      Carved from polystyrene foam, the sculpture resembles a cascade of liquid caught mid-splash, which tumbles from the recessed, illuminated ceiling down to the concrete floor in a nod to the brand’s waterproof rainwear.

      The sculpture was created by Danish artist Jacob Egebjerg”The store was the first Rains store ever and we really wanted to manifest that with an extraordinary installation,” the design team explained. “Egeberg was tasked with creating a work of art with an integrated desk that would attract the attention of passers-by.”
      “It brings a contrast to the clean shapes and surfaces of our point of sale,” the team added. “Our products are very clean, so to add contrasts to our stores, we use shapes and surfaces to create this duality.”
      It was carved from polystyrene foamAllowing Egebjerg’s sculpture to take centre stage, the rest of the store is an exercise in cool, restrained minimalism.
      Display cases are formed from industrial materials such as stainless steel and glass, chosen for its transparent qualities.
      “Your eye can see the full room and isn’t blocked by a non-see-through material,” the team explained. “The products are just floating in the room.”

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      Echoing the qualities of the glass and steel, the Rains team used large-format concrete tiles for the floor, creating a “modern, refined but still simple base for the sculpture”.
      Downstairs, in a rare concession to softness, the design team opted for a custom black carpet with a distressed patina effect – another nod to the industrial.
      “The carpet was chosen to give the white room a contrast and some more depth, while also providing some great acoustic benefits,” the design team explained. “The raw ‘scratchy’ print has been chosen to match the raw expression in the walls and ceiling.”
      Graffiti by Peter Birk covers the staircaseOn this level, a futuristic black display plinth was carved from the same polystyrene foam as the sculpture on the ground floor.
      Against a palette of greys and whites, colour leaps out in the form of another site-specific artwork: a graffiti-inspired piece that decorates the staircase, designed by Rains and realised by local artist Peter Birk.
      “When we work with external artists, we also let them express themselves so their personal style shines through,” the brand explained.
      Another styrofoam sculpture forms a display stand in the basementOther sculptural shop interiors featured on Dezeen include a swimwear pop-up by SKIMS with a three-tiered diving board at its heart and an “otherworldly” moss-covered installation at a luxury bag store in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
      The photography is by Rains.

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      Klein Dytham Architecture gives Fender’s first flagship store a welcoming feel

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      Klein Dytham Architecture has aimed to counter rock music snobbery with its design for guitar brand Fender’s Tokyo flagship store, which is meant to feel welcoming to people who might feel judged in other guitar stores.

      The Fender store sits across the bottom four floors of the glass-walled Ice Cubes building, a 12,000-square-metre space in the neighbourhood of Harajuku that was formerly home to an H&M store.
      It is the world’s first flagship store for the 77-year-old American brand, which is one of the most recognisable names in guitars and is particularly known for electric models like the Stratocaster.
      The Fender flagship store is located in Harajuku, TokyoFor the project, Fender asked Klein Dytham Architecture to create a space that would counter the perception of guitar stores as being intimidating, particularly for women and newer players.
      It hoped the store would offer a sophisticated and immersive retail experience that would encourage leisurely browsing and communicate the brand’s heritage.

      Klein Dytham Architecture answered the brief with a store design it sees as creating “a destination of discovery”, with gallery exhibits, an event space, a cafe and a “care bar” for repairs.
      The main browsing area on the first floor features display stands made of curved woodThe first floor houses the main browsing area, which features undulating wood benches and display units that are meant to echo the curves and materials of a Fender guitar. These contours are further mimicked in the lighting above.
      The area also has custom plectrum-shaped tables where staff can place guitars they have removed from the display to show customers. Clothing racks holding the F is for Fender streetwear collection sit among the guitars.
      The second floor, which was realised in a soft grey palette, is primarily an exhibition space called the Artists Gallery.
      The second floor is the main gallery spaceHere, large-scale photos and video shows famous musicians in action, each one alongside a transparent display case housing their Fender of choice.
      There are also displays dedicated to Japanese- and American-designed Fenders respectively, and a sound-proofed Amp Room where customers can test run guitars and amps.

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      On the darker and moodier third floor, another exhibition space — the Master Builders Gallery — focuses on the work of specific craftspeople, while two VIP rooms and a custom shop are furnished with comfortable couches and provide a setting for discussing bespoke builds.
      Also on this floor is a colourful display of 400 guitar finish samples that fills the length of one wall.
      The third floor includes the Fender custom shopThe final floor is the basement, which houses an event space, cafe and the Fender care bar, and where Klein Dytham Architecture endeavoured to create a cosier feel with a plectrum-shaped rug and benches.
      Tying the floors together is a spiral staircase with a hall-of-fame-style photo gallery on the interior, as well as a three-storey-high vertical LED display on the glass facade outside that will be used for Fender-related content.
      The basement includes an event space and a care bar”Conceived as a hub and clubhouse for all things Fender, this project takes the notion of a flagship store and experiential retail to beyond the next level,” Klein Dytham Architecture co-founder Mark Dytham told Dezeen.
      Dytham started the practice with fellow Royal College of Art graduate Astrid Klein in Tokyo in 1991. Some of their recent work includes the PokoPoko clubhouse for the Risonare Nasu hotel in rural Japan and a Cartier store with an intricate wooden facade in Osaka.
      Photography by Nacása & Partners.

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