Sunday, September 14, 2014

Valentino Flagship Store - New York City

 
A new eight-storey facade has been added to the Postmodern building, originally designed by architects John Burgee and Philip Johnson. The black steel and aluminium elements are designed to echo Mies van der Rohe’s nearby Seagram Building. The lower levels contain the store and are clad with vertical brass bars and incorporate a lantern, a clock and the brand’s logo in the same material. Behind the frontage is an eight-metre atrium, which features a chunky sculptural staircase that doglegs up and then becomes a series of ramps to connect the three floors.
 
 
Grey Palladiana Terrazzo is used to clad surfaces throughout the interior to link the spaces. On the ground floor, bags are displayed on 39 shelves attached to a wall on one side, illuminated by brass lighting hung from the ceiling. More accessories are presented on units in the centre of the floor, one in marble and another made from wood and glass, forming the brand’s largest accessories department worldwide.
 
 
Womenswear is located on the first floor, broken up into different rooms to separate the types of merchandise.An area for menswear – the second to be found in Valentino’s US stores after San Francisco – is situated on the top level. Oak shelving and hanging elements supported by polished brass fixtures are used to display the collection, along with marble plinths
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 


Friday, September 12, 2014

Watches of Switzerland - London. UK

 
Landmark, the much awaited Watches of Switzerland flagship at 155 Regent Street opened in London on July 15, 2014. The three-story, 17,000 square foot store offers the largest selection of watches in Europe including luxury brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Global architecture and design firm Callison collaborated closely with Watches of Switzerland to create an environment that would appeal to a wide range of watch buyers from watch enthusiasts to connoisseurs and collectors.
 
 
The Watches of Switzerland Regent Street store is not just about luxury and service,” says Design Director Tom Pulk, of Callison’s New York office. “The intent was to create an intelligent retail environment that offers an immersive retail experience with a theatrical element—catered to each of the distinct client types
 
 
One Door, Three StoresWatches of Switzerland is designed as a multi-tiered retail experience, three stores in one. The lower level, the Calibre Room, is designed with a sophisticated international traveler in mind and houses more than 20 watch brands. Light and bright, the space juxtaposes Calacatta marble flooring with stainless steel and walnut fixtures. The ground floor is lined with six boutique showrooms from some of the world’s finest luxury brands for the watch connoisseur. Upstairs lies a sumptuous VIP lounge with smoky marble floors and jewel-toned carpeting and furniture
 
 
Technology plays a key role on every floor. Large display panels showcase product and a touch-screen “time wheel” á la Minority Report invites shoppers to interact with historical content. A bespoke glass elevator and wraparound staircase of marble, glass and metal transport customers between floors. “Landmark is a more than a watch store,” notes Gerald Allbury, Callison Principal in the London office. “It is a store as precisely engineered as the Swiss timepieces it represents. “
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Nike Lab Store

 
 
 
 
Nike presents its latest physical experience with the launch of a new concept titled NikeLab. The unique brick & mortar retail presence will combine with distinct digital components to truly reshape the Nike experience through select cities across the world on June 12. Woven through the concept is an inherent interest in connecting the consumer with the vivid and important storytelling that features within much of Nike’s product.
 
 
 
 
Discovery and interactivity is the ultimate goal as it looks to pair curated collections with innovative product and classic Nike styles. Designers like Jun Takahashi of UNDERCOVER will also play a part in having their works available at NikeLab. Another important element of NikeLab offerings is a high consideration towards environmental impact. Carrying a reduced carbon footprint will go hand-in-hand with the latest in performance developments. The first cities to roll out the NikeLab concept include New York, London, Paris, Milan, Shanghai, Hong Kong and digitally through Nike.com/NikeLab.
 
 


Nudie Jeans - Stockholm, Switzerland

 
Following successful retail launches in Gothenburg, London, Los Angeles, Sydney and Osaka, today Nudie Jeans opens its doors of their second Repair Shop in Stockholm, Sweden. Located at Jakobsbergsgatan 11, the shop is the 17th standalone for the Swedish denim brand globally.
 
 
 
The compact 55 sq. m. space marries raw, industrial chords with an organic fluidity, a similar feeling created in Nudie’s hometown Gothenburg, and recently opened London, stores. Verdigris soothing green on the interior walls juxtaposes a starker, more serious Swedish green marble (kolmårdsmarble) exterior façade, while fixtures are black zinc plated steel and stained pine wood. Nudie Jeans’ own orange kaihara selvage denim is a beautiful, innovative, yet wildly original ode to the core fabric which the brand has become internationally recognized for since launch 13 years ago.
 
 
 
Natural, organic notes continue with the utilization of natural copper – a tribute to the original copper bay window frames – used as a backdrop for Nudie Jeans’ signature imagery and hand painted with brand messages. The entire setting, is an progressive, yet conveniently utilitarian, canvas for Nudie Jeans’ organic collections, and forms the ideal creative backdrop for denim repair work. The building itself is a fantastic example of postmodern architecture, constructed in the late 1980s, in a downtown shopping area, Bibliotekstan.
 
 
 
Experienced, knowledgeable, denim specialists are of course on hand to offer their expert advice, and repairs and alterations are offered free as standard. As part of the ‘Repair Reuse! Reduce’ program, well-loved, worn Nudie Jeans can be exchanged for a 20% discount off their next pair. The received pairs are then prepared and sold as second hand and certified with a ‘Good Environmental Choice’ label
 
 
 
The most important thing we are doing right now is translating our philosophy into practice. To offer this service, tell our story and really take our responsibility, we open more stores. Stockholm is a great city and in the long term we need more stores there. If you sell many cars, you may also need many workshops,” says Joakim Levin, co-founder of Nudie Jeans
 
 
 
Since 2001, Nudie Jeans has established itself as one of the world’s most respected denim brands. An uncompromising love for genuine craftsmanship, the company has been praised for its social responsibility and unique concepts for sustainable consumption: Eco-Cycle – which means caring for the entire cycle from wear and repair, to reuse and recycling.
 
 
 
With 100% organic denim, living wages throughout the production chain, and free repairs offered as standard practice, Nudie Jeans pioneering Eco-Cycle concept has been hailed internationally. Most recently, The Guardian hailed Nudie Jeans on sustainable behavior stating, “Nudie appears to be shifting the public gaze towards something akin to responsible consumerism.” The store opened on March 27th, located at Jakobsbergsgatan 11, 111 44 Stockholm
 
 


Thursday, September 11, 2014

Jack and Jones - Bremen, Germany

 
 
The store in Bremen is the biggest Jack & Jones in Europe, covering 600m2. The shop is located with its main entrance on the central shopping street Sögestrasse in Bremen. A second entrance is placed towards Carl-Ronning Strasse
 
 
 
The 600 m2 are designed and built by Riis Retail providing various shopping environments. Two floors create space and areas for each of the five brands within Jack & Jones to express their individual DNA
 
 
 
The old post-war building underwent a full renovation of the 2 floors within a 3 month period. From the main entrance you enter an impressive double high space with a timber construction that indicates the former first and second floor. What is left of the existing first floor is now covered by a delicate glass facade to give customers a peak of the Vintage area upstairs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Chanel Store - Hamburg, Germany

 
 
Hamburg is the cradle of Chanel's creative director Karl Lagerfeld. The boutique of the French fashion house recently relocated to more expansive and certainly fancier downtown premises. The boutique occupies 327 sqm. on the ground floor of Bürgermeisterhaus, an imposing, early 20th-century building which was originally home to one of the city’s many trading companies. The store interior is designed by new york-based architect Peter Marino, and is modeled after Coco Chanel’s swanky apartment in the French capital.
 
 
Featuring a sumptuous and sophisticated palette in soft tones, paneled walls are paired with shiny marble floors. Displays and cabinets have been made from dark wood and glass, while the brand’s signature tweed fabric has been used to clad sofas and create carpets. The new Chanel store carries select pieces of the ready-to-wear collection, in addition to bags, shoes, jewellery + watches and sunglasses. The store opening party pulled no less than 300 guests and was pretty much a who’s who of Hamburg’s upper crust and high-profile individuals.
 
 
 
 
 
 


Hyundai Department Store - Deagu, South Korea

 
 
Following more than three years of design and construction, the highly-anticipated, 53,000-SM, 11-story Hyundai Department Store opened last August in Daegu, Korea, making it the largest department store for both the brand and the south east region of the country. The new location brought in record profits of $5 million on opening day and $15 million over its first five days, due in no small part to the store’s distinctive architecture and interiors that are a departure for Hyundai’s brand.
 
 
Hyundai had a tried and true department store model with established demographics, but the company reached out to RTKL to update its traditional approach. Through its scope of architectural concepts and schematics, full service interiors, and environmental graphics, RTKL took this opportunity to broaden the brand’s appeal for a larger audience and an increased youth/young adult fashion component. The result was a strategy to shift the department store’s standard design from high-end classic to luxury modern, from a place to a destination, and from product-oriented to people-oriented.
 
 
Previously, the brand had one overall look and feel, but the design team’s strategy created distinctly different customer experiences throughout the project, endeavouring to form a different atmosphere and character for each department
 
 
 
The team also enhanced the shopping experience with customer service lounges, cooking school and classroom facilities, a roof-top park and a level dedicated to dining. Two different architectural facades—a formal, traditional stone base and an animated, overlapping glass feature wall with a built-in LED system—make the building an icon in the city and an even bigger draw for visitors. All of these elements combine to create a centre that goes beyond the typical shopping trip and becomes a community-oriented space that encourages people to spend the day exploring.