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Curiosity shop - Paul Smith fashion stores
| Posted: 12.08.2010 11:07 | |
by: paul smith | |
Readed: 305 |
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A late eighteenth-century palazzo in Milan has been converted into a major store for a fashion entrepreneur, enhancing the building's intricate character.
The eccentric individualism of the fashion entrepreneur, Paul Smith, is encapsulated in 264 shops distributed throughout the world and most recently in a series of flagship stores, all designed by Sophie Hicks, in London, Milan and soon, in Paris. Smiths dislike of branded clothing extends to design of his shops and with Hicks as a willing accomplice, each of the two flagships relates to its context, but in playful fashion. If the London store is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the smart town house stuffed with treasures, the Milanese version is a jewel-like interior housed in the ground floor of a late eighteenth-century palazzo and paying obeisance to its crumbling magnificence. Created out of a double-height volume, it has an L-shaped plan and tall arched windows onto the street.
The site had been badly chopped about and Hicks has treated it in archaeological fashion, preserving the antique and making use of it, while inserting the new. The old included a row of three tall arches (possibly part of an old courtyard) running down the long arm of the L, a stone staircase at its far end, and an ancient terrazzo floor. Into the double-height space Hicks has inserted an L-shaped gallery that in the long arm of the L becomes toplit. It is reached by a new staircase at the front of the shop, devoted to women, children and accessories, and the old stone stairs at the back which is the men's province. Throughout, there are visual connections between upper and lower levels, for instance through the upper part of arches to the ground floor, or glass slots cut into the gallery.
Colour and textural richness predominate. Walls, plastered traditionally, are rose pink; and the terrazzo floor, partly damaged, has been visibly repaired with pink mosaic. Elsewhere, new insertions are deliberately alien. Double translucent glass walls of changing rooms, lit from within, shed glowing luminance sideways and a light wall provides a backing for glass shelving. New stairs, from women's collection to gallery, contrast the prettiness of terrazzo treads and pink plastered wall with the crispness of industrial fixings. Detailing throughout of glass shelving, display cabinets and balustrading is immaculate.
In Falling water, which was built as a weekend retreat for Edgar J. Kaufmann, we see Wright's greatest expression of "organic architecture" --the union of the structure and the land upon which it is built. Falling water is considered Wright's masterwork.
For further information visit Paul Smith Online Store--http://www.psmake.com |
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