Curved metallic surfaces influenced by early twentieth century American industrial design kind shows at this compact retailer in New York Metropolis, designed by London studio Tutto Bene for eyewear model Cubitts.
Tutto Bene was briefed to create a chic and meticulously crafted house for Cubitts’ first retailer exterior of the UK that evokes the previous century of New York’s historical past.
The shop at 103 Mercer Avenue has a complete ground space of simply 25 sq. metres, which the designers claimed makes it probably the smallest retail web site in all of SoHo.
Felizia Berchtold and Oskar Kohnen of Tutto Bene instructed Dezeen that they got down to create an experiential and intriguing inside with “the ornate precision of a jewelry field”.
“Throughout the retail panorama of SoHo there’s a pop-up feeling and one sees plenty of set-design high quality fit-outs,” the designers mentioned.
“We wished to counterbalance this pattern by creating an area made to final for a decade and to speak the worth that’s put into the product inside it.”
The practical and exactly detailed design of Cubitts’ spectacles offered the primary inspiration for the shop, which additionally references the streamlined types of Streamline Moderne – an aerodynamic offshoot of artwork deco that emerged within the Thirties.
“We took that engineering facet of spectacle-making and interpreted it in kinetic components all through the shop, just like the rotary mirrors and the sculptural metal curve, reflecting hues of sunshine just like the glowing towers we all know New York for,” the duo mentioned.
An S-shaped steel show on the centre of the house helps to outline the move of motion while echoing the sleek silhouettes of the model’s eyewear.
Partitions clad in black ebonised ash create a darkish backdrop, in opposition to which mushy lighting and pops of color create a theatrical impact harking back to the work of American artist Edward Hopper.
“Areas of glamorous darkness are peppered with gentle,” mentioned Tutto Bene. “Shimmering reflections, harking back to metropolis lights, emphasise the shop’s meticulous detailing and symbolize the care and a focus put into the merchandise it encloses.”
The principle color used is a brick-red hue borrowed from the New York streetscape, which in response to the studio provides “some playfulness and artwork deco glamour, contrasting the muted black with dramatic heat and texture”.
The geometric kinds used all through the shop recall the works of artist Donald Judd, who as soon as lived and labored throughout the road. The creative tributes proceed within the restroom, which is papered with aluminium foil as an homage to Andy Warhol’s Silver Manufacturing facility.
Rigorously chosen classic items together with wall lights from Austrian model Kalmar, Charlotte Perriand’s LC8 stool and an Opalino vase by Tommaso Buzzi complement the shop’s color and materials palette.
Tutto Bene additionally created bespoke mirrors, which clients can use when attempting out totally different frames. The marble objects have been hand-crafted at a stone workshop in Florence, Italy.
“Within the pared-back retailer, these hand-carved glove-like marble sculptures draw consideration by their surrealist look,” the designers added.
“While you choose them up, they lie heavy within the hand. The load sharpens one’s consciousness and provides the gesture of wanting within the mirror a thought of high quality.”
To have fun the shop’s launch, Cubitts launched a group of seven frames impressed by New York landmarks together with the Flatiron Constructing and Radio Metropolis Music Corridor.
The opening follows a sequence of latest Cubitts shops within the UK together with one in a former jellied-eel restaurant and one other in a Nineteenth-century London townhouse.
