By Experimental Store

As some retailers abandon their brick-and-mortar presence on the market, e-commerce brands are adding physical stores to their virtual offerings. By’s first such location is, pointedly, an experiential space – part retail part art gallery – for a brand with quirky merchandising techniques, like displaying menswear one day and changing it out completely the next, to exhibit pop art, such as character toy figurines.

Based on this constantly shifting output, Spacemen created a space of contrast and fragmentation built out of materials, shapes and reflections. A series of angular geometric display alcoves, for instance, are crowned with low-hanging, apparently floating, illuminated ceilings made of stretch Barrisol. Inside these spaces, the floor consists of triangular tiles made of six contrasting types and colours of marble. Their outward facing walls are dressed with angular 8 mm mirrors, camouflaged by reflections of the rest of the room making these display alcoves seemingly disappear when viewed from outside. This effect also brings emphasis to the products on display within. The fragments wrap around 3 columns that are stripped down to reveal existing red horizontal braces.

At the rear of the 820-m2 multi-brand fashion and collectible art shop, a flexible area was conceived for product launches and small fashion shows. Here, an installation of more than 600 recycled plastic shipping pallets can be converted into tiered seating and/or display, being moved and stacked as needed. The installation of pallets also conceal a 1m tall concrete stump that runs across the back of the store.

The raw grey epoxy flooring transitions into a white portal as we make our way towards the second half of the store. This retail focused area comprises of off-white terrazzo flooring with brass inserts, an open ceiling with a continuous linear aluminium grid, walls coated with textured grey plaster, and grey curtains adds a softer touch to the raw material palette of the space. A series of custom furniture constructed out of galvanised metal stud frames and anodised chrome boxes are used for display. These lightweight and durable materials were specifically chosen in order to ensure that these furniture were easy to move around if the need arose.

Two brass boxes that house the fitting rooms were inserted, one in the front and one in the back of the store. To accommodate the selfie-happy consumers, we deconstructed the notion of the fitting room and installed the mirrors outside of the fitting rooms and fitted each room with its own signature fluorescent light installation for customers to take a quick snap of themselves in the brand’s latest avant-garde gear inside.