Obakki

44, Water Street, Vancouver, Canada

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Obakki

44, Water Street, Vancouver, Canada

Type

Commercial › Retail

YEAR

2006

Vancouver’s flagship Obakki store promotes Canadian fashion designers work with seasonal men’s and women’s lines. The client’s vision was to develop a store design that supported the simple modern and evolving aesthetic of the brand’s fashion and offer a flexible environment for showcasing clothes, jewelry and accessories.
mgb was commissioned for the project in the late fall of 2006 with a very short schedule to open for the Christmas season rush.
mgb introduced a few simple design moves to the store in an effort to compliment the elegant minimalist aesthetic of the existing shell space. mgb collaborated with renowned Vancouver woodworker Brent Comber to develop a signature piece for the store. The design evolved with a long wood counter piece by Comber which mgb intersected with white solid surface folds for jewelry, a tea bar, POS and storage.
mgb developed three custom light fixtures, built by the architects, using translucent acrylic suspended below simple box housings for hidden and inexpensive light fixtures. The main display of clothing is handled with a ‘zero edge’ suspended white ceiling. The ceiling floats like a thin piece of paper and has custom stainless clothes rods and hangers.
The red brick wall can be softened or neutralized by changing the configuration of fabric hung on a pair of concealed tracks running the length of the store. Two circular change rooms also incorporate floor to ceiling fabric curtains instead of fixed walls. The effect is a very open store when the change rooms are not in use and a soft fabric counterpoint to the strong clean lines of the store when in use.