a boutique for OWEN, the program called for the design of a temporary retail environment that would stand as a physical introduction to the identity of this new brand. this inaugural store serves as a preview and the first in a series of stores for OWEN. for us, the thing that makes OWEN different from other fashion retailers, is the client's emphasis on personal service and a his strong eye for detail. he has personally selected lines of clothing whose designers have taken a classic look and introduced unique details to create remarkable, original pieces. in response to this identity, we wanted to take something that was inherently familiar (the paper lunch bag that many kids grew up with) and use it in a new way to define an environment that was at the same time incredibly unique and strangely foreign yet alluringly familiar.
additionally, the bags relate to the idea of a to-go bag or something you may take away from this first store to the next. the bags form a foliage-like canopy, with a strong reference to the flower shop that previously occupied the space. here a continuous surface, hand-built out of 25,000 brown paper bags, arches from floor to ceiling. the repetition of the paper bags results in a honeycomb-like structure that defines a warm, organic volume which sits within and in contrast to the existing industrial brick and concrete space. additionally, all clothing, accessories, and jewelry are displayed on quartz slab tables, blackened steel hang-bars and steel and glass vitrines whose linearity and crisp details sit in contrast to the delicate texture of the paper arch beyond.
photos: juliana sohn
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