The Manolo Blahnik store on Moscow's Nikolsaya Street offered an opportunity to update the country's traditional Dacha architecture with contemporary materials and processes. Located in Tretiakov Plaza, a high end retail district, the store is presented as a richly crafted box.
The long rectangular retail unit features ebonized strips of wood, set vertically to reference Dacha design, creating a solid ‘exterior’ that is then contrasted with the delicate white lace-like interior walls. This effect was achieved by laser-cutting thin DuPont Corian panels, resulting in diaphanous screens that add privacy and mystery as well as a strong sense of craftsmanship. The abstracted pattern uses gilded leaf motifs and is repeated on the legs of the bespoke furniture.
The store sits adjacent to the main entrance of the Plaza, its 50-foot length creating a catwalk-style promenade along which new shoes can be tried on and admired. The Corian provides a finely detailed backdrop for the bold forms and colors of the shoes, while the ebonized wood is also carried through into the interior to continue the theme of a treasure box. In Russian, the word for traditional lace, “kruzhevo”, is closely related to the word for encircle, “okruzhite.” The design built upon the idea of encircling and enclosing the space with the two boxes, one of wood, one of lace. In this way, the store references the vivid landscapes of a Russian fairytale, a fantastical environment of pine forests, deep snow, carved wood, and mystical, totemic objects.
View Original