two stacked stones nod to a sculpture in this women's clothing store
Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.

August 16, 2023

Words: Wilson Barlow

Words: Lisa Di Venuta

Top Designers Redefine Global Shops and Showrooms

Global brands turn to cosmopolitan influences, tactile traditions, and leading design firms to raise the bar in their shops and showrooms stateside and beyond.

5 Striking Retail Designs Around the World

Jaipur Rugs, Dubai, United Arab Emirates designed by Roar

For an entirely immersive experience, the Indian company’s own hand-knotted carpets enliven not only the floors
of the 8,400-square-foot showroom but also its walls and myriad staircases. The latter are steel covered in a gradient of color and lead down to a central hospitality area inspired by ancestral Rajasthani architecture, featuring archways and a custom table of rose-gold legs and a Tundra gray marble top etched with an intricate Jaipuri pattern.

  • a hospitality area inside Jaipur Rugs
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.
  • red rugs cover the stairway in Jaipur Rugs
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.
  • a woman sits at a table in front of a row of recessed arches at Jaipur Rugs
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.
  • green hand-knotted rugs on the floors and walls of Jaipur Rugs
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.
  • an archway in the center of blue rugged walls leads to a lounge area in Jaipur Rugs
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.
  • the brick archway entrance to Jaipur Rugs by Roar
    Photography by Yasser Ibrahim.

13 Paix, Paris designed by Laura Gonzalez, Moinard Bétaille, and Studioparisien

Joining New York and London locations, the 32,000-square-foot maison is the main “temple” to the luxury French jeweler, its six levels a place of origin and collective memory, renovated to obtain the highest grade of BREEAM certification. Three floors encompass 10 salons, which are followed by workshops, archives, and a penthouse residence, all capped by glass ceiling over an atrium conceived in the spirit of a traditional Parisian inner courtyard.

  • looking up through the six levels of 13 Paix, a luxury French jeweler
    Photography by Fabrice Fouillet/courtesy of Cartier.
  • jungle-like murals are painted on the walls in 13 Paix
    Photography by Fabrice Fouillet/courtesy of Cartier.
  • green sofas under a leaf-like gold chandeliers
    Photography by Fabrice Fouillet/courtesy of Cartier.
  • archival photos inside 13 Paix
    Photography by Fabrice Fouillet/courtesy of Cartier.

Skypeople, Beijing designed by F.O.G. Architecture

The 2,300-square-foot shop selling ready-to-wear clothing for young professionals combines outer-space and polar-region modes, fashion and architecture into one minimalist whole through fitting rooms lit by color-changing LEDs and surfaces reminiscent of quilted coats. Randomly placed, angled mirrors are intended to change perspectives, spur
inspiration, and echo the bustling energy of urban life.

  • LED strip lights go across the ceiling in Skypeople, a clothing store in Beijing
    Photography by InSpace Architecture Photography.
  • quilted-coat like surfaces and angled mirrors make up the space in Skypeople
    Photography by InSpace Architecture Photography.
  • angled mirrors serve as partitions in a Chinese clothing store
    Photography by InSpace Architecture Photography.
  • a blue monochromatic fitting room
    Photography by InSpace Architecture Photography.

Forte Forte, Los Angeles designed by Forte Forte

For their first U.S. outpost, cofounder Giada Forte and art director Robert Vattilana of the Italian women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories label composed a desert vista with a skylit palette reflective of locale via resin-coated flooring, limewashed brick walls, and native greenery. Brass details add Hollywood glamour, while two stacked stones, a nod to a Fischli/Weiss sculpture, were sourced in Palm Springs.

  • two stacked stones nod to a sculpture in this women's clothing store
    Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.
  • brass panels within a women's clothing store
    Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.
  • a white chaise sits across from a brass paneled wall
    Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.
  • gold shelves display women's shoes
    Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.
  • a red dress hangs from a brass detailed display
    Photography courtesy of Forte Forte.

Ceramiche Ragno, Milan designed by Benedetta Tagliabue-EMBT

Since the heritage ceramics supplier’s name means spider in Italian, the 4,300-square-foot flagship showroom is
a web of marble, cement, and stone inspiration and a kaleidoscopic sequence of rooms, with spinneret-esque wooden displays; jewel-toned tiles arranged into murals of Persian domes, Egyptian minarets, and Roman columns; and a continuous mosaic slab serving as flooring.

  • light flows into the wooden display in a ceramics supplier's store
    Photography by Roland Halbe.
  • a spinneret-esque wooden display at a ceramics supplier
    Photography by Roland Halbe.
  • symmetrical arched doorways in a ceramics supplier store
    Photography by Roland Halbe.
  • jewel-toned tiles make a mural of Persian domes, Egyptian minarets, and Roman columns
    Photography by Roland Halbe.
  • a collection of feather-like chandeliers above a table in a ceramics store
    Photography by Roland Halbe.

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