Vision Quest: Conradt Optik Gets A Smart Makeover By Ippolito Fleitz Group
Taking over Conradt Optik from her father, Julia Conradt was determined to reposition it for future generations. Hipper frames and better service were a start, but the changeover begged for a bigger statement. The Ippolito Fleitz Group obliged with a high-contrast makeover of the 2,250-square-foot shop, located in the southwestern German town of Mosbach.
Three new 7-by-9-foot windows simultaneously lighten the facade and give optimal exposure to the optical offerings. Shag carpet is anthracite gray, but almost everything above floor level is pure white. Right angles are rare—the boomerang-shape lacquered service counter has a couple. Behind it snakes a wall that defines browsing zones while displaying most of the glasses in horizontal channels lit by fluorescents. (Freestanding cases house new styles.) This feature wall fans out overhead to form an equally curvy canopy. Where it ends, Ippolito Fleitz covered the ceiling in a paper patterned with delicate lines in pale brown, blue, and mauve, all colors found in human eyes.
