Florense’s new store in São Luis, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão, gives birth to the ideal of a new Brazil, more elegant and bold. The architect Henrique Steyer, who masterminded the project, affirms that it’s time to take what’s ours and paint our houses using our inks. When we sing our music, everyone wants to dance to it. His idea is to offer a new Brazil in a platter: sophisticated, cultured and beautiful.

As you enter the store, a curator’s letter, just like in an art exposition, proves that this is an unconventional showroom. Let yourself be involved and be a part of this world. In the store’s façade, large vinyl stickers create a stunning red velvet curtain. A pair of dragon-shaped majolica cachepots receive the customers.

A kitchen clad in golden microtexture interacts with the master bed with a canopy frame made with golden hydraulic pipes. In the home theater / teenage room setting, a huge amount of “Guaraná Jesus” cans decorate the place. On the upper store window, a ZigZag Bookshelf, designed by Steyer, is lined with several bottles of the popular Brazilian cosmetic “Leite de Colônia”.

In the main hall, another ZigZag Bookshelf, received glass bowls filled with raw cotton, typical of the region. A painting of generous proportions, signed by the imaginary artist Mark Gary Adams, shows Michelangelo’s Pietá blindfolded. On the ceiling, a large illuminated display tells us: Love is Blind. To complete the setting, three Guará birds, typical of northeastern Brazil, hang from the ceiling in an origami style.

Throughout the store, several posters allude to ophthalmologic tests, as if customers are having their sight constantly tested. The idea is to how that love is something that cannot be seen, only felt, and that everyone is invited. Welcome.