High-end, ready-to-wear fashion brand Frankie has just opened the doors to its first flagship store in the Los Angeles Art District. The innovative interior was designed by Bureau Spectacular, an interdisciplinary architecture and design firm based in the city. Visitors are greeted by black-and-white graphics covering the facade, providing a clear example of the way the firm unites art and architecture.

An abstract and unorthodox approach is displayed in the furniture and retail functionality. The store has been fitted with one of the design firm’s trademark Super Furniture pieces, an installation that is too little to be a building but far too immense to be merely furniture.

Compiled of nine individual pieces, the 8-m-long modular volume can transform to fulfil an array of functions, such as seating areas, fashion runway, staircase or even a performance stage. When it is dissembled, the complex forms can also be recycled to create fitting rooms, storage and product display units. The vision for the interior was to construct a sculpture that simultaneously acts as an object and performative space. A clear source of inspiration for the designers was an earlier project, entitled Briefcase House by Jimenez Lai.

The piece similarly played with abstracting proportions by placing a house within a house inside a 426-sqm Chicago warehouse loft. Frankie’s signature silhouettes and fine fabrics are brought to life in this multi-dimensional retail space. The store will feature a vast range of products from the Frankie line, including fragrances, candles and accessories, as well as acting as a collaborative hub for design talents from all over the globe.

All in all, the brand’s bold, provocative and idealist spirit is clearly mirrored in its new imaginative and interchangeable home.

Design: Bureau Spectacular
Photography: Injee Unshin

http://www.frameweb.com/news/bureau-spectacular-uses-an-unorthodox-design-approach-for-ready-to-wear-brand-frankie