Founded only in 2016 by Parisian siblings Mathieu, Antoine and Elsa Mothay, women’s leather goods brand Polène is making ambitious global strides. Now having L Catterton, the LVMH-backed investment fund, as a minority stakeholder, the company’s global retail expansion is gaining steam. Following New York City, Tokyo and Seoul, the newest Polène store in London, has just opened its doors, and once again, it’s a sight behold. The brand has secured a 415 sqm. (4,467 sq.ft.) unit spread over two floors of a monumental listed building on Regent Street, one of the city’s most coveted shopping zones. Designed by WGNB, an architecture practice based in Seoul, the premises see an interior designed based on a concept called Soft Brutalism, which blends Polène‘s minimalist design with elements of Brutalist architecture.

The focal point of the ground floor is a display wall, beautifully crafted from compressed leather scrap bricks, and paired with displays of neatly stacked leather patches – mind you, a total of 930 kg (2,050 lbs.) of leather scraps has been upcycled for the interior design – and all against a backdrop of concrete flooring and concrete-like stuccoed walls. Going one floor up, by way of a staircase adorned with a banister made of thin leather strips crafted at London-based artisan collective Alma Studio, a light-filled space unfolds that’s anchored by a large display table created by Polène‘s very own workshop in Ubrique, which also crafted the downstairs brick wall. The display table is flanked on either side by shelving units. The new Polène store carries the full range of bags, small leather goods, and jewellery pieces. © superfuture