‘We wanted to create an “international zone”,’ says David Kang, general director of the Architecture & Associés-designed Tom Greyhound boutique in the historic Parisan district of Le Marais. ‘Chic and fun but, above all, warm and comfortable.’ Tom Greyhound is a daughter of the South Korean Hyundai Department Store group and carries international luxury labels such as Damir Doma, Margiela and Thakoon. It was love at first sight when the team was shown a former art gallery in Rue de Saintonge with a generous apartment upstairs, a fireplace intact and French doors in the front.

The view from the street into the store is semi-obscured by a row of 49 square-shaped revolving poles clad in various materials. Downstairs, designers Jean-Christophe Poggioli and Pierre Beucler laid geometric floors in black polished oak and installed a partitioning wall of mirrors, some tinted bronze, to create oversized fitting rooms. Throughout the boutique, Pogiolli and Beucler kept the minimalist A-line wooden racks lightweight and mobile – a move that should satisfy Kang’s intention to host movie screenings and art shows.

The apartment upstairs – which, like the street-level floor measures 180 m2 – was left mostly as found. The existing floors were painted black, leaving the rooms feeling comfortably lived-in. According to Kang, ‘This floor needs to say: take your time, read a magazine and please have some coffee or champagne.’

Photos Peter Christian Christensen

http://www.frameweb.com/news/tom-greyhound-by-architecture–associes