SOPHIE HICKS ARCHITECTS

Contrasting with the boldness of the stair, the boutique features restrained, elegant spaces in which light operates as a perceptual tool. Expansive street views and centrally positioned display cases dissolve the boundary between inside and out, creating a fluid, open experience. This fluidity extends to the arrangement of mannequins, which occupy the space like moving figures on an open stage. Meanwhile, display tables ground the material palette of the scene.

Though situated in the heart of Paris’s luxury district, the boutique’s design is anchored in the label’s Italian roots. Reinterpreted through a contemporary lens, traditional materials and craftsmanship subtly reference the label’s historic headquarters in its hometown of Reggio Emilia. The walls and ceilings are finished in vanilla-colored marmorino plaster embedded with fragments of Rosso di Verona stone and polished to a delicate sheen. Above the staircase, the plaster finish becomes highly reflective, amplifying the upward movement of the spiral. Terrazzo flooring – polished inside the boutique and rough outside – creates a tactile continuity between the project and the street, transitioning from Italian stone to the French sidewalk.