Atmosphere, Dubai

We were approached by textile major Himatsingka Seide to design a look for their international stores for their speciality luxury furnishing brand Atmosphere.

The design brief for the stores was to create a cutting edge and dynamic environment in which to house the over 2000 options of silk and silk blended fabric designed and produced by their studios in New York and Bangalore. It was also important to maintain continuity in their brand aesthetic that had evolved over many years.

The Dubai location, at the intersection of two important thoroughfares at the base of the Al-Makhtoum Bridge allowed for an imposing all glass frontage from the street.

Central to the concept of the store is a bold and undulating snake like form that elegantly divides the space into interactive zones for customer seating and display.

The double layered skin wall houses the hangers with individual fabric swatches for display. Horizontal slits were created in the wall to house an array of cushions while square niches and ledges were created for their bedding range and for visual merchandising.

The other intriguing element is the reception table conceived in the form of a large sliced ellipse and sheathed entirely in a skin of gleaming white corian.

An almost monochromatic backdrop of white and beige was chosen to accentuate and draw attention to the myriad of colours and textures in the fabrics.