ANDREA CAPUTO COMBINES VANS’ SPIRIT OF AMERICAN STREET TEENAGERS AND SOUTH KOREAN’S ARTISTIC CONTEXT IN THIS NEW FLAGSHIP STORE DESIGN IN SEOUL
TEXT : NATHANICH CHAIDEE
PHOTO : YONG JOON CHOI
(For Thai, press here)
When it comes to street fashion brands, VANS is one the first names that pops in people’s minds mainly because it’s the brand that gave birth to sneakers designed specifically for skateboarding. VANS also holds the brand identity that reflects the lifestyle of teenage Californians in the 70s. And that’s exactly the type of vibe the new VANS Flagship Store located on the ground floor of RYSE in Hongdae, the hip neighborhood in urban Seoul, is going for.
Andrea Caputo recreates the quintessential American spirit of the brand through the module display that is heavily influenced by the works of American minimalist artists, Carl Andre and Donald Judd. The plywood boxes are arranged to create and curate the store’s functional program and retail space, which opens the longer side of its 180 square meter ground into a product display area and shoe fitting zone. Additionally, further adaptations such as rearrangements and relocations can be easily carried out without any complications.
The wall encircling the interior space is stripped off of its original materials to reveal the structural and textural details of the concrete. The traces from past usages within the glass frame serve as a backdrop for the plywood boxes, which takes the leading role in the design. The glass chosen for the storefront is the one with the highest level of transparency to facilitate a spatial continuity between the retail space and the pavement at the front. The challenges in executing details of such great simplicity lie in finding the most suitable range and scale, while also facilitating interactions within the retail space and with the store front with street elements rendered through surfaces and parts where materials transverse and diverge.
Apart from the American spirit, the design team pays homage to the South Korean’s artistic context. The familiar pattern of wood is attained through locally manufactured plywood. Works from two South Korean artists are incorporated into the design. Kwangho Lee’s art piece appears in the form of textile coverings for the black and white benches while Chris Ro’s massive artwork finds its way onto the wall, filling up the space while maintaining a nice balance in both the decoration and the feel.
andreacaputo.com
kwangholee.com
chrisro.kr
facebook.com/RYSEhotel