Kengo Kuma designed his first Camper store in Milan as part of the Camper Together project. Camper Together is a model of collaboration between Camper and leading designers to create exclusive products and outstanding stores. Located on Via Montenapoleone, one of the most famous and elegant streets in Milan, the store has been designed with the simplicity of the great masters. A simple grid of wooden boards, each about the size of a shoe, is multiplied to create a complex construction. Kengo Kuma explains that his preference for using wood is an attempt to recover some warmth and tenderness from the architecture.
“The duality which coexists between the simple and the basic, at first sight, and the complex and the sophisticated, is what fascinated Camper most about this design. And it’s precisely this dual attitude that we have tried to reflect in our project for this store”
For the Together store Kengo Kuma covered all the walls around the store with a system of very basic plywood boards, mounted using the most simple and basic connection system imaginable. Each simple wooden board hides between the lights for the display case and highlights the depth of the construction: it is actually an extremely sophisticated and fully integrated lighting system, created together with Mario Nanni.
The choice of materials was limited to just two: the plywood boards on the walls and natural stone for the floor. In spite of this, the raw finish of the boards and the varying surfaces of the acid-treated limestone slabs on the floor fill the space with rich textures and tones.
If you are in Milan or planning to visit the city soon, we invite you to experience Kengo Kuma’s Camper design on Via Montenapoleone 6, Milan.
all images © ZENO ZOTTI