Milanese practice Dimorestudio has created the interiors for Lagrange12, a new luxury multibrand boutique that opened within a historical seventeenth century palazzo in the centre of Turin. With an interior area of some eight hundred square metres over two floors, five entrances of which three are on Via Lagrange and two on Via Giolitti, it has become an important reference point for “fashion shopping” in Turin, dedicated to an Italian and an international clientele.
Dimosrestudio has created three spaces on the ground floor and the entire first floor of the store, with an atmosphere that combines luxury and Art Deco, befitting of their design ethos. In this instance one which mixes abstract geometric shapes such as the large decorative ceiling chandeliers which frame the architecture of the space, alongside 1950s heritage furniture and other new custom made bespoke pieces especially for this new Turin store.
The projects highlights the train of thought for a very contemporary space that reminisces the Art Deco period and the 1930s and 1940s, which emerges from the use of materials such as green glass, oxidised steel, polished steel and black painted iron, used and treated in a very modern way. With constant attention to underline the sheer grandeur of a historical building, characterised by the size of the rooms and the height of the grand ceilings.
“We wanted to underline the important proportions of the space whilst creating a welcoming and elegant environment. We were inspired by the language of Italian design from the 1930s and 1940s, reinterpreted in a modern way” explain Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci.
Metallic decorative motifs repeat in the various rooms as prospective ‘joints’ that amplify the atmosphere and connect with each other. The decoration in natural brass linear profiles highlight the architectonic elements of the rooms, from the floor skirting to the wall decoration, clad in Alcantara panels, connecting to the decorative line in polished steel of the sculptural structures that function as hanger rails. These in turn reflect and connect with the polished steel ‘joints’ of the flooring, which mark out the intersection of the various flooring materials in carpet, grey polished cement, black resin and black granite.
Amongst the custom-made furniture for the project, two are so iconic that like liet-motif, they refer to the entire project in a recurrent way in the rooms. The modular structures act as hanger rails, finished in black painted iron with a polished steel joint, which are derived from an inspiration of the large sculptural works by American artist Oscar Tuazon, and from the symbolic monumental ‘spiders’ by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The large trunk-containers hark back to memories of the 1920s and 30s, with shelves or small hanger rails, clad externally in bronzed mirror and internally with delicate silk.
Amongst the heritage objects that enrich the rooms, a series of wall sconces and floor lamps are spread over the two floors. The lamps ‘Lambda’ by Vico Magistretti, ‘Euterpe’ by BBPR and the floor lamps and table lamps by Stilnovo live alongside iconic design pieces such as an original LC4 chaise longue by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret, and armchairs by Giò Ponti and Paolo Buffa.
The corridors and the brushed steel staircase that connect the ground and first floors represent a true and real fil rouge, an element of continuity non only between the two floors but between the rooms of the interior of the project by Dimorestudio. Entirely executed with green ming marble floors and ceilings, and walls in a glossy yellow painted finish, they are illuminated by custom designed lamps for the space.
all images © Paola Pansini