I'm republishing today an interview I recently did for Zoot Magazine with architect Mehrnoosh Khadivi who designed the first Nicholas Kirkwood store in New York.
British designer Nicholas Kirkwood is famous among the shoe-loving fashionistas for his quirky and vertiginous heels, runway footwear for popular designers such as Erdem, Meadham Kirchhoff, Peter Pilotto, Prabal Gurung and Rodarte, and collaborations including the Keith Haring Foundation.
Kirkwood recently opened his first store in the United States: located in New York’s Meatpacking District and designed by London-based architect Mehrnoosh Khadivi, the shop, with its whitewashed walls and its airy windows opening onto a private garden, attempts to strike an harmonious dialogue between Kirkwood’s colourful shoes and the environment surrounding them.
Khadivi, who created for Italian footwear brand Pollini architectural installations during the latest edition of Milan Design Week, based the store on two keywords, transparency and simplicity, installing a circular skylight in the roof and making sure that the natural light coming from the garden contributed to create great visual impact with the shoes on display.
Part of a long-term growth strategy, the store carries a rich and diverse range of cutting-edge shoe designs, from Kirkwood’s own collection to his collaborations, offering consumers a variety of styles, including pumps in exotic flowery prints, wedges with a plateau covered in multi-coloured murrine, fierce snakeskin sandals and sophisticated pumps with sculptural heels.
How did the shop opening go?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: Very well actually, we were all very happy to finally open the doors and reveal the space and the collection to the public. Actually, people had been popping in and out of the store for a couple of days before the opening while we were setting up the displays, so we knew from their positive responses that the project would be well received.
This is the first Nicholas Kirkwood shop in the States and it’s also located in a premium area, New York’s meatpacking district: what fascinated you about this project and what fascinates you about Nicholas Kirkwood’s creations?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: I love Nicholas’ shoes; they have plenty of intricate details as well as being fairly sculptural. I think the draw to the project was working with Nicholas and the space itself which, although challenging, had so much potential because of restrictions on site. We are in a landmark building which meant that I had to be inventive in the design proposal for the overall space before even thinking about producing a display which works whilst at the same time being a clean backdrop to the amazing shoes. Obviously the area was also a draw as it is so vibrant - the High Line starts here and the Whitney is due to open across the block.
What inspired the design of the shop, any specific architecture, architect or even film set?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: It was mainly the idea of making sure the shoes were the main focal points of colour within the space, whilst allowing the display to make an architectural statement as it also happens around the entrance area, with the walls guiding you through to the back, and at the same time creating a sort of sculptural environment with the plinths in the garden space at the back where each shoe has been elevated to a different height in an undulating hexagonal landscape.
What was Nicholas Kirkwood’s reaction when he saw the shop?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: I think Nicholas is very happy with his new store; it is spacious and light and his shoes look fantastic in there. Nicholas has been a great client as he is obviously interested in design in general so he has been following the process fairly closely since the start. I had a set of renderings made early on to show how the space would look and feel and therefore we all had certain expectations and I can tell you that the store really does look like the project in my original renderings.
As an architect who has worked on different fashion related projects for Pollini and Kirkwood, what do you think is the first thing to do when approaching such jobs?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: I think it does really help to get to know your client, their label, products and customer base as well as you can before you begin the process of actually designing in order to get a feel for what can work best. It is a case of navigating so many different elements in the end - the client, the customers, the practical operations requirements of the space - all these things have to work well simultaneously.
Fashion seems to have developed a strong interest for architecture in the last few years, with specific brands and houses turning to particular architects for runway projects and retail spaces, but also for their collections. In your opinion, why are fashion designers interested in forging strong links with architects?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: It helps to have a collaboration with someone who is able to think about and design large spaces based around a client’s needs, tastes and desires. If the communication and flow between the two disciplines is a strong one, then some incredible projects are invented and created. It is a classic case of the Sergei Eisenstein montage theory where A X B = C and not AB!
Is there a shop anywhere in the world by a particular fashion label and made by a specific architect that you really like?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: I love a lot of different shops for all kinds of reasons both on a design level and an aesthetic level. I really like the Cosmic Wonder store in Tokyo for its pure strangeness and beautiful objects; I was in a store in Brooklyn the other day which had very little products, most of which I was not particularly into, but the store itself had a perfect thrown together self-made and collected ‘70s aesthetic to it which I really loved. I also love Dover Street Market in London as it is about exploring and discovering.
The Venice Architecture Biennale opens this year: what kind of projects and installations would you like to see there?
Mehrnoosh Khadivi: I have not been to the Architecture Biennale for a few years so I have no idea what to expect. But I would like to see more projects that are about or are based around public spaces. I think that, when projects work on an urban scale and really help to organise or bring people together in unexpected or even playful ways, they become super interesting and super positive.
Nicholas Kirkwood, 807 Washington Street, New York.
All images by Casey Kelbaugh
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I'm pretty sure Nicholas Kirkwood got the design he trully wanted for this store :)
Posted by: Yanyan | June 22, 2012 at 12:07 PM