This flagship store, located on Via Verri in the most prestigious fashion district of Milan, represents an important move in the international scene for the brand, Zu+Elements.
The challenge was to transform a narrow space, just under 100sm, and set 60cm below the street, into a memorable moment in the highly trafficked, competitive and elegant center of Milan.
Since the beginning, we realized it was important to articulate a structure that would serve as a bridge, expanding from the street level entrance into the interior space. The display window and entryway are floating, like a delicate accordion of mirrored stainless steel, in a moment of suspension, a transition from the exterior. The entryway, eventually forming a series of steps, introduces visitors into the Zu+Elements interior world.
Visible from the entrance, the charismatic and mysterious sign of the cross, that is also the logo of the Zu+Elements brand, is fractured and deconstructed under a sort of playful impulse, seeming to appear or sink through the cuts between the multiple planes.
This language of cuts, segmented lines and moving planes pervades the entire space. These geometric fractures, propagating from the floor to the wall to the ceiling accentuate the perspective, and sometimes, in a moment of acceleration, are even leaving contact with their point of origination, flexing out of the floor to form tables, benches or an impossibly cantilevered cash register that challenges the force of gravity.
Deep, red back-painted glass cuts a path through the white concrete floor, eventually crawling up, onto and over the cash register, while silk frosted mirror along the walls gives the space a rich, soft glow. Echoes of stainless steel slice into the walls generating niches and shelves.
