On a trajectory of continuous innovation and exploration, jewellery brand Avgvst has mesmerised its growing following with both alluring contemporary designs and retail spaces. Helmed by quirky advertising professional-turned-designer Natalia Bryantseva, the company manages retail spaces in Yekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and as of last Summer, also a standalone store, its first one abroad, in Berlin. Taking its retail operations to yet another level, Avgvst will officially open the doors of a new design-led boutique in downtown Almaty on Sat – Feb 3 (11am). Although no longer the capital of Kazakhstan, the city is still the country’s leading hub of fashion and lifestyle, and last but not least, it’s home to a sizeable demographic that’s appreciative of the finer things in life. Avgvst has secured a compact ground floor unit of a mid-19th century building, and once again, it features an interior design which has been created in collaboration with Crosby Studios.
Two large mirrors facing each other form an endless corridor out of the faux concrete – mind you, it’s actually printed wallpaper with a velvety feel – colonnade. Here, a key element of the distinctly contemporary aesthetic is the concrete-imitation wall covered in over 200 inscriptions and images, as if left by humanity over the course of several millennia, featuring anything from rock art and Egyptian petroglyphs, to graffiti, sketches of Pushkin and Basquiat, and even scribbles from Berghain’s gritty walls. What sets this store apart is a cozy lounge of sorts, dedicated exclusively to choosing engagement and wedding jewellery. In stark contrast, the setting features another kind of wallpaper wallpaper with an intriguingly abstract tile mosaic as a backdrop, and is furnished with a wall-mounted bench of stainless steel with bright yellow steel tables attached, matching steel ottomans and two mobile cabinets laden with jewellery designs. Overhead, an intricately designed light installation, also in yellow. The new Avgvst store carries the brand’s full range of jewellery pieces. © superfuture
Avgvst
Nazarbayev dangil 128 (entrance: Kabanbay Batyr köshesi)
050000 Almaty
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
