Since luxury behemoth Louis Vuitton snapped up a majority stake in RIMOWA five years ago, the German luggage manufacturer not only struck a number of high-profile collaborations with affiliate luxury brands from the extensive LVMH portfolio, but also boosted its product range and retail presence in key cities across the planet. The company’s latest boutique occupies a lofty 74 sqm. (800 sq.ft.) ground floor unit of a red brick building from 1900 in Soho, one of New York City‘s most popular shopping districts. The compact premises feature an interior design by not one, but two architecture practices, namely MA-MA and Mass Studio, which is anchored by a nifty 3.81-meter (12.5 ft.) long multi-functional display table. Divided into two pivoting cantilevered corian stone elements, it’s able to regulate the direction and flow of circulation throughout the compact space, allowing the store to transform and be adaptable over time. Additionally, the main wall shelving on both sides of the display table also features a flexible design as horizontal shelves are movable, allowing for a variety of different shelving display patterns. Dark terrazzo flooring offers a stark contrast to the well-lit metal and plexiglass elements. Another unique feature of RIMOWA‘s newest boutique is one for travel geeks. The so-called RIMOWA Passport Studio, situated at the back, is a custom-designed passport photo booth in a stainless steel cylindrical tube which reflects its surroundings. Physical passport photos are printed on the spot and can be shared as digital versions for safe-keeping or reprinting.
RIMOWA
99 Prince Street (Soho)
New York, NY 10012
Telephone: +1 970 4529576
Mon-Wed 11am-6pm
Thu-Fri 11am-7pm
Sat 11am-6pm
Sun 11am-5pm
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.
