Despite the extreme circumstances that have made global headlines, the retail landscape in Kyiv sees teeny-weeny signs of recovery and growth. The recent opening of the flagship store of CHER’17 is indicative of the Ukrainian capital’s resilience and drive to maintain a sense of normalcy, albeit in the retail sector. The women’s fashion brand, founded by fashion entrepreneurs Tetyana Parfilieva and Ivan Kryshtal, already manages several stores, but decided to further raise its profile with a flagship store and showroom downtown Kyiv. The brand has secured a 254 sqm. (2,734 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of a monumental, late 19th-century building in the Pankyvshchyna area of town, and features an interior design by local interior design studio Temproject.
Given the fact that the founders are well-connected influencers and bloggers, the design of the store concept is inspired by the ongoing digitalisation trend in both the fashion industry and retail. Online showrooms and virtual fitting rooms have been popping up across the planet, allowing the avid fashion demographic to leisurely try on virtual creations. The settings are awash with metal surfaces and mirrors, and the latter element has been applied to optically blur the traditional physical boundaries while also infuse the premises with volume. The elongated premises are divided into three sections, and shoppers first come across a living room-inspired space furnished with a striking blue sofa consisting of curved upholstered tubes and flanked by faux massive stone block which serves as a reception desk.
Right behind it, a veritable boudoir can be found, aptly captured by walls in a soft pink hue. In the middle stands an elegant sink crafted from pink marble and fitted out with a mirror and two faucets—one delivering plain water, and the other sparkling wine. Indeed, CHER’17 isn’t just a place where to shop coveted new trophies, but it’s also a social meeting space where to sit back and mingle with a like-minded crowd. The final section, dipped largely in a bright blue shade with matching furnishings, including Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld‘s iconic Utrecht sofas, an additional living room and a cluster of fitting rooms await shoppers. The new CHER’17 flagship store carries the brand’s full range of women’s apparel, denim pieces and accessories.
CHER’17
Vulitsya Velyka Vasilkyvska 12 (Pankivschyna)
01004 Kyiv
Telephone: +380 68 9260038
Daily 11am-9pm
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.
