Ripple Effect: Charlotte Chesnais’ Saint-Germain Store by Anne Holtrop.

Charlotte Chesnais is as much a sculptor as she is a jeweller, so it was only right that her Parisian boutique, designed by Dutch architect Anne Holtrop, reflected this quality. With sweeping moves and a material palette that is both tonal and textural, the space can be likened to a piece of poetry with a rather practical rhythm.

Found along Boulevard Saint Germain, the boutique is immediately inviting, with its golden hues and warm light glowing behind a classic shop front, enticing passers-by to step inside and investigate further.

Once inside, you are hit with a wave of what appears to be a wall of water, suspended in time with glints of gold and silver trapped within. Upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that this rippled wall is, in fact, routered acrylic, acting as a conduit of light and colour throughout the space and, on a more practical level, the display case for Chesnais’ sculptural pieces.

Maison Margiela Introduces New Store Concept by Studio Anne Holtrop with London Flagship.

At Maison Margiela Bruton Street store, the defining structures of architecture—walls and columns—appear as detached objects.

This display carries history with it and pays homage to Chesnais’s first boutique, also designed by Holtrop. Here, the feature acrylic piece is a display table that fills the room almost entirely. And so, it was decided this design language would be evident in the heritage of the new boutique too.

The relationship between the dune-like staircase that rises behind this simulacrum of water is poetic in its juxtaposition, further heroing the jewellery as essential in an otherwise barren environment (except it is, of course, anything but).

Once upstairs, a wall-mounted acrylic display is repeated, but this time, situated within an intimate setting of rich forest green. It almost feels like a martini is a non-negotiable purchase here. The reflective gloss of the epoxy paint further plays to the strengths of the rippled display case, blurring the lines between where the ripple begins and ends.

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The drama of this boutique lies in its simple palette and repeated elements, creating a theatrical interior that guides customers on an immersive experience.

The deep green hue also plays well as a backdrop for the golden sculpture, a larger-than-life replica of the designer’s jewellery. One such sculpture can also be seen downstairs in the main room, and ties in nicely with the varying plays on scale evident in the design language.

Holtrop knew what he was doing in this space, and its success was hardly a surprise. With the architect’s retail design experience alongside Chesnais’ jewellery-playing muse, all it needed was their combined interest in making and exploration of materials, which has a nice ring to it.

The space’s elemental push-pull of textures and tones allows for the perfect platform to display Charlotte Chesnais’s strong yet ephemeral designs and Anne Holtrop’s quiet, fierce ability.

An Homage to Palladio: Parlor19 Jewellery Store by Say Architects.

Parlor19 has been designed around the unique jewels themselves—architects viewing each piece as the main user of the space rather than the humans that will come to buy them.

[Images courtesy of Desselles Partners. Photography by James Nelson.]