Imarika Store in Milan, Italy by Marcante-Testa.

Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa have renovated and extended the Imarika boutique, Milan‘s renowned womenswear multi-brand stores in Porta Venezia, using their signature approach to mixing unusual materials with interesting colours and crafted details.

The 180 square metre store is divided with an angular timber screen plastered in clay. The screen articulates different display areas and also becomes a display in itself – both for the windows and for the shop’s interior – on which shoes, bags and accessories can be placed. Another small architectural insertion, also rendered in clay, contains the change rooms.

The horizontal nature of the display cases is offset with a system of copper poles embellished with woven trims. The poles support the hanging rails while directing the gaze towards the decorative ceiling. The overhead lighting becomes an intrinsic part of the plasterwork decoration, turning the ceiling into an upside-down carpet of sorts.

The system of acrylic plexiglass cupboards and made-to-measure lighting fixtures are a nod to domestic dimensions, acting as the bridge between the product and the customer.

General contractor: Ghibli Solutions
Mechanical services: PGS Ingegneria
Custom made furniture: ODS
Plaster work: Matteo Brioni
Technical lighting: ERCO
Custom made lamps: Rossi Illuminazione
Wall paint: Ressource
Textiles: Kvadrat
Trimmings: MV1843

See more projects by Marcante-Testa on Yellowtrace here. 

[Images courtesy of Marcante-Testa. Photography by Carola Ripamonti.]