The existing store is situated in one of Mykonos Island’s most crowded and central alleys. Housed in the ground-level of a traditional Mykonos house, the store is divided into two spaces, a common feature of traditional Greek island architecture.

The existing store’s design was characterized as problematic due to a very specific point: materiality. The whole space was covered by an undifferentiated high-gloss white paint which covered everything from floor to ceiling. This unfortunate choice created a very ambiguous situation depriving the visitors of a true shopping experience as well as the products of a suitable background to help highlight their uniqueness.

The ambition of the design intervention was to create a strong identity for the store, thus transforming it to a Clothing Boutique. The design is based on two basic decisions. First, the glossy paint is replaced by white plaster which evokes the notion of the traditional island house space. The plaster symbolizes the old in the terms of the existing and it defines the boundaries of the boutique.

Secondly, a new layer was created which serves a double purpose:

a) to create a luxurious and serene background to bring the products into the foreground

b) to unify the store’s two spaces without compromising the overall functionality of the space.

Thus, the idea of a marble layer placed on the existing wall, reaching the height of 2m, serving as the new “intervening” background element, was born.

The marble wall layer becomes complete with the addition of a bronze railing spanning the whole inner circumference of the store, creating a sense of continuity and fluidity.

The railing serves as a clothes’ hanger as well as the upper frame for the creation of new glass showcases. Some of the showcases are placed at former “dead” corners (ex. the threshold between the store’s two spaces) and some others are strategically placed in front of the existing windows, creating a visual layer which offers both views into the boutique as well as valuable exhibition space. Small rectangular marble surface-pieces serve as podiums for the placing and exhibiting of the shoes, creating a sense of rhythm at the boutique’s circumference.

The roof of each of the two spaces were lit by linear fluorescent tube lights placed in a way that accentuates their longitudinal direction.

Led tape is placed at the upper end of the marble surface so as to provide the space with a unifying, serene and mystifying lighting atmosphere.

The shoe podiums seem to linger in the air due to the hidden les tape placed right underneath them.

Hidden lighting is also placed inside the hollow bronze railing providing the clothes with just the right amount of extra light. 

The floor of each of the boutique’s two sub-spaces is replaced by a custom fishbone wooden floor featuring a marble line in the central focal point of the wooden planks. The marble line accentuates the spaces’ perspective and serves as an important element of infrastructure for organizing the exhibition of clothes and the circulation of visitors.

In the first sub-space, where the entrance is situated, the marble line is “extruded” upwards, thus giving birth to three marble tables serving as exhibition surfaces of featured products. The axial positioning of these tables creates a fluid and ceaseless movement of visitors around and between them, therefore “stretching” the time of their stay inside the store. An arc-gate marks the passing of the visitors to the back end of the store where two glass mirror doors lead to the changing rooms while also providing the space with a sense of endlessness due to the reflective mirrors. 

In the boutique’s second space, the marble line is perceived as the footprint of a marble wall hovering gently above the floor and dividing the space in two while at the same time prolonging the stay of the visitor due to the ellipsoid promenade of visitors around it. The height of the wall, carefully calculated to be surpassed only as little by the visitor’s eye offers a “game” of glances while he or she walks around it. The wooden planks imply the movement towards the inner space while the central marble wall serves as the main movement regulator and doubles as a two-faced hanger.