Travertine displays that double as DJ podiums feature alongside glistening butter-yellow columns in Axel Arigato‘s Berlin outpost, which the streetwear label has designed together with longtime collaborator Halleroed.
The brand’s flagship boutique is set in the central Scheunenviertel neighbourhood, across the ground floor of a prefabricated concrete Plattenbau building typical of post-war East Germany.
Stockholm design studio Halleroed was tasked with conceiving the interior scheme for the space, reviving some of the key visual themes the practice has established across all of Axel Arigato‘s other stores.
Rather than simply copy-and-pasting these elements, Halleroed mixed and matched them to create something new.
This is illustrated in the store’s pale yellow columns, which effectively merge the glossy lacquered-metal surfaces seen in the London boutique with a muted version of the distinctive yellow accents that were used in the pop-up Stockholm shop.
“We don’t have a McDonald’s approach where each store looks the same,” explained Axel Arigato’s creative director Max Svärdh.
“We treat them as contemporary galleries and focus less on the transactional element, whilst staying true to our blueprint that keeps coming back in new shapes and materials.”
Roman travertine, which features heavily across the brand’s Paris boutique, was used to cover the entire expanse of the floor, as well as forming chunky shelves and the plinths that encircle the interior columns.
Rendered in various shapes, sizes and textures, these sculptural plinths can be used to display different trainers or act as counters and curved seating nooks when Axel Arigato is hosting an event in the store, which can comfortably accommodate up to 250 people.
“The podiums – and in a way all the surfaces – are multipurpose in that we use them for displaying the weekly rotation of product drops, DJ decks at parties or pop-up merchandise when we hand over the space to other creatives,” Svärdh told Dezeen.
The raw natural texture of the travertine is contrasted against the lacquered metal, which was used to envelop the pillars and form a series of clothing rails curved around the perimeter of the room.
“The glossy finish lends a highly visual element to our spaces and creates a nice contrast to the very organic materials and softer characters of the stone and the store’s generally muted character,” Svärdh explained.
Together with the floor-to-ceiling mirrors flanking a huge LED display, the shiny metal surfaces also help to reflect the illumination that is provided by the rows of strip lights running all the way across the ceiling.
The flagship is Axel Arigato’s second bricks-and-mortar store in Germany, following the opening of its Munich outpost last November.
Axel Arigato joins Hay, Acne Studios and a growing number of international brands that have moved into the Scheunenviertel in recent years. The area is rapidly being expanded into an alternative shopping destination tucked away behind the more touristy destinations of Berlin’s central Alexander Platz.
Other businesses in the Scheunenviertel neighbourhood include Sofi – a bakery set in the courtyard of a restored brick factory.
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