The Polonio Flagship Store

A summer clothing brand born in a small fishing village on the coast opened its second shop in a pedestrian street of barely 60 square metres on three levels: a double-height front at street level, a rear area three steps down and a mezzanine reached by a spiral stair. The Spanish design team abstracted a cove of the brand’s home coast into the space.

Two long rails run around the perimeter, slipping under the mezzanine where storage sits, and meet in a curved curtain that hides three fitting rooms. They are built as dug-out masses coated in rough sprayed mortar, like rocks. The floor is a continuous long-pile carpet in shades of blue that reads as water, and in the double-height space panels with a textured finish reflect the blue and the colours of the clothes, like the sky.

A sculptural stainless steel counter stands in the middle like a fishing boat at anchor, letting customers circulate around it and avoiding a dead end. Fitting rooms in turquoise stucco and carpet become sea caves. The gridded metal ceiling of the double-height space pays homage to Adolf Loos’s American Bar.