PALAZZO FENDI

Fendi's biggest Flagship store in their original city, Rome.
At the entrance, the staircase in red marble connects the two floors in a large void that opens-up across the heart of the building. Its design inspired by the Italian renaissance is modernized with the use of unexpected materials like the silver leaves on mirror on the ceiling. The stairs is not a static stone sculpture but feels like the stone is in motion, like a drape or a liquid stone, alive that moves within the travertine walls.
The interior is thought to create an intimate relationship between the Roman origins of FENDI and the modernity of the brand. The contrast of traditional materials like antique marble is reinterpreted into contemporary patterns. The icons of the brand will be presented along series of carefully designed sequences, fur room, ready to wear, accessories, each with unique features and meticulously selected materials.

GWENAEL NICOLAS BORN 1966 IN BRETAGNE, FRANCE; LIVES AND WORKS IN TOKYO.

AFTER 2 YEARS IN LONDON AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, HE GRADUATED WITH A MASTER IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN.
IN 1991 HE MOVED TO TOKYO TO COLLABORATE ISSEY MIYAKE FOR INTERIOR DESIGN (PLEATS PLEASE SHOPS) AND PERFUME DESIGN (LE FEU D’ISSEY).
IN 1998 HE FOUNDED ‘CURIOSITY’ HIS STUDIO WITH PRODUCER REIKO MIYAMOTO FOLLOWING PRODUCT DESIGN, INTERIOR AND ARCHITECTURE. HE COLLABORATED WITH VARIOUS COMPANIES SUCH AS LEXUS, LG, LOUIS VUITTON, KANEBO, NINTENDO TO NAME A FEW.

THROUGH VARIOUS CONCEPTUAL INSTALLATIONS; “D-DAY”, POMPIDOU CENTER IN PARIS (2005), “LIGHT-LIGHT” IN TOKYO WONDER (MILAN 2008), TOKYO FIBER (MILAN 2009) AND LEXUS MUSEUM IN TOKYO (2009) HIS WORK HAS ALSO ATTRACTED PUBLIC ATTENTION.
THIS YEAR HE EXHIBITED “SPARKS”

RECENT PROJECT INCLUDES THE “SEN” SERIES FOR AGAPE, FLAGSHIP STORES FOR UNIQLO, LEXUS RX MUSEUM, NIKKEI MEDIA WALL. AFTER RECEIVING DIFFERENT AWARDS FOR PRODUCT (IF DESIGN AWARDS), ARCHITECTURE (AIA), HE RECENTLY RECEIVED THE KU/KAN PRIZE 2009, THE JAPANESE MOST PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE FOR INTERIOR DESIGN.

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