After completing the acquisition of Tiffany, an American fine jewelry brand, French luxury giant LVMH Group embarked on a series of "renovation plans", including hiring a long-time cooperative American designer Peter Marino to work on the renovation of Tiffany's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.
In fact, as early as August 2018, Tiffany announced plans for the closure of this iconic store, which was developed by Tiffany's former Chief Art Officer Reed Krakoff and renowned architectural firm OMA (Metropolitan Architecture). Renovation works have also started in February 2019 and were originally scheduled to be completed in the spring of the fourth quarter of 2021, but due to the impact of the epidemic, it may be postponed to Christmas 2022 or early 2023.
Obviously, the new owner LVMH Group is not satisfied with the original design plan, because in the eyes of LVMH bosses, there is only one designer who is worthy of this responsibility, that is, Peter Marino, the king of luxury brand store design.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >who is Peter Marino? </h1>
Andy Warhol opened the door to top clients for him
Born in the United States in 1949, peter Marino, 72, is not only a deeply skilled architect and interior designer, but also the "first person" among architectural designers to dabble in the design of luxury brand stores.
His signature outfit is even more impressive: riding a motorcycle, dressed in dark leather, wearing toad sunglasses, with a Mohican head... It is a far cry from the image of the architect in the stereotype.
It is rumored that Peter Marino and his architectural design studio complete nearly 80 designs each year, nearly half of which are in the stores of luxury/high-end brands. More importantly, many of the stores he has managed are the most core and representative flagship stores of luxury brands. His list of brand clients includes: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, BVLGARI, Ermenegildo Zegna, Graff, Fendi, Hublot, Céline and many more, with whom he has long-standing relationships.
In 2011, for example, Peter Marino and his team of 150 members completed 100 projects, none of which had a budget of less than $5 million, of which only 10 projects had a budget of less than $10 million.
Born in 1949, Peter Marino came from a "low- and middle-class" family and heard that he could only walk at the age of 7 due to childhood illness, but this also allowed him to pick up a paintbrush to kill time at the age of 3.
At the age of 16, Peter Marino went to Cornell University to study sculpture for two years, two years of sketching, two years of painting, and finally graduated from the Cornell AAP School of Art and Architecture planning (Cornell AAP) on a full scholarship, where he worked at SOM Architects (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill), George Nelson, I.M. Pei.
In 1978, Peter Marino received a special job renovating his home on Manhattan's Upper East Side and his factory at 860 Broadway for Andy Warhol. It was also in this year that Peter Marino set up his own architecture studio, Peter Marino Architect.
The intersection with Andy Warhol has brought Peter Marino into contact with more heavyweights in the art, fashion and business fields, and the clients who commissioned him to design his private home include: French fashion designer Yve Saint Laurent, Fiat Car founder Agnellis, Rothschild family and so on.
—— An "alternative" architect with a deep artistic heritage
Peter Marino is an avid art lover and collector, "in fact, I myself love to collect copper from the 17th century onwards". In addition to copperwork, his collection includes photography, French porcelain, paintings, books, modern works of art, etc. "Hopefully, at the end of my life, I'm surrounded by artwork."
Because of his passion for collecting copper art, he also designed a set of miniature copper boxes for Dior HOME stores, some of which are gold-plated and some of which are silver-plated, "Inspired by my cabinet collection, they are all made in France, all with signatures and codes." There is also part of the inspiration from the copper doors I designed for private homes. I love the sensual feel of this material, copper – without a doubt artistic and powerful. This longevity also means that these objects can survive for centuries, and I am fascinated by it. In 2010, the peter Marino collection of copper was also exhibited at the Wallace Collection Museum in London.
In 2018, Peter Marino founded the Peter Marino Art Foundation, an art foundation of the same name, which includes a permanent exhibition space for displaying his personal collection, as well as inviting artists and others to host events, as well as educational programs.
"I often visited the studios of modern artists during my college years and found myself unable to build on them and push my art forward for another 20 years. The 1970s were the low point of the entire construction industry in the 20th century, but I was personally interested in architecture, so I ended up becoming an architect," says Peter Marino.
"Texture, functionality, the use of light, what I call a cultural mix of rich heritage. I entered the construction industry after years of studying painting, sculpture and art history, so I don't look at things from an engineering perspective. I've been lucky enough to survive the traditional education system and become a registered architect, because it's often hard to come out of this type of education system like me," says Peter Marino.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" Which luxury brand landmark stores has Peter Marino > worked on? </h1>
For luxury brands, the importance of stores is self-evident. Physical stores are the primary channel for consumers to recognize, feel and purchase luxury goods, and they are also the most important and strategic physical medium for brands to achieve differentiated competition.
As early as the early 1990s, American designer brands such as Calvin Klein and Donna Karan became peter Marino's first brand customers, of which Calvin Klein's first independent store was designed by him.
Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani had a personal relationship with Peter Marino. In 1996, Peter Marino created a flagship store for Armani on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York, which caused a huge sensation.
Above: Giorgio Armani's flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York (1996)
According to data, by the end of 2018, in the luxury landmark known as the "Paris jewelry box" - Place Vendôme, Peter Marino single-handedly designed the brand stores reached 7. In 1992, his first project at Place Vendôme was launched at the flagship store of Fred, a jewellery brand of the LVMH Group.
Peter Marino's other classic luxury brands include:
Louis Vuitton
Back in 1995, Peter Marino was responsible for the design of Louis Vuitton's Store at Bond Street in London, England. The cooperation between the two sides has continued.
In October 2019, Peter Marino's Louis Vuitton flagship store on London's New Bond Street reopened after more than a year of closure, bringing in 43 artworks by 25 artists. Later in this article, we'll also talk about how he understands the relationship between luxury brand stores and art.
In 2012, Louis Vuitton opened an independent boutique of fine jewelry at 2 Place Vendôme, designed by Peter Marino. In 2017, the store was renovated, and he once again worked on the façade of the new store in Paris, known as the "City of Light", and joined hands with Louis Vuitton Visual Creative Director Faye Mcleod to create a radiant golden sun on the façade of the new store.
Peter Marino's collaboration with Louis Vuitton continues: the recently opened ginza flagship store in Tokyo, Japan, which has the world's first Louis Vuitton chocolate shop, the Osaka flagship store in Japan, which opened in 2020, and the Seoul flagship store, which opened in 2019.
Chanel
Peter Marino has been working with the Chanel brand for more than 30 years, including the Chanel Ginza Building in Tokyo, which opened in 2006, and the Chanel Fine Jewelry Store in Place Vendôme, which opened in 2007.
In 2018, Chanel added a new boutique at 19 Rue Cambon in Paris. Next door to the store is 31 Campan Street – where founder Gabrielle Chanel opened the brand's first chanel modes in 1910.
Above: Chanel Rue Cambon 19 (2018)
In addition, the Chanel Flagship Store in Ginza, Tokyo (2017), the Chanel 57th Street Flagship Store in Manhattan, New York (2018), the Seoul Flagship Store in South Korea (2019), etc. are all designed by Peter Marino.
Peter Marino has also been responsible for several chanel store projects in the Chinese market, such as the Nanjing flagship store in China (2012), three stores in Hong Kong, China – Chanel Prince's Building I (2008), Chanel Prince's Building II (2013), and Chanel Lee Gardens (2012).
Above: Chanel Nanjing, China (2012)
Dior
In 2007, Peter Marino's Flagship Store on Avenue Montaigne in Paris reopened. In 2010, the salon renovation project in 30 Avenue Montaigne, the birthplace of the Dior brand, was handed over to Peter Marino.
He also worked on the Dior flagship store in Beijing (2016), the flagship store in Seoul (2017), and the flagship store in New Bond Street in London (2016).
Above: Dior Beijing (2016)
Other luxury brand stores designed by Peter Marino include:
Italian luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna has two flagship stores in Hong Kong and Chengdu, China, two flagship stores in Osaka and Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, a flagship store in Manhattan, New York, and the brand's flagship store on Montenapoleone Avenue in Milan, etc.;
British top jewelry brand Graff (Graff) Vendôme Plaza flagship store, New York flagship store, etc.;
Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot flagship store in Place Vendôme, flagship store in New York, etc.;
Italian luxury jewelry brand BVLGARI flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York, flagship store in London, etc.;
Italian luxury brand Fendi New York flagship store, Beverly Hills flagship store, Rome flagship store, etc.;
…
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="50" > Peter Marino's bridge into the luxury sector: Barneys New York</h1>
Peter Marino's association with fashion luxury stores, fashion designers, and his collaboration with Barneys New York, an American luxury department store, can be traced.
Until the 1960s, Barneys New York on Fifth Avenue was a discount store until Fred, the son of founder Barney Pressman, took over and began to transform into a luxury department store, working with fashion designers to expand the high-end menswear and womenswear business. In the 1980s, Barneys New York further adjusted and optimized, hoping to create the world's most iconic luxury department store, and invited the world's top Logo design master Ivan Chermayeff to design a new Logo, it was also at this time to find Peter Marino, and invited him to break the traditional department store store form and design a boutique with different styles for the brand that settled in.
上图：Barneys New York（1986）
Recalling the occasion, Peter Marino said: "When Fred called me, I replied directly and said, 'Mr. President, there's no need to waste time with me because I've never designed a store before', but he was very insistent, he said 'Listen, I know how to make a store run, but what we really need is your (architectural) talent'. ”
"Now people think those stores look so cool, but in fact, looking back, in the 70s, 'designing stores' was treated as a humble job like a cigarette butt (dog end) in the construction field," Peter Marino said in an interview with the media. ”
According to statistics, from 1986 to 1993, Peter Marino designed a total of 17 independent retail spaces for Barneys stores in New York and Japan.
Above: Chanel Prince's Building II (2013)
The collaboration with Barneys opened Peter Marino's "luxury store design journey" and allowed him to establish a personal connection with fashion designers - in order to better complete the store design and show the brand concept, Barneys took him to the runways of major brands, "I also began to fly to Italy, fly to France, and discuss the specific details related to the store with Giorgio Armani and Carla Fendi himself." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > the "design classic" of luxury brand stores</h1>
First, the exterior of the historic building is preserved, and the interior is renewed
The Louis Vuitton Flagship Store on Place Vendôme is a converted property from two historic hotels dating back to 1714. "Today, the two historic mansions have been merged after careful restoration by architect Peter Marino," says Louis Vuitton, "and by restoring the original style of the store façade, the interior is spacious and open and bright." The ubiquitous glass, light-colored stone, handmade wall paints, and exquisite parquet and stone flooring make each floor of space show a unique personality style, and at the same time organically combine to form a unified whole."
"In the interior design of this store, what I did was to incorporate a modern aesthetic, and on the façade, to restore as much as possible, for me, to strike a balance between the modern and the old, it was Paris," says Peter Marino.
Louis Vuitton's New Bond Street store also opens up two traditional buildings, "I can't change the historic façade, only completely demolish the interior," says Peter Marino. "You can clearly perceive the change in this store, brighter, clearer, happier."
With the goal of creating a luxurious "tourist destination", the store uses more vivid colors, such as the radioactive decoration of the façade with the brand's classic print as the pattern, and the interior uses more bright colors of art and furniture. "I started working with Louis Vuitton in 1994 and we removed all the brown wood we used at the beginning."
Above: Louis Vuitton New Bond Street (2019)
The remodeled Chanel Campan Street boutique consists of 4 historic buildings, one dating back to the 18th century and one dating back to the 19th century. During the renovation process, in addition to cleaning the original stones on the façade, some of the stones were replaced.
Peter Marino once said: "Every time I design a building, it has to have the feeling that it has been here in the past and will remain here for the next 20 years." What makes me most special is that I'm not a hipster (Mr. Trendy). Fortunately, Coco Chanel is an innovator myself, which makes my collaboration with brands smoother and easier. ”
"Chanel is one of the few brands in the world that sells only women's clothing, and other brands sell men's products to a greater or lesser extent. I invited five female artists to collaborate, trying to make the space in the store more from a female perspective," says Peter Marino.
For example, the store is also decorated with antique lacquer screens, copper tables created by French and Swedish artist Ingrid Donat, and bronze mirrors created by Goossens, Chanel's gold and silver workshop. The furniture throughout the second floor has been designed and customised by Peter Marino inspired by the furniture of Gabrielle Chanel's private apartment. The interior of the boutique is paved with Versa parquet floors, adding handmade ironwork, embroidered curtains produced by La Maison Lesage workshop and other Parisian details to create a sense of luxury, a large area of white, beige, plus black, gold and metallic, etc., adding elegance and sophistication.
Above: Chanel Campan Street (2018)
Second, the use of brand iconic elements to strengthen the difference
"A lot of people will be surprised, why do you have different store designs for the same brand, but in my opinion this is normal, different brands have different customers, different requirements, brands have different values, this may be sporty, that may be more formal, or more luxurious, just like everyone has their own personality," says Peter Marino.
But what Peter Marino has always insisted on is to strengthen consumer awareness of the brand by integrating the brand's iconic elements into the store design. "Before designing a store for a luxury brand, I will first browse a lot of brand advertising, which contains a lot of information that the brand wants to convey, and then feel the product, and finally I will design in an environment surrounded by products."
In 2004, a New York Times report noted that "the industry generally believes that Peter Marino makes architectural design an important part of the customer's identity brand", especially his 1996 flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York for Giorgio Armani that "vividly embodies Armani's minimalism"; and the 2004 Chanel Tokyo Ginza store "expands Coco Chanel's signature black and white tweed into three dimensions." ”
For example, chanel's new York flagship store, whose façade is inspired by the brand's perfume box. "I firmly believe that adopting a brand's icon helps to strengthen its personality. In chanel's case, pearls and camellias are brand icons that everyone knows and likes, so I use these brand features to further highlight the differences in the brand. People don't even need to see the signs of the brand's stores, they know they're in Chanel's stores. ”
Above: Chanel 57th Street, New York (2018)
When it comes to designing stores for the Chanel brand, Peter Marino points out that he thinks from Coco Chanel's point of view throughout the process, for example, when choosing artists to work with, "I would think that if Ms. Chanel had lived to this day, she would have liked the work of these people, then we would have chosen these artists." ”
In 2016, Peter Marino's graff-designed store opened in Place Vendôme. Laurence Graff, chairman of graff's board of directors, said that as soon as he found the right location for the store, he contacted Peter Marino, "We wanted to build a jewelry box in the center of Place Vendôme, and he made this vision a reality." He used our signature Graff green in his designs and softened it, reminiscent of the 18th century. ”
上图：Graff St Honore Paris（2019）
Third, borrow the artist to add color to the brand space
As you can imagine, it is quite expensive for the brand to entrust Peter Marino to do the design, and in this huge budget, he will set aside a part to commission artists to customize the work for the store.
For example, at Chanel's London New Bond Street boutique, there are 25 bespoke works commissioned by artists.
The flagship store of Louis Vuitton Place Vendôme, which reopened in 2017, displays 33 contemporary artworks from more than 20 artists, some of which were created specifically for the store. Examples include Annie Morris's stacking of stone blocks, a portrait of young Louis Vuitton by Chinese artist Yan Peiming in 2015, and a sculpture tailored by Philippe Anthonioz for the store.
At the Louis Vuitton New Bond Street flagship store, Peter Marino has opened a new gallery space featuring 43 works by 25 artists, such as contemporary artist James Turrell's work on space and light, American painter Sarah Crowner's "Geometric" painting, and German photographer Andreas Gursky.
In his opinion, "Designing luxury brand stores is an excellent opportunity to work with artists in depth, and I don't want to buy completed artworks, but invite artists to intervene in the project from an early stage, and they will help us shape the atmosphere and texture of the space." ”
上图：Louis Vuitton New Bond Street（2019）
Above: Chanel Avenue Montaigne, Paris (2012)
Fourth, "the ultimate purpose of the store is still to make people consume"
In Peter Marino's hands, stores are not only luxurious, but also practical and attractive, with the ultimate goal of making shopping an experience, "I am more interested in customers than in merchandise planning." ”
Michael Burke, CEO of Louis Vuitton, said: "Peter Marino knows that retail is not the main thing, but the participation and connection on the sensory level. ”
When doing peter Marino's "commercial design", he also does not shy away from it: "store design should make consumers have the desire to buy", and the luxury brand stores he works on often put high-priced goods in the most conspicuous position in the center of the store, such as Chanel or Louis Vuitton bags, BVLGARI or Graff jewelry.
Above: BVLGARI 5th Ave (2017)
According to a previous report by Magnificent, when designing the Louis Vuitton Tokyo flagship store in 2013, there was an open staircase in the store, allowing customers to see the goods on the second floor directly from the first floor, just so that more customers would go upstairs. He pointed out at the time that only 20-30% of customers would leave the first floor to visit other floors, and he tried to double that figure.
"Whether it's twenty or thirty years, the ultimate goal of the store is consumption. We shop because we need a specific item. Nowadays, boutiques are experiential. A luxury store is a combination of human emotions and aesthetics, and it has to do with where you want to spend a pleasant time. All of this requires inspiration, allowing us to embrace art and deliver the message of the brand," he once said.
As we all know, the longer a customer stays in a store, the more likely they are to place an order. But to retain customers, it's about weakening the feel of the store, "my job is to make the customers feel comfortable, they can feel at home when they come in, and even want their home to look like this," says Peter Marino. For example, the fitting room he designed is more "residential",000, separate from the main shopping floor, giving customers a more private feel.
Like a "chef", find and combine the "raw materials" of the brand
As an architectural designer, Peter Marino's first step in advancing a project is not to conceive the design, but to find the raw materials that can be used and want to use, and then design based on these materials. Perhaps because of this, he prefers to define himself as an "interior designer".
"I often compare myself to a chef because the ingredients are there, and all that's to do is add something new and tweak it a little bit so it tastes different," Peter Marino once said.
He once lamented: "Nine out of ten architects will start with sketching and designing, and then think about how to make it?" But I came back to figure out what it was for. What can it look like? The material itself, the color of the material, the feeling it gives, and so on. ”
"Through everything that is displayed in the store, you can understand the designer's vision, which cannot be perceived and understood through the screen, and in the store, you can see, ask, touch, and try on clothes through the five senses," says Peter Marino.
Above: Beverly Hills Dior Rodeo Drive (2012)
More about Peter Marino
In addition to numerous luxury store designs, Peter Marino has designed many private residences as well as luxury hotels, including: Cheval Blanc Paris, a part of the LVMH Group, The Lobster Club (expected to be completed in 2021), The Lobster Club in New York (2017), Four Seasons Hotel in New York (2006), Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills (expected to be completed in 2025). Sentosa Casino and Hotel Singapore (2006), etc.
Peter Marino positioned himself as an "Interior Architect", "For me, interior architecture, exterior architecture, landscape architecture are the same, I have my own garden at the east end of Long Island, carefully bred for many years... If I hadn't been an architect, I might have been a Gardener. ”