Heatherwick redesigns his Longchamp flagship store in New York City - two decades after initial design
Take Another Spin at Longchamp's Iconic New York Store
In 2004, designer Thomas Heatherwick took a bold leap with Longchamp, creating a mesmerizing, three-storey waterfall of steel ribbons for its NY flagship store. Twenty years later, they've reunited to reinvent this retail landmark.
Heatherwick, a renowned creative with projects like Manhattan's Little Island and London's Coal Drops Yard under his belt, admits that the digital age has taken a toll on brick-and-mortar stores. 'The hyper-digital has been dominating,' he tells our website. 'That means you need the hyper-physical.'
The initial collaboration began with Heatherwick designing a unique bag series for Longchamp in 2003. Impressed by his work, the French luxury brand asked him to handle their New York flagship, a project he deemed 'extraordinary.' In 2023, the duo decided it was time for a revamp.
CEO Jean Cassegrain recalls, 'The space called for something extraordinary.' That original sculptural staircase, now sporting Longchamp's signature 'Energy Green,' remains, beckoning customers upstairs. But the store's interior has undergone a metamorphosis from theatrical to homely — a relaxing Parisian apartment filled with vintage furnishings, such as a Gio Ponti coffee table and a 1970s 'croissant' sofa.
The primary shopping floor is now awash in natural light, thanks to fewer displays and the retention of some original bent plywood forms that act as shelves. Custom-designed green carpets weave through the space, resembling swirling verdant puddles and columns. Cassegrain explains the store's transformation, 'We didn't want a complete overhaul, and we weren't going toassign it to anyone else.'
The revamped store houses art pieces by Dorothée Loriquet, Tanaka Tomomi, and Nitsa Melotopoulos. Older archival pieces, like gameboards and a display model of a leather-clad pipe, mingle with these new additions. Scattered throughout the store, they bring an element of surprise, as Cassegrain puts it, 'elements that are unexpected.'
As for those who visited the store back in the day, Heatherwick shared his feelings of returning to these formative grounds, 'I think maybe I have more confidence to be more eclectic and be a bit looser.' And about breathing new life into the store for future years, he says, 'I feel proud...to adapt and adjust and breathe new life into it for the next decades.'
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Sources:
- Heatherwick Studio
- CNN
- ArchDaily
- Departures
- DesignBoom
In the revamped Longchamp flagship store, an eclectic blend of interior design elements, ranging from vintage furniture to art pieces, enhances the shopping experience, creating a harmonious fusion of lifestyle, home, and garden, fashion-and-beauty, and home-and-garden aesthetics. Shoppers can now enjoy a relaxing, Parisian apartment-style setting while browsing, making it a unique destination for delightful retail exploration.
