A Change of Stripes: Béton Brut in Residence at Paul Smith’s Flagship Store

As the founder of modern-day structure store Béton Brut, Sophie Pearce has lately experienced to conquer what she terms “some layout chromophobia.” A collaboration with the fashion designer Paul Smith has persuaded Pearce to evolve her signature monochrome palette and enterprise into something a tiny much more chromatically chaotic.

This autumn, the Paul Smith London flagship store at 9 Albemarle Street in Mayfair has turn into the new location for Béton Brut to showcase its assortment of classic furniture and homewares. “While the cardinal rule remains—I will only acquire what I could have in my authentic or imagined home—I can also now resource extra stunning items with a ‘Paul Smith hat’ on, or at minimum style my individual reaction to Paul Smith eclecticism,” suggests Sophie, who began Béton Brut in 2013 and has due to the fact attained a reputation for sourcing uncommon and distinctly sculptural household furniture and lights from Europe and Japan.

Found in the committed furniture and art area on the reduced floor ground, Béton Brut will current scarce and special parts dating from the 18th to the 20th century, with the edit refreshed on a regular basis. The preliminary range will involve desks, lighting, sofas, screens, chairs, sculptures, and extra, all hand-picked with the unique Mayfair shop house in mind.

“Béton Brut has pretty a url with the fashion globe, as we consistently rent our collection for vogue shoots,” points out Sophie. “It was by way of one of those connections that Paul Smith approached us.” The residency, which is set to be a lengthy-time period arrangement, follows the new start of Paul Smith’s own homewares collection and residence fragrance launch.

The short was to revive the home furniture presenting at Albemarle Avenue. “For us it was the possibility to current Béton Brut to a new audience—and a innovative obstacle: how to curate a collection that feels both equally Béton Brut and Paul Smith that will shock and delight.”

The location, 9 Albemarle Road, is a Regency constructing with a tailor made forged iron facade created in 2013 by 6a Architects that, in accordance to Sophie, “reflects the philosophy of what’s inside: complete resistance to homogeneity and a commitment to eclecticism and craft.”

On the reduce floor, artificial lights has inspired Sophie “to decide a plan that has atmosphere whilst continue to feeling bright and poppy.” She explains: “Inspired by a current Paul Smith assortment, we’ve chosen different shades of chartreuse and lemon sorbet for the partitions, with pops of rust and brick purple in the parts.”

Against this backdrop, the place has been cleverly zoned. Deemed “vignettes” have been created from an pro edit of desks, lights, sofas, screens, chairs, and sculptures. “I’ve also had pleasurable incorporating art and objects from Paul Smith’s in depth assortment,” suggests Sophie. “It feels extra of a dialogue than a takeover.”

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