Paul Kaloustian Architect has recently completed a jewelry store in the center of Beirut for a renowned artist/jeweler based in beirut/NYC called Rami Abboud.
In the design process, we focused on the visitor’s experience, we want to create a feeling rather than a materialized design for retail.
Paul Kaloustian
The jewelry pieces created by Rami Abboud are unique and focus on creativity. Paul Kaloustian Architect wanted the visitors to discover them using their emotions, the space focuses on the pieces instead of the shop design. The space becomes a reflection of abstraction with illusion and drama.
Rami Abbound Shop, image courtesy Paul Kaloustian Architect | Photo by Roger Moukarzel
Rami Abbound Shop, image courtesy Paul Kaloustian Architect | Photo by Roger Moukarzel
The art pieces are not displayed typically but rather “hidden” to allow the sense of discovery. The client is invited to step into the world of Rami Abboud by opening display boxes and looking at one piece at a time.
Rami Abbound Shop, image courtesy Paul Kaloustian Architect | Photo by Roger Moukarzel
The use of mirror stainless steel for the ceiling and the table creates reflections, the space becomes interactive showing people, surroundings and the shop itself. One looses the sense of space in its classical meaning, the reflections create abstraction loosing the notion of scale and direction.
Rami Abbound Shop, image courtesy Paul Kaloustian Architect | Photo by Roger Moukarzel
Everything expands, the viewer is invited inside while the inside expands into the outside. The space is not rigid, instead it changes as one is moving inside it.
The decision to use reflective black is based on the will to create a mysterious space with the focus on the jewelry as the only item floating in space. The notion of luxury is also highlighted by the use of dramatic light effects.
Rami Abbound Shop, image courtesy Paul Kaloustian Architect | Photo by Roger Moukarzel
The materials used are in fact negating their materiality, it is their effect of disappearance (the reflective black cabinets) and their optical illusion (mirror stainless steel) that are present. The space is therefore a visual field that is magnified, intensified.
the ponderous illusions of solidity, the non-existence of things, is what the artist takes as “materials“.
Robert Smithson, 1969
+ Project credits / data
Project: RAMI ABBOUD SHOP
Architect: PAUL KALOUSTIAN ARCHITECT | http://www.paulkaloustian.com
Location: BEIRUT SOUKS
Area: 21 m2
Photography: ROGER MOUKARZEL
+ Selected display design projects on +MOOD
Faraone – The Shop of Via Monternapoleone | Massimo Iosa Ghini
Nomination Venice | Studio 63 Architecture + Design
The Magpie’s Nest | Kristin Jarmund Architects