The new Florence store designed by Pino Brugellis and Enzo Fontana for low-cost fashion retailer Melo e Grano presents an unusual perspective. The sidewalls of the long narrow volume (3.5x23 m) are black, broken by a series of white niches containing hung garments. The walls seem to converge towards the back wall – it too black with a pixelated image of two apple trees in a wheat field. Ceiling and floor are a contrasting white. Depth is again emphasised by a long low, brilliant red element in 4mm steel running the full length of the store, its rounded shape serving as seating, table top and shelf. Made of three, 2-metre modules, it is the only mobile element of the programme. The streamlined simplicity of Brugellis and Fontana’s design creates an enormous visual impact from the street outside, drawing customers into a store that is more like a showroom.
The sleek interior is offset to great effect by the lighting programme, entirely supplied by Targetti.
Recessed Argon luminaires of the ‘Cuts of Light’ series provide general illumination of the store and corner display counters. The side niches are lit by small Quadro recessed downlights. Their low luminance brings out the contrast between the white recesses and their black wall frame. The same contrast of light and shadow, solid and void is repeated on the black pixelated wall at the back of the shop with fluorescent lamp backlighting.
Modular Argon luminaires are also used for the store windows together with Mini-Vector spotlights to pick out particular garment features.
GRUPPO TARGETTI POULSEN
Via Pratese, 164
I - 50145 Firenze
Tel. +39 055 37911
Fax +39 055 3791266
E-mail: targetti@targetti.it
www.targetti.com
