LUXURY House Fendi has marked a grand expansion and renovation of its ready-to-wear boutique in Harrods, a permanent space as part of women’s Superbrands on the first floor of the renowned London department store.
Increasing the brand’s original footprint, the expansive space is an expression of the house’s timeless DNA: one of both modernity and tradition, whereby the past informs the future and craftsmanship is celebrated. The boutique, divided between three rooms, comprises a comprehensive curation of women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, including handbags.
Fendi Boutique in Harrods
Its architectural essence is drawn from the house’s native Rome, with references to the city’s topography emerging in Palladiana flooring in Travertino Ascoli and Giallo Valencia marble, Calce Romana walls and columnar details; the latter reimagining the city’s ancient architecture in contemporary style.
From its exterior, which features a distinctive ribbed facade, an additional two windows display capture the renovated boutique’s sense of scale. Entering the main room, visitors are greeted with the design’s centrepiece: a monumental artwork by French sculptor and ceramicist Olivia Cognet, comprising a totemic column in her signature bas-relief ceramics.
Fendi Boutique in Harrods
Fendi Boutique in Harrods
The tenets of mid-century modernism in contemporary style, the work encapsulates the brand’s interplay of eras and veneration of handcraft, made in a base ivory ceramic with touches of yellow. The entrance is enriched with a marble table designed by Milan-based designer Roberto Sironi.
A second room has a mood of intimacy, envisioned in a lush, carpeted floor and natural-toned walls, while the displays of ready-to-wear evoke the anastylosis concept, where decorative elements comprise columnar displays in handmade glass, ribbed Travertine, and Rosso Lepanto marble. A final VIP Salon can also be accessed via a disguised passageway from the boutique’s exterior, ensuring the guests’ privacy, and features undulating walls designed to simulate the movement of leather.
by Chidozie Obasi