Gwenael Nicolas and the Design for New Dolce Gabbana's Tokyo Store

Gwenael Nicolas and the Design for New Dolce Gabbana’s Tokyo Store – The luxury fashion brand opened his new store based on the concept ‘light vs shadow’.

The giant Dolce & Gabbana has opened a new major flagship store in the exclusive aoyama neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan, under the design philosophy of the French Gwenael Nicolas, the head of the multidisciplinary studio Curiosity. Gwenael describes himself as a ‘choreographer of space’, therefore, the main concept of the store is the battle between light and shadow, which requires the visitor to fully comprehend the space by exploring it.

His designs are well known as translucent, with emotional colouring and attractive forms. When people use his products or encounter his spaces, they suddenly realize that his designs are not only about obvious aesthetics but the fact that considerable thought has also gone into their functionality.

The firm’s design blends shades of vivid luminosity with seductive obscurity, an effect that extends throughout the store’s 550 square meters. the result is something like an aladdin’s cave of treasures, where light — or lack thereof — casts new perspectives on the brand’s luxurious range.

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Across the building, 400 moving spotlights are in constant transition, alternatively illuminating and concealing targeted displays. using the artistic technique of chiaroscuro as a point of reference, Gewnael Nicolas has created an interior caught in constant contours of light and dark, a world of theatrics in perpetual flux. as a focal point, a golden staircase in the center of the room leads shoppers up to the second level.