Gallery ︎︎︎
Current Affairs
Creating a simple spatial narrative through purity, focusing on light and materials"The 'Current Affairs' fashion store juxtaposes the bright, open lower space with a black-and-white tailored upper realm, creating a striking contrast between public exhibition and private design."
Dietmar Leyk, principal and founder
The "Current Affairs" fashion store is situated in one of Hamburg’s emerging centres for avant-garde fashion. The design translates the tactile and visual characteristics of hard metals in jewellery and soft textiles in clothing into the architectural scale. It is conceived as a juxtaposition of two autonomous architectural elements: a beige leather vessel and a black rubber frame. The bright, spacious lower area contrasts with the black-and-white tailored experience offered by the upper space.
A generous display window accentuates the widening of the pavement into a public stage. While the front section showcases the showroom and lounge, the rear accommodates the design and production spaces for a fashion and jewellery designer. Interposed within this space is a catwalk that mediates between the public and the private. Through movement between the areas, visitors transition from shoppers to models, and then to observers of the production process.
Large-format leather panels shape the back wall and ceiling of the two-storey showroom. Depending on the light’s angle, the leather’s appearance shifts between hard and smooth or soft and rough. To highlight specific areas, four lights are embedded in custom-made light boxes within the ceiling panels. From the showroom, where collections are displayed, visitors ascend half a floor into the black rubber frame, which stages the catwalk and fitting area through a black rubber track. This runway creates a three-dimensional atmospheric frame across the floor, walls, and ceiling for the self-staging of clients during fittings. The indirect lighting and stark black-and-white contrast make the catwalk appear to ‘float’ within the space.
The spatially open concept draws the gaze of passers-by into the depth of the architecture. Openings in the leather wall extend this view over the catwalk into the production areas, leading into a compelling neighbourhood of contrasting yet sensually complementary characters.