Shoe Shop in Rome

In its design, this shoe shop conjures an image of an artfully tied gift box; for drawn over the floor, walls and ceiling of the elon-gated space is a seemingly endless three- dimensional ribbon-like structure. This vanilla- coloured band, which serves as a decorative background and a means of presenting ­women’s shoes, actually consists of a number of entwined strips. All the more surprising, in view of the apparently random, psychedelic character of the convolutions, is the fact that the structure is made up of a combination of eight different prefabricated plastic elements. These consist of top, bottom and side faces thermally moulded on specially made wooden forms and glued together. The horizontal shelving units, which incorporate flush spots and LED lighting strips, were fixed to the wall first. The curved sections were installed afterwards. The material was easy to work and ­also facilitated the creation of a surprisingly homogeneous strip-like structure that accommodates various functions – from the shop sign to shelves and flooring.