Indonesian design practice Seniman Ruang has designed a combination of retail and art space of Project Soul eyewear store by incorporating repetitive wood and reflective materials to create a double height shelves & ceiling illusion.
Project Name -Project Soul
Studio Name -Seniman Ruang
Project size– 62 m2
Site size – 62 m2
Completion date– 2022
Building Level – 1
Location– Kecamatan Grogol petamburan, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta, Indonesia
Photography– William Kung
Project soul occupies a 62 sqm unit of Neo Soho shopping mall in Central Jakarta, with the aim to combine retail and art as one spatial experience that offers premium handcrafted eyewear products. “The eyes are windows to the soul”, explained the owner, where glasses are no longer a necessity, but a statement – a medium to convey stories of who the person is. Inspired by cultural diversity, each glasses product has its own special place and stands out in their own boxes, framed by wooden planks, as an expression where each individual’s personality is unique and specially treated. The interior was made in minimalist design with repetitive singular materials in order to accentuate the products diversity and let each of them speak.
In line with the brand identity, clear and dark grey mirrors were repeatedly applied to emphasize individual’s self-expression as well as its reflective purpose that brings spaciousness and brightness to the room. Two-meter-high wooden display racks were mounted surrounding the entire wall of the display area and met the mirror ceiling, generating the continuous repetition and double heights effect of the shelves and the whole room. Dark grey texture paint and floor tile were applied to create a contrasting muted background to the wooden racks and products.
Each interior material is arranged as a composition of background and foreground, contrasting one another. A bespoke service counter at the center of the room was designed to be an informal writing desk that half disappeared out of sight, to allow an art installation to protrude in front of it. Camouflaging with the surrounding, the desk was entirely covered by dark grey mirror and lay on top of a transparent tempered glass table leg, accompanied with bespoke black wooden stools with the same stacking design language as the surrounding display shelves. A single Theia Marset table lamp originally designed by Mathias Hahn stands on the mirror desk, acting as a catching sculpture whose form resembles the lens of an eye. As the focal point, a commissioned art installation by artist Gabriel Aries located in the middle front of the room exposing a form exploration of beige terrazzo material.
Assisted by lighting design from Erreluce, each product shelf was illuminated by linear dot-less led lights that stretch vertically from one direction to highlight the products as well as strengthen the grid form of the display. High precision in construction was required to achieve symmetrical forms, coupled with the reflection from the mirror ceiling that makes every detail of neatness need to be considered.
