Malin + Goetz, the hair, body and face brand reached out to us to design their 12th store and our fifth for the Brand. The location for the store is the renovated Westfield Century City Mall designed by the interior designer, Kelly Whirstler, their first mall location. The Century City Mall caters to an upscale client and the M+G Store was to be located in what we call face, body, hair and make up alley which comprised of stores such as Aesop, Khiel’s Sephora, etc.
M+G asked that we take three elements into consideration when designing the store, a mall location, the upscale clientele and they wanted us to provide distinct locations for the following program: face, body and hair, fragrance, candles, and the introduction of a sink which will be used for washing a clients face after a treatment.
We divided the space into the following: the first quarter of the store is devoted to display which a found display case was deployed. The next half of the space we placed the point of sale and their three main/original product lines, face, body and hair. Centralizing these two functions, creates an energy in the store and the last quarter of the space which is the focus point of the store as seen from the entry houses the Fragrance bar and candles. The stock room is in the back.
Finishes were thoughtfully and carefully chosen to create the sense of luxury, a nod to apothecary and a gesture to their original store located in Chelsea, New York. The walls of the first 3/4 of the store are hand polished natural and un colored diamond plaster with a wax finish, the plaster provides a bespoke quality to the walls and the wax provides a slight shine to the finish. The back quarter of the store walls and ceiling are clad in 12” wide European oak which has been fumed, wire brushed and oiled. The wall boards are full length spanning from the floor to the ceiling. Each piece feels like a piece of wood, because of the size and the bevel edge you see each individual piece creating a bespoke cozy space at the back of the store.
The ceiling of the space is dropped to 10 feet. The walls of the space are anchored and sit on a European oak chevron floor which has been wire brushed and a lime has been applied to dull and calm each piece. An eased edge distinguishes each piece along with each pieces natural grain pattern. The POS is made of italian marble, a nod back to old apothecaries which house among it’s functions a glass vitrine, sink and at the end a nice to tuck away the stool for client as they receive facial treatments. The fragrance bar is made of honed absolute black granite with a glass vitrine on top. The back wall clad in wood with an inset has six 1” thick plexi glass shelves for display. Face, body, and hair are housed in three separate and distinct niches with adjustable plexiglass shelves, lighting inspired by the artist, James Turrel. Wall hung display containers are made of 1” thick plexi glass inserted either into the wood paneling or the plaster wall.
Material Used :
1. Floor: European white oak in herringbone pattern. Provided by LV Wood Flooring.
2. Walls: Hand troweled diamond plaster
3. Stone: Arabescato
4. Wood paneling: Fumed European white oak, wire brushed surface with oil finish. Provided by LV Wood Flooring.
5. Plumbing fixtures: Vola
