Prada opens its first freestanding store in Osaka, Japan, in the upscale Shinsaibashi district. The store, designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi, offers the men's and women's ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories and footwear collections and it occupies a total surface of about 1500 square metres on five levels, reaching up to 30 metres in height.
The imposing outer storefront, which pays tribute to artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, is a structure made of backlit panels in golden-coloured aluminium and polished steel that creates an unusual kinetic effect, both in daylight and at night-time. At the base, a wide entrance is flanked by two windows.
Different environments characterised by unique atmospheres alternate at individual levels, emphasised by a sequence of ceiling openings that creates an unusual visual connection between different floors and leads to a transparent skylight.
On the ground floor, fixtures in polished steel and crystal, with green fabric backdrops and black marble bases, enhance the men's and women's leather goods and accessories collections.
The black and white chequered marble floor, one of Prada's historic brand identity elements, becomes almost optical. Display counters with details in coloured saffiano leather and green velvet seats define the environment. A staircase in black Marquina marble, framed in bronze-coloured metal panels, wraps around the volume occupied by the elevator, which is made of crystal and burnished metal.
On the first floor, the space is defined by green fabric walls with display niches dedicated to women's leather goods and footwear; furniture is completed by green velvet seats and by crystal and polished steel tables.
On the second floor, that offers women's ready-to-wear, green fabric walls and display fixtures made of perspex panels combine with geometrically shaped tables and with the supple “Clover Leaf” green velvet sofas, designed by Verner Panton and exclusively reproduced for Prada.
The two upper levels, that display the men's collections, are characterised by thin staves flooring and ebony wood walls. Precious cases and counters in palladium-coloured metal lend great personality to the whole space, which is completed with rust-coloured ostrich leather sofas and dark brown carpets.
