Astrid

We are happy to show pictures from the newly opened shoe store Notabene in Copenhagen. Our sheer curtain fabric Lucca is used for curtains throughout the store.

The intention to form a retail space resembling that of an artist’s atelier, combined with a simplified and stylized warehouse feeling is enhanced by the many freestanding plinths, displaying shoes as artwork in a versatile, yet harmonized, material palette.

– Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Norm Architects

The architects behind it are Copenhagen based Norm Architects, whom we have admired since long and we are lucky to play the textile part in some of their beautiful projects. In this space we are impressed of how Norm combines the softness of the fabric with the raw material of the walls and how the straight lines and repeats of the wooden elements are echoed in the waved curtains. The fabric filters the lights and adds softness to the rooms.

Lucca is a net-like transparent textile with a little sheen, it’s over 300 cm wide and works perfect to shield of a room but at the same time keep an open atmosphere through its transparency.

Quoted from the press material about Notabene by Norm Architects:

With its newly designed concept store in the heart of central Copenhagen, Danish high-end shoe brand Notabene opens its doors to a world of shoemaking. Norm Architects has completely redesigned the Notabene retail experience and created a hub where all things surrounding shoe design and shoe care are unified in a big industrial space comprising retail, shoeshine bar and creative lab.

“The expressive and raw building structure tells tales of various use over time and is juxtaposed by refined Japanese cabinet making, echoing the refinement and precision of the shoemaking process itself.”

– Peter Eland, Norm Architects

“The intention to form a retail space resembling that of an artist’s atelier, combined with a simplified and stylized warehouse feeling is enhanced by the many freestanding plinths, displaying shoes as artwork in a versatile, yet harmonized, material palette.”

– Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Norm Architects

The space encapsulates everything that the brand is and offers much more than the average retail space; one can surely browse the store for the latest in shoe fashion, but is also able to pay a visit to the downstairs shoeshine bar with the possibility to give your favourite pair a brush up while enjoying a drink, browsing through curated coffee table books or engaging in conversations about shoe design, maintenance or whatever is happening in Copenhagen at the moment.

This meeting of different functionalities and atmospheres is not only marked by the different levels in the space – it is just as much reflected in the meeting between materials; in the way that the soft curtains brush up against the raw concrete walls; in the way that the light and delicate Japanese oak wood furniture sits on top of the traditional black-and-white terrazzo flooring and in the way that the oversized and rustic clay podiums showcase fine handmade shoes with refined leather details and precise stitching.

Vertical lines are repeated within the structure of the wooden staircase, the concrete plinths and in the soft folding curtains to create a harmonious and coherent space, leaving room for the fine handmade shoes to stand out and be the center of attention.

The rich material palette of lush bouclé, golden oak and raw concrete in natural colors all create a suiting backdrop for the delicate shoes – a backdrop that is both a rustic contrast to the shoes’ elegance and an echo of the quality craftsmanship behind their making