Our new series explores the world's best watch boutiques and makes its second stop in Dubai, where MB&F are blurring the lines between gallery and boutique.
Kettle Kids, London
The traditional codes of jewellery and watch boutique design have been reconsidered with the opening of the Kettle Kids’ flagship London space, with classic and contemporary references intertwining in the design by Hesselbrand.
‘Today, most brands have strong visual identities but often struggle to translate them coherently into a space,’ say two of the Hesselbrand founders, Magnus Casselbrant and Jesper Henriksson. ‘As this was [Kettle Kids founders and brothers] Harvey and Jacob [Hutson’s] first retail space, we didn't just design a store but created a spatial identity for Kettle Kids. That meant designing a formal vocabulary and material palette, and how the brand manifests physically. We worked closely with Two Times Elliott, a London-based design studio responsible for Kettle Kids’ graphic identity. Through this collaboration, our material and colour research carried over into packaging and digital. The result is rare coherence across all media and disciplines.’
Girard-Perregaux, Beijing
To mark Girard-Perreguax's just-announced expansion plans - with a host of new stores set to open internationally, including the first stand-alone boutique in London - we are looking back at their other design-led spaces around the globe. This store in Beijing's China World mall juxtaposes materials and finishes for an elegant and contemporary aesthetic.
MB&F, Dubai
Typically, MB&F puts an idiosyncratic spin on a traditional watch boutique, with its innovative spaces in Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and Taipai part art gallery and part watch showcase.
The M.A.D. Gallery in Dubai, located in the Dubai Mall, is a futuristic backdrop for both MB&F's gloriously eccentric Horological and Legacy Machines, but also for a rotating timetable of designs from visiting artists. They are inspired both by an abstract concept of time and the avant-garde spin MB&F gives it for a series of sculptures drawing a new definition of horological art.
Vacheron Constantin, Edinburgh
Vacheron Constantin has marked the opening of its first Edinburgh boutique with a collaboration with five local artisans, who draw on local materials and traditional techniques for a store rich in cultural references.
The new space, a stone’s throw from Edinburgh Castle, is located in a historic building on Frederick Street. ‘The city of Edinburgh is home to a rich heritage and culture that echoes many of the values of Vacheron Constantin,’ says the company’s UK brand director, Charlotte Tanneur Teissier. ‘It was a natural choice for the maison to have a boutique in this prestigious city. This Vacheron Constantin boutique sits within the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, across from Princes Street Gardens, in the very heart of Edinburgh; it is the perfect location to meet and host connoisseurs and enthusiasts of haute horlogerie.’
Tanneur Teissier was keen to celebrate artistry, one of the brand’s key pillars, in the collaborations with craftspeople, who have contributed sculptural displays to the store, from Chalk Plaster’s pedestal table crafted from Edinburgh soot to Method Studio’s umbrella stand of Scottish oak, and Hazel Frost’s traditional tea bowls in foraged Scottish clay.
‘We were looking for passionate craftspeople who champion traditional crafts and have a desire to share the knowledge and skill that they have acquired – something that Vacheron Constantin is equally passionate about,’ Tanneur Teissier adds. ‘Each artisan has an individual take on their specialty; you can find hundreds of years of tradition infused with a contemporary twist or approach, a careful choice of the best materials with story and meaning, and crucially a sensitivity to their client and the environment where the object will reside.’
