Apartment store: Ligne Roset and Aria create The Apartment pop-up
The vogue for purveyors of design collectables and high-end furniture to stage intimate residential-style pop-ups continues apace. Luring discerning shoppers and collectors into an "at home" environment evidently works wonders, whether selling sofas or interior design services.
It's an alluring experiential response to the robotic click-and-buy of e-commerce, as the success of permanent apartment-like spaces such as Copenhagen's The Apartment and Milan's Dimore Gallery have proven. Even more so when the venue is temporary and the surroundings are as glamorous as a £23m townhouse (Holiday House), Miami model agency (The Invisible Collection), or notable BelleÉpoque clifftop villa in Monaco (Nomad).
London currently has several such destinations: there's east London's new Oneroom gallery, a four-storey house which promises to change its interiors regularly, plus the previously mentioned breast cancer-fundraiser Holiday House.
And now contemporary French furniture and lighting brand Ligne Roset has teamed up with Islington lifestyle and design store Aria to create The Apartment. Called "an exquisite living showcase", it's being hosted in the remarkable new One.Six.Eight property on Upper Street which has been conceived by Amin Taha Architects.
It's on the end-block site of a red-brick terrace that was significantly damaged during the Second World War and eventually demolished in its entirety. The building was disused for years before Amin Taha Architects were given the green light for its redevelopment two years ago. The replacement is a beautifully ghostly reincarnation, reminiscent of a Rachel Whiteread sculpture on a major scale.
The architects haven't replicated the old terrace, although it has informed the new structure. Called a "monolithic terracotta monument to the past" by the architects, the new £3.5m, six-storey building recalls the original symmetry of the terrace in form and detailing and yet is encased in a terracotta/cement mix skin, which is actually a load-bearing structural shell.
Not many will get to see in the interiors, aside from the ground floor lifestyle retail space, since they are private apartments. However, this brief pop-up The Apartment, styled by Hannah Franklin with furniture and lighting from Ligne Roset and accessories supplied by Aria, offers the opportunity to step inside this new architectural landmark. Catch it while you can.
The Apartment is open Friday 24 and Saturday 25 November, 11am–4pm at 168 Upper Street, London, N1 ; ligne-roset.com, ariashop.co.uk
