Aluminium defines interiors of Rimowa's Berlin outpost

Universal Design Studio has introduced shiny metal surfaces throughout Rimowa's inaugural Berlin store reflecting the premium luggage brand's material palette.

The Rimowa store is set inside a listed period building along renowned Berlin shopping boulevard Kurfürstendamm, and has been almost entirely decked out in aluminium – the material used by the brand to form its signature ridged suitcases.

Charged with developing an aesthetic for the 220-square-metre retail space that reflected the brand's ethos, London-based Universal Design Studio used the metal throughout the shop in celebration of its "textural beauty and material possibilities".

"We were inspired by the materiality, proportion and precision of the Rimowa core range and with a focus on the culture of global travel," Hannah Carter Owens, director of the studio, told Dezeen.

Maintaining the existing ornate ceiling mouldings and wooden parquet floors, the studio went about creating a series of aluminium display fixtures for the store's three rooms.

Blocky counters accommodate the brand's smaller leather accessories, while stepped units that run along the peripheral walls have been used to present different suitcase models. Each of these elements can also be moved around to allow space for in-store events.

"The contemporary presentation displays products in a way that both invites user interaction and also educates on the product's components and materiality," explained the studio.

In attempt to hint at the locations the suitcases may be taken to the studio has integrated gallery-style backlit shelves into a couple of walls, which display small colourful postcards depicting scenes from urban cities like London and New York.

These niches can also be used to present purchasable wheels, handles, or luggage belts to customers.

In the front window are a row of white, angled fins that partially obscure the store's interiors from the street, but the luggage repair centre at the rear of the floor plan has been kept on view.

This is Rimowa's first Berlin store, joining branches in Germany in Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, and across the rest of the world.

Late last year the brand collaborated with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson to create a collection of geological luggage stickers – it includes 46 different designs, each of which were inspired by rocks and lava.

Photography is by Felix Loechner.

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