The new flagship store of Poltrona Frau designed by AMDL CIRCLE in the Chinese megalopolis is an opportunity for the Tolentino-based brand to reflect on a new idea of the showroom. “The world is changing and we have to imagine what the new world will be like,” says Michele De Lucchi, founder of AMDL CIRCLE, who with this showroom starts a new chapter in his fertile collaboration with Poltrona Frau.
“The changes involve the idea of the house, the taste and mentality with which we furnish it. For this reason, we can no longer think of a store only as a place for sales. It is also a location in which to perceive and promote change… The store has to become a gathering place, where people are welcomed into dialogue; a place of identity, where people feel at ease and become proactive, because they can identify with the setting.”
The concept, also in the interiors, subverts the traditional image of the flagship store as a static display area, in favor of a dynamic, interactive approach. The store is organized on three levels, visually connected by a large opening (also visible from the outside) that reveals the vast size of the facility and permits optimal flow of natural light, from the basement to the first floor. Recurring structural features alternate in the space, generating a variety of neutral and flexible sets: suspended ceilings and passages in metal are combined with the steel of the display walls and the inserts of the floors, while wood has been utilized for the flooring and some of the ceilings, in a direct reference to the coffers of the Italian tradition.
The opening of the showroom in Shanghai has been an opportunity for Poltrona Frau to present a limited edition of 88 specimens of the Ming’s Heart seating, by the designer Shi-Chien, covered in red Saddle Extra leather, representing a cultural crossover between East and West. The choice of producing the collection in just 88 pieces, considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, symbolizes the idea of prosperity transmitted by this new beginning.
