The Clothes Encounters store in Chennai has been renovated by Mumbai-based SJK Architects, and now revels in close encounters with natural hues, forms, and views.
‘Be natural…’ is the uniquely casual tag line at the Chennai-based boutique called Clothes Encounters, recently rejuvenated by Shimul Jhaveri Kadri, a well-known architect and interior designer from Mumbai.
Known for its quintessential bent towards nature, the store was looking for a physical presence to match its impressive clothesline (each garment has a little tag with interesting facts about the fabric, etc.), and an equally arresting ad campaign. Shimul and her team comprising Ankur Khosla and Debashree Karnik designed a complete turn-around to the existing trendy style of the store, opening up the boutique to nature.
Mint green was the chosen hue, the philosophically serene bamboo was the elected icon, and a couple of strategically synchronised Haikus were the finishing elements that wrapped up the store from within. Large windows that were hitherto shut away for want of space were opened up, further cut-outs created in the connecting walls, and the spatial requirements reorganised to bring the beautiful outdoors inside.
On the façade, two large vertical red granite panels have been replaced by 20 ft.-plus hoardings in soft mint green hues with large bamboo motifs. Inside, a gossamer softness personifying the sensitivity of a natural environment embraces the visitor.
The area of approximately 1,000 sq. ft. was earlier staidly compartmentalised into display and utility areas, but is now a classically restructured space with several civil modifications.
While the men’s and women’s formal sections are distinct, they do tend to comfortably nudge each other through the casuals at the heart of the store, silently reinstating the intimacy that is nature’s command. Two elemental walls play to the call of the current and the forthcoming season’s specials – one in summery olive continuing the epigrammatic from the outside and heralding the signature of the store; and the other just as commanding in its discrete orange rust autumn hues.
Leaves and more leaves are to be seen underfoot in the beautifully sober flooring of fossilised stone dotted with inimitable foliage motifs.
Emphasis-shelving has been trendily incorporated here with laser-jointed glass boxes that hold complementary accessories. A cluster of CFLs and halogens anoint the ceiling, lending innumerable lighting options.
Initialising a novel premise in brand-building, the concept of nature has been comprehended much beyond its on-the-surface look here, such that the product and the marketing model tend to unintelligibly merge.
