OMA debuts ephemeral Parisian outpost for Tiffany & Co.
New York City-headquartered (and as of last year, French-owned) luxury goods brand Tiffany & Co. has partnered with OMA to realize an ephemeral retail environment on Avenue Montaigne in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. Open to visitors now through May 2023, the pop-up jewelry emporium is billed by OMA as a highly immersive “adaptive design” with a shifting ambiance that will “transform throughout the year to reflect the character of the collections it will host, bringing together the brand’s latest designs with items from its 185-year collection.”
The store, which also serves as a brand heritage-focused exhibition space, is presented as a série de chambres: different rooms take on different moods, with a sapphire blue-hued rotunda that showcases different pieces selected from the venerable retailer’s archives, both physically and via digital screens, anchoring the mesmeric space. Beyond the rotunda and an octagonal-shaped space displaying the current collection is an intimate back room dedicated to accommodating guests with high jewelry appointments.
A continuous, gradient blue carpet flows throughout the temporary boutique, a touch that further draws guests into to the immersive environment, per an OMA press announcement. Adding to the all-enveloping, lounge atmosphere are antique Tiffany lamps placed throughout.
OMA partner Ellen van Loon led the project alongside project architect Giulio Margher.
“Tiffany & Co. has a rich history both in making jewelry and in product design,” said van Loon. “For us it was important to showcase that history. More than an occasion to discover Tiffany’s latest collection, a visit to the store also becomes a journey across time.”
This isn’t the first collaboration between Tiffany & Co. and Rotterdam-founded OMA. The firm is behind a major refresh now underway at the venerable retailer’s Manhattan flagship. In addition to other elements, the revamp adds a fluted glass topper to the 10-story, limestone-clad 1940 building along Fifth Avenue that Tiffany & Co. has long called home. As noted by the firm, the project marks the first “holistic renovation and preservation effort” in the 80-plus-year history of the building.
