The M+G location at Westfield Century City was our first foray in designing a store in a traditional shopping mall. Larger than our previous boutiques for M+G, the size of the space presented its own challenges, given the scale of the products and the intimacy inherent in a denser installation. To draw visitors through the store, and to modulate the retail experience, we divided the lofty space into three subtly delineated zones, each with its own sense of place.

A vintage department store vitrine, originally used to display folded men’s shirts, greets clients in the entry zone. The middle section of the space is anchored by a monolithic freestanding sales counter clad in Arabescato marble, backed by two floating marble display shelves cantilevered from the wall. An integrated sink allows the counter to do double duty for sales as well as light spa treatments. Opposite the counter, three acrylic niches set within the hand-plastered wall accommodate the bulk of the company’s face, body, and hair care products. Inspired by the work of Light and Space artist James Turrell, the voids of the display niches are slightly larger than the wall openings, with gently curved backs that create rounded wells of light.

The walls and the purposely lowered ceiling of the third zone are wrapped in fumed, wire-brushed planks of European oak, which create a warm, contrasting environment that beckons clients to the back of the store to peruse M+G’s candles and fragrances. The various sections of the store are connected by a continuous floor of large oak planks laid in a chevron pattern as a modern interpretation of traditional herringbone.