At Lysaker Brygge, a beautiful harbor and business area just outside Oslo, Snøhetta has created a new home for Holzweiler. The brand’s new headquarter has been designed as a multifunctional space, accommodating both a showroom and a design studio, as well as offices in which the broader Holzweiler team can work.
The renovation has transformed an open location in front of the Oslo fjord into a welcoming and flexible space that facilitates showcasing of Holzweiler’s fashion items and adapts to the brand’s ever-changing needs across seasons and collections.
The biggest part of the space is the showroom where guests are invited to examine the upcoming collections that are displayed on site. Mounted on the ceiling is a series of wool curtains that add warmth and an element of surprise to the space.
The beige felt curtains can be pulled along a grid in the ceiling to create both larger and more intimate rooms, rooms to work in and rooms for meetings and discussions. In this way, the curtains provide temporary and ever-evolving backdrops to the collections. The room’s existing columns and floor are made of grinded concrete which give depth to the existing surfaces.
Irregularly shaped tables made of Norwegian marble adds a sense of cool elegance to the showroom, while curved mirrors pick up the organic shapes of the furniture.
An undulating furniture series originally designed for the showroom in Paris is used to showcase scarves and shoes.
To further promote the flexible outline of the space, Snøhetta has designed different types of furniture that can be used in various ways across the showroom.
The shape of the furniture references the curves and fluidity of the human body on which the scarves are worn. Its warm woodwork and organic shapes are picked up in large and small curves, as well as in round oak tables that can be used for meetings and meals.
The design studio is located in a daylight-flooded room with a great view of the fjord, overlooking the showroom through large glass windows. A flexible storage system has been developed with walls made of mirrors and idea boards where the designers put up suggestions for new garments and exchange sketches and ideas. In this way, the space is promoting both analogue and digital craft and collaborations.
Like a modern-day factory, with its warm yet at the same time industrial feel, the showroom creates an environment where ideas can be shared and tested and where creativity and collaboration can thrive.