March 2008
Top five interiors specialist rpa:vision has just completed work on the new dunhill flagship store located in London's Mayfair. Known simply as The Home of Alfred Dunhill, the new flagship store concept occupies the 21,000 sq ft Bourdon House, formerly the home of the second Duke of Westminster.
Altogether there will be two floors of retail totaling 2,500 sq ft to the rear of the property which also boasts a private members club, with a restaurant, games room, four hotel suites, a humidor, and a wine cellar with its own sommelier.
Working under the direction of interior designer Graham Viney the rpa:vision team was responsible for executing a design that transformed the large Georgian property into the new Home of Alfred Dunhill format, named after the company's founder. The store, is due to open in the Summer 2008.
The concept, appealing to UK and overseas wealthy businessmen, will be a first for Europe and follows the successful opening of the new home format in Tokyo. A similar project is planned for Shanghai in late Summer 2008.
James Breaks Associate Director of rpa:vision comments:
"This ambitious project is a fusion of Georgian style and the masculine dunhill signature concept which offers the strong customer focus that is becoming increasingly important in luxury retail.
Throughout, there is a strong vein of authenticity that fits with the heritage of the building and that of the brand itself, using craftsmen and traditional materials and techniques to ensure that the building was restored sympathetically whilst not compromising its validity as a retail space.
rpa:vision worked across the board, from the microcosm of getting the tiniest design details right, to the big canvas of the overall look and feel of the store. Just to make things more interesting the layout of Bourdon House, having been a residential property, is composed in the main part of a large number of rooms smaller than one would normally find in a retail outlet. It was essential therefore to establish a single-minded theme that was carried throughout the building to create continuity. "
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