Each day, for 30 days, a different designer used a one metre by one metre space to exhibit their work at Dezeen Space. We’re publishing interviews with all of the designers – you can watch them here.

Watch more movies in this series | See all our stories about Dezeen Platform |
More about the project in our earlier story | More about Dezeen Space

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A new store designed by architect William Russell of Pentagram for clothing designer Margaret Howell opened in Paris last week.

A continuous rail displays the clothing alongside objects and furniture chosen by Howell to be sold in the store, including furniture pieces from British furniture manufacturers Ercol and lighting from Anglepoise.

Materials include oak, stained wooden floorboards, concrete and mild steel.

The design will be applied to an existing store in Tokyo, then extended across all Howell's shops in Japan.

Here's some more information from Pentagram:

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Pentagram Architects designs retail interiors for Margaret Howell in Paris and Tokyo.

“For the past ten years I have worked with Will Russell on the design of our shop interiors. Whilst incorporating my ideas, Will always adds something that just wouldn’t occur to me - a special spatial vision - resulting in a rewarding and successful working relationship”. – Margaret Howell

Pentagram Architect William Russell has designed two new retail interiors for the renowned fashion designer Margaret Howell. The new stores, in Paris and Tokyo, will be used as the basis for the rollout of a unified interior design throughout Margaret Howell’s 66 Japanese stores.

Originally developed for Margaret Howell’s London Flagship Store and studio on Wigmore Street and adapted for her second London Store on the Fulham Road, Russell’s pared-down interior design emphasises a sense of space and simplicity. The design focuses on the inherent visual properties of materials such as oak, stained wooden floorboards, concrete and mild steel, echoing the timeless, understated style and commitment to traditional and natural fabrics of Howell’s clothing. A continuous clothes rail lines the walls, while accessories and homeware are displayed on full height Vitsoe shelving.

The stores are furnished with objects handpicked by Howell for sale alongside her clothes, including Ercol tables and chairs, Anglepoise lamps and Howell’s Reissue of Ernest Race’s 1955 Heron chair and footstall.

The Paris store, located at 6 Place de la Madeleine, occupies a former hairdresser’s shop that has remained unused for the past 35 years. The store has a destination-like quality enhanced by the tranquillity of its site; a private courtyard just off the main square.

In Tokyo, Pentagram Architects’ design is being applied to an existing store in the Jinnan-Shibuya district. The Jinnan-Shibuya store will provide a design blueprint for the remodelling of each of Margaret Howell’s stores in Japan, bringing them in to line with the European interiors created by Russell and unifying the in-store experience throughout the international Margaret Howell brand.

Margaret Howell Jinnan-Shibuya reopens on March 4. The opening of Margaret Howell Paris will be marked by an opening event on Thursday 26 March.

Project Credits:
Architect: Pentagram Architects
Partner-in-charge: William Russell
Design team: Ali Tabrizi

More about Pentagram on Dezeen:

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Alexander McQueen store

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The showroom of British manufacturers ercol hosted an exhibition of prototypes created for the brand by students from Buckinghamshire New University last month.

Top image: table and stool by William Dowsett: "the table remains static, holding its load while the stool can be moved around to fulfil different functions."

Students were asked to design furniture for the contract market which could be produced by ercol. One project, a wing-chair by Frank Flavell (above and below), was selected as the winner and a prototype of the chair was produced at the ercol factory.

Flavel intends the chairs to be used as a pair to create an intimate dining space within busy restaurants.

The students graduated from the BA(Hons) Contemporary Furniture course at the university last month. Many of the pieces will be on show again at New Designers Part 2 next week, 10th-13th July.

Above: the different chair-backs of James Plant's Odd Couples benches represent the individual characters of couples sitting next to each other at a restaurant.

The following information is from ercol:

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ercol supports young design talent at Buckinghamshire New University

As part of an ongoing commitment to fostering young design talent, ercol has been working with final year students of Furniture Design, at Buckinghamshire New University in nearby High Wycombe, for the last three years.

Above and below: the Settle-table by Robbin Joe Murry transforms from a bench into a table.

Students on the Contemporary Furniture Design Course receive a brief from course tutor Neil Austen, to produce a design that could potentially be launched to market. This year’s theme was Contract Furniture, including furniture for restaurants and bars.

Below: side table by Frank Flavell

Students are invited to visit ercol and take part in the full factory tour at the beginning of the six week Professional Practice module. Three weeks later, members of the team at ercol’s Drawing Office visit the students at the University to view their models and drawings. At the end of the module, one design is chosen by ercol which is then produced as a prototype for the final year degree show.

Below: stacking chairs by James Moss

This year’s winning design was a contemporary take on the wing chair by Frank Flavell, inspired by the concept of creating an intimate environment in a restaurant, conducive to cross-table dinner conversations. The designs are all showcased at the University’s Degree Show and in mid-June, ercol hosted a weekend exhibition of the students’ work at the award-winning Princes Risborough factory.

According to ercol MD Edward Tadros, “Buckinghamshire has always been at the heart of the UK furniture industry and it is encouraging to see such a talented group of young designers graduating from our local university each year. We are proud to be involved in this initiative and play a part in fostering creativity and craftsmanship for the future”.

Above and below: long table for a hotel room by Nimmy Cass. "The drawer is left open so that on your last glance before you leave the hotel room you can be assured that you haven’t left anything behind," says Cass.

Below: Naoko Kanehira designed a sofa composed from large cushions.

Below: school chairs by Philip Hutfield. "Since the release of the poly prop, wooden chairs have been priced out of the contract market for schools," explains Hutfield.

"These ply-constructed chairs have been designed for CNC mass production as a new sustainable competitor."

Hutfield also designed a restaurant table (below), which expands from a rectangular table for four to a hexagonal table for six.

Below: panels in the Armadilo dressing table by James Patmore slide back to reveal storage for male grooming products.

Patmore describes the dresser as "an ambiguous piece of furniture with sufficient storage to meet the needs of the modern day metro-sexual."

Below: bar stool by David Jones.

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