Brooklyn-based design practice Almost Studio has completed its maiden retail project: the flagship boutique for fashion designer Sandy Liang. The store occupies a 1,500-square-foot space formerly occupied by a laundromat on New York’s Lower East Side, the neighborhood where Liang grew up and has been operating her studio. (Plus, it’s in close proximity to her father’s restaurant, Congee Village, on Allen Street.)
The interior was fully gutted and overhauled to reflect the dynamic and spirited quality of Liang’s pieces, as well as the Lower East Side’s influence on her work. “I like to think of the store as a physical extension of my general approach to clothes—I don’t think anything needs to be ultra serious, I appreciate a bit of humor and playfulness in everything,” Liang says. “I want to pay homage to where I came from, and who my community is. The community is such a large part of myself, my family’s history, and how I think about design.”
Within the store, a linear layout guides visitors along a route of layered backdrops, accented by custom clothing suspended from cold-rolled rods of raw steel. Both a straight rod and an eccentric, looped rod punctuate the visual narrative, further emphasizing Liang’s signature style, as they intersect in the rear to form a trio of metal mesh curtains shaped like archways. Pink primer is left exposed and detailed with pencil marks from the construction process as a reference to the combination of utility and whimsy found in Liang’s clothing. Dressing rooms are wrapped in raw plywood feature jewel box-inspired interiors with rich green granite and marble, inspired by the materiality found in Liang’s childhood home and family restaurant.
