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It was recently inaugurated in Verona the showroom of the well-known sportswear brand, designed by the architectural firm Alberto Apostoli for 3A Sport, official importer of Converse for the Italian market.
Owned by 3A Sport, the importing company for Italy of some important sports brands, including Nike, and owner of the Just Play brand, this exhibition space bears the signature of Alberto Apostoli, the internationally renowned Italian designer.
Concept Design
The design matrix behind Concept is the famous logo, recently revisited by the company, consisting of a star and a 90 degree inverted chevron. The logo becomes the focal point of the entire room and from it all the escape lines originate, which make the space perfectly symmetrical and accentuate its depth.
Following the clients’ brief, Apostoli recreated the typical basketball court, as in the American suburbs used, and where the best basketball players have grown up. Among these, Chuck Taylor, the player who made the Converse brand famous by wearing the new sports shoes made of canvas and rubber.
The space is therefore proposed with a “street minimal” style, distinguished by a concrete effect floor and large black corrugated sheets on the three sides, used for the display of over two hundred different models of shoes.
The upper part of the showroom was instead resolved with a graphic that recreates the exterior of the American buildings of the ’30s, made of red bricks, windows with grids, murals and graffiti. On the back wall we found a basket with its scoreboard worn out by time and players’ shots.
In the middle, the mannequins for the display of clothing were positioned, flanked by display cages and wooden tables. Two bands of grass run along the entire length of the floor up to the fifth wall, emphasizing the Converse logo.
The showroom is completed by the “Converse Café”, the reception area for meetings with clients. Also here, an essential style is maintained, made through sofas and stools with an iron structure and the abundant use of OSB (reconstructed wood), used for the background panels and for the realization of the kitchen.
“Industrial Jungle” themed graphics, large round rope rugs and some paintings with pictures of “Converse” champions give a touch of warmth to the space.
Lighting Design
Lighting is a fundamental element of the project; studied with particular attention and made through the installation of RGB LED strips, it is combined with a DALI system able to manage different scenarios. Industrial-style pendant lamps provide ambient lighting, while numerous spots provide the specific light on exhibited products.
And the designer Mr Apostoli synthesizes the project: “The design for iconic brands such as Converse, represents a challenge very ambitious. This project gathers the “Urban essence”, redesigned by a post industrial design, enhanced with emotional elements enable to give the product a new value, at the same time, in agreement with the Converse tradition.”
Design Studio Apostoli
Project manager Marco Bertasi
Photos courtesy Enrico Galvani
3A Sport
The Company was founded in 1982 as a retail company. Loyal to their origins, in the latest 15 years is now distributor of leading sportswear brands, with the Nike sole agency in addition to the sole Italian distributor for Haddad, the branded children’s wear distributor of Nike brand, Jordan, Converse and Hurley brands.
Studio Alberto Apostoli
Studio Apostoli is a muli-disciplinary design Company which operates within architecture, engineering, interior design and product design. Composed of 50 professionals and led by Alberto Apostoli engages internal project managers for project management through no fixed organizational schemes.
Main goals of the architectural office is the integration between creativity and technical knowledge marketing oriented engineering. Strengthen point is the project management and the integrated design, mainly developed through BIM processes. In addition, the Studio provides with other services such as brand design, cost control, procurement, integrated communication, R&D, business planning, due diligence and energy management.
by AN shopfitting magazine no.147 © Piergiorgio Barzon
