Opulent Painted Parquet Floors in Gucci Flagship Store
Gucci creative director, Alessandro Michele, is credited with making the luxury Italian brand relevant to millennials without alienating traditional Gucci audiences. His influence is apparent in the redesigned Gucci flagship store in Westfield Sydney.
This store has expanded to more than 1000 square metres over two floors. The redesign is aligned with brand’s global store aesthetic and Gucci exercised tight control over the project.
Working directly with Gucci headquarters, Di Emme Creative Solutions was responsible for the hand-painted parquet floors which feature in the main entry, VIP and women’s areas.
Exacting standards
Gucci supplied three designs for the painted parquetry. Di Emme completed the layout drawings, confirming the pattern repeat sizing and orientation. These drawings are now included in the architectural drawing package for the store. The patterns had prescribed dimensions and had to fit perfectly within the floor areas with a tolerance of 3mm.
Coordinating the painting process
Di Emme coordinated the painting around other redesign works. The process involved laying the stencils, hand painting, lightly sanding the surface to create a patina, removing the stencils, top coating, and protecting the floor till the store redesign was complete.
To preserve global brand unity, the paint came from Gucci’s Japanese supplier, with the colours and type specified.
2020 challenges
The COVID pandemic, a port strike, and a cyclone in China added to the challenge. The project landscape changed almost daily and Di Emme had to constantly review their schedules, at times working at night then laying floor protection for the day crews to carry on their work.
Gucci Brisbane
Di Emme continued the hand-painted parquetry in the revamped Gucci store in Brisbane. The store has one large patterned floor. Once again, Di Emme provided the drawings showing the exact scale and orientation to Gucci for approval.
With the project being completed over Christmas and state borders opening and closing, Di Emme management was kept busy coordinating the company’s dedicated artisans.
The finished hand-painted parquet floors are bold and opulent in keeping with the global image of the Italian luxury fashion house. The redesigned stores emanate extravagance and are enticing shoppers from aspirational millennials to celebrities and the well-healed establishment.