Stockholm based designer Christian Halleröd is just one of those annoyingly talented people who seems to nail it every single time. His interiors are the epitome of effortless cool – the kind of spaces that are deliberately left to breathe, appear nonchalantly raw, and employ seemingly simple construction techniques, restrained colour palettes, highly edited pieces of furniture and lighting that seems to be pulled together in that nothing-matches-like-we-almost-don’t-care-but-everything-is-clearly-so-well-considered type fashion. Halleröd’s latest retail project is FRAME in NYC, located in a typical Soho space that’s quite narrow and very deep, with a skylight at the back of the store. In the designer’s signature style, the interior is the definition of effortless hotness and dramatic minimalist style that packs a punch. “I wanted to keep the ‘shell’ as clean as possible, but still soft with light plastered matte walls and a matt stone floor, slightly hammered in a similar texture as the walls,” shared Halleröd with Yellowtrace (umm, yeah, that’s totally us). The narrower entrance area opens up into a bigger ‘courtyard’ in the centre of the floorplan, culminating in a more intimate area at the back underneath the skylight.
At the front of the store is a very long and slim organically shaped table in raw aluminium, supported by extremely thin legs. The table sits on a hand-knotted thick jute carpet which provides one of the very few deliberate accents of colour in the space. On one side of the table is a special denim room, featuring a bold shelf in high gloss blue with oversized proportions. Further within the space are two large black polished marble tables supported on thick conically shaped legs, resting on top of another thick hand-knotted jute carpet in a soft yellow. Next in line is the point-of-sale desk wrapped in American walnut. Along the walls of the store are long sections of minimalist clothing rails mixed with oversized mirrors and giant lightboxes. The lightbox is a key design element that’s a continuation of Halleröd’s concept from previous Frame stores. But this time the lightbox idea was taken to a new level. It’s large dimensions, coupled with frameless design and continuous LED light strips create an overall effect more akin to an art installation than a classic lightbox.
