Aparterre | BOGDAN CIOCODEICĂ

With an interior designed by Bogdan Ciocodeica full of colour and decorative surfaces, Aparterre is an apartment-style multi-brand store offering clothes and objects curated in accordance with contemporary sensibilities.

The ALPI Sottsass wood finish – available in the four chromatic variants red, orange, brown and grey – is distinguished by accentuated dark veining that brings out the bright colours of the wood. It exemplifies the unusual juxtapositions and extroverted, nonconformist, personal design language of Ettore Sottsass.

For vertical elements such as wall panelling and mirrors, Ciocodeica used ALPI Sottsass Orange. Benches and the bases of the clothing stands are clad in ALPI Sottsass Red, while the centrally positioned display platforms are covered in ALPI Sottsass Grey.

The vivid colours and unmistakable veined pattern of these ALPI veneers designed in the early 1980s imbue the entire space with the innovative, playful curiosity of the Memphis philosophy, turning Aparterre into a place of discovery, a interior made of textures and shapes, a reaction against rigid and overly pretentious high-end fashion stores.

The volumes covered with ALPI Sottsass wood veneer stand out in the surroundings, where the dominating colour is powder pink. The simple geometry of the ALPI-clad volumes accentuate the pale, warm oak flooring laid in a chevron pattern.

This new project demonstrates how the myriad applications of ALPI wood offer the design world an industrial, sustainable product of high quality that maintains a bespoke character thanks to the possibility of creating it in a customised way.