A.MANO Brooklyn | Sergio Mannino Studio

ENG - Sergio Mannino Studio, an Architectural Branding Agency based in New York, designs a new brand identity and a store interior for A.MANO Brooklyn.

A.MANO Brooklyn is a Brooklyn-based home decor shop owned by Katherine Wells, merging the retail of locally-made ceramics, art, and up-cycled fine furniture.

The shop creates a hub for artists, Brooklyn residents, and retailers to collaborate and allow local art to be accessible on a larger scale. In addition, A.MANO is partnering with BKLYN CLAY, a ceramic school/workshop located right next door. This collaboration fosters the promotion of local art, and the sales of the pieces will benefit both entities.

Katherine Wells has inspired the Studio to create a vibrant, welcoming space full of artistic references that she cherishes dearly.

Brooklyn has a new booming spot to keep the community active and inspired.

Store Design

The unique and modern store combines various design aesthetics from 80s Italian Design to minimalist to industrial, drawing inspiration from iconic artists and designers such as Donald Judd and the Milanese Memphis group.
This project incorporates Mannino Studio's dual heritage: the Italian Radical Design on one side and the American minimalism on the other. Sergio Mannino trained with Ettore Sottsass at the beginning of his career before moving to New York in 2001 to open his own design studio. In 2002, he presented a series of furniture at the Memphis-Postdesign Gallery in Milan, once again under Sottsass' mentorship.

The interior is distinctly divided into three different spaces, each with its unique feel. The main goal of the design was to create a progressive flow and allow for different experiences for each of the clients.
The main gallery is an eye-catching place featuring blue-stained plywood shelving sitting on a base of blue and white glazed bricks, together with a black and white terrazzo floor. The coffee area on the left has a more intimate and homey feeling, displaying a bolder terracotta/orange tone on the floor and the walls. Here, the counter space is emphasized by the Mutina tiles, designed by Nathalie Du Pasquier, which the Studio used to create what seems to remind us of a ceramic rug on the floor.

Lastly, the back room is a relatively more neutral area where the store will periodically show rare and valuable vintage furniture from different eras. It has a blue concrete floor and two large windows overlooking a garden.

The whole space is characterized by a 16" baseboard aligned with the top of the glazed bricks. The "baseboard issue" is recurring for many architects, with some trying to remove it entirely using just a reveal.

The Studio opted for a bolder solution to make it a strong presence in the space, painting it in contrast with the wall behind.

ITA - Sergio Mannino Studio ha progettato gli interni e l’identita’ visive per A.MANO, un negozio di ceramiche di artisti locali e non basato a Brooklyn, NY.
Gli interni sono progettati in modo da poter essere disassemblati in futuro quando il negozio chiudera’ o si spostera’ di sede. Non e’ stata utilizzata colla o malta ma solo viti e connessioni meccaniche, anche per la parte dei mattoni in terracotta.
Il logo e in generale la grafica del brand sono pensati per trasmettere un’immagine semplice e pulita ma allo stesso modo rappresentare il prodotto che e’ appunto fatto “a mano” da ceramisti che lavorano in piccola serie.
I mobili sono ispirati a Donald Judd e poggiati su un basamento di mattoni in ceramica lucidati in bianco e blu, in un certo senso evocando I basamenti di tanti mobile di Sottsass. Lo stesso riferimento si trova al pavimento con un uso di terrazzo bianco e nero molto vicino alla grafica Memphis e in seguito all’uso delle piastrelle Mutina di Natalie Du Pasquier per la zona caffe’.
Sergio Mannino ha vissuto a Milano dal 1998 al 2000 e durante questo periodo ha sviluppato la sua tesi di laurea sotto la direzione di Ettore Sottsass e in seguito una collezione di mobile per Postdesign, ancora sotto la guida del grande maestro del design. In tutti I suoi lavori I riferimenti al design italiano, soprattutto a quello radicale, sono sempre stati una costante.