The iconic Dover Street Market London store closed it’s doors for the last time at it’s iconic Dover Street location, ending it’s 11 year tenure in it’s ground breaking retail space about a week a go. As Dover Street Market London is shutting its doors the cynic can’t help but think that it will probably be replaced by a branch of white-collar fast-food chain, Pret A Manger: the inevitable fate of many retail spaces in London.
However this is not the end of the brand in London by any stretch of the imagination but simply the start of a new chapter with the store relocating to a heritage-listed building in Haymarket (18-22 Haymarket, London). The Grade-II listed site was erected in 1912 by Burberry founder Thomas Burberry.
Similarly to its original location on Dover Street, the overall interior has been conceived by Comme des Garçons‘ Rei Kawakubo. However, all the represented brands with dedicated spaces were given the freedom to design them as they saw fit.
Kawakubo was keen to “embrace and enhance” the building’s original features, and as a result the exterior, original ceilings, windows, and central staircase remain untouched. In an interview with dezeen.com she went on further to explain her vision by saying
“I want to create a kind of market where various creators from various fields gather together and encounter each other in an ongoing atmosphere of beautiful chaos; the mixing up and coming together of different kindred souls who all share a strong personal vision,”
Take a look at the spaces above and be sure to check out DSM Haymarket’s opening today.
