PIATRAONLINE transforms the central hub in Bucharest into a flagship store that reinvents the retail experience, redefining the limitations of the classic commercial space and offering an immersive, carefully curated experience. The goal being to provide a memorable brand experience that inspires and demonstrates the expressiveness and versatility of natural stone.
In an industry where products are still displayed on pallets and treated as simple building materials, PIATRAONLINE, together with the team of architects from Pure-Mess Design, designs a space that can be found at the intersection between showroom, art gallery, museum and community hub. The new experience aligns with the most avant-garde international trends in retail.
Winner of the DNA Paris Design Awards 2024 — one of the most important international competitions dedicated to design and architecture — in the Best Interior Design / Retails category, the new flagship store concept offers more than just a sales experience.
Visitors are guided along a carefully planned route, and each point offers a new perspective on material you thought you knew.
The new flagship is designed as an experience similar to the one you encounter in a gallery or museum. Different types of stone are displayed in scenographic arrangements, without labels or prices, to highlight their design qualities. This approach favors a better understanding of the expressiveness of the natural stone and the different facets it contains. The flagship store is actually a conceptual space.
“The former central hub was reconfigured from scratch to integrate our new vision. The layout concept, of brutalist inspiration, with oversized volumetric cutouts, stairs and arches, evokes the appearance of the terraced quarries, from which the stone blocks are extracted.”, Mariana Brădescu-ConstantinescuManaging Partner PIATRAONLINE.
“The ground floor is stratified both vertically and horizontally, etcI invite themto explore, like a labyrinth. Each corridor etci spayou explore a thematicdifferentpuncoming ton sceneă oh everythingă COLLECTIONof products or another material, in a pallet largă shapes, finishes ANDi usedcountries. The ground floor providesie and a technical space with moodboards dedicated to the most popular types of stone, complete libraries of materials, etcthe onlystate-of-the-art assembly and processing equipment.
The little ones, regwe have a private, dedicated work area CUSTOMERSB2B customers, which can only be visited by prior appointment. Most of the space is organized as a penthouse, with a lobby, living room, dressing room and kitchen to showcase the exclusive stone collections naturală, but also the latest technologies in terms of processing etcand installation.”, Sergiu CalifarArhitect Pure-Mess Design.
Not only the architecture of the space is being rethought, but also the product portfolio, which is renewed with exclusive parts and new processing technologies. Visitors can for the first time admire the large slabs from the SLAB collection, the RAW and FLOW collections containing digitally engraved stone textures, the Travertine RED collection – an atypical palette of shades for a material considered classic -, but also the new SKIN flexible slate models adapted for furniture design. In addition, the flagship store exhibits new collections of stone furniture created in collaboration with designers and architects and promotes a new workshop dedicated to custom mosaics.
“The flagship store also serves as a meeting point for industry professionals. The space is designed tozdui networking events, workshops ANDI conferdedicated to designers, architects and creatives from complementary fields who come together within the ARHIKIT community.”, Sergiu Constantinescu-BradescuManaging Partner PIATRAONLINE.
PIATRAONLINE is the leader of the natural stone industry in Romania, in the top 300 local businesses, with over 16 years of experience in the field and over 40,000 projects implemented locally and internationally. More than a raw material supplier, PIATRAONLINE is a curator of exclusive materials and a creative hub supporting valuable design initiatives. Offering personalized consulting services, from concept to project and from billing to delivery and installation, PIATRAONLINE is a full service team.
Source: www.iqads.ro
