Share this on

Tibi's Tepee pix

Annie Block -- Interior Design, 4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

At Tibi in New York, a custom bench is epoxy-lacquered.

The central seating area brings together sofas in a fashion fabric, a fiberglass-topped table by Byron P. Stripling, and a custom handwoven wool rug inspired by a Tibi dress pattern; a handblown-glass chandelier hangs above.

Dressed in a spring 2007 cotton trench coat, a custom fiberglass mannequin faces the cash-wrap desk.

T5 lamps are concealed inside an epoxy-lacquered niche displaying handbags.

Built on-site of drywall over steel studs, each canopy features an Archlab-designed composition painted in oil-based enamel by artist Ryan Good.

A blackened-steel skeleton and cotton canvas curtains compose the three dressing rooms; each contains a custom pendant fixture in polished stainless steel.

The angular rail conceals the stairs to the basement, where clothing samples are made.

One canopy descends to merge with the cashwrap desk, topped in tempered glass.

Custom hang bars of blackened steel alternate with cast-iron columns, circa 1900.

The new 18-inch-high baseboard is oak.

Existing maple flooring has now been sanded and stained

With Ralph Lauren, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton filling the cast-iron buildings of New York's SoHo, how can a relatively unknown newcomer even hope to make an impression? Amy Smilovic, owner-designer of the bold, sporty women's label Tibi, answered that question by hiring ArchLab for her first boutique.

The long and narrow loft space encompasses 2,200 square feet, plus a 1,500-square-foot basement sample room. Facing the usual retail-design challenges—tight budget, tighter time frame—principals Steve Blatz and Antonio Pio Saracino concentrated their efforts on two major statements, a pair of enormous angular canopies covered in an oversize pop art botanical pattern rendered by hand in black and green.

The canopies not only draw people in from the street but also embrace customers once they enter. "And they have the added benefit of hiding ductwork," Saracino points out. On a metaphorical level, Blatz adds, the canopies are a "response to the neighborhood's past and present." Putting "art on the architecture," Saracino explains, detracts less attention from the clothes than simply hanging paintings on the white walls.

Flooring, by contrast, is dark: existing maple, now sanded and stained. New oak baseboards, 18 inches high, give the floor plane additional weight, balancing the ceiling's 14-foot height and the canopies' drama.

Clothing and accessories displays run along both sidewalls. Glowing white from concealed fluorescent lamps, niches for handbags feature progressively widening shelves, creating rhythm and energy. Vibrantly colored, classically cut skirts, tops, and dresses hang from custom racks of blackened steel. On one wall, the racks alternate with original cast-iron columns, painted white.

A skeleton of the same steel creates the three dressing rooms situated at the rear, beneath a 25-foot-wide existing skylight. "We took advantage of the natural light to let customers really see the clothes," Blatz says. Curtains of thick, soft white cotton canvas contrast with the hard black metal.

In a much more colorful contrast, slender benches in canary-yellow epoxy lacquer provide a counterpoint to the canopies' black and green. Complementary rather than contrasting, pale green faceted millwork in the front and back refines the intensity of the canopies' palette while picking up on their angularity.

Warmer tones take over in the center of the 92-foot-long space, in what Smilovic refers to as the "living room"—essentially a waiting area for female shoppers' male companions. She dressed it up in a mid-century look, with a three-tiered chandelier of handblown glass, a cocktail table with a white fiberglass boomerang top and solid brass legs, and a pair of Edward Wormley–inspired sofas upholstered in a 1960's black-and-white clothing fabric. "I like the idea of incorporating something intended for fashion into furniture," she says. Likewise, the sunny yellow-and-white pattern on the area's wool rug comes from a past Tibi resort collection.