3.1 Phillip Lim Settles in SoHo

The rising fashion star finds a natural, textural backdrop for his signature collection.

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 9/17/2007 12:00:00 AM

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In just two years, fashion designer Phillip Lim has collected more than his share of plaudits for his signature collection, 3.1 Phillip Lim. Following his 2005 debut at New York's fall fashion week, Lim was named a Rising Star in women's wear by Fashion Group International, a finalist for the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Fashion Fund Award, a finalist for the Fashion Design Award at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and winner of the CFDA Swarovski Award for emerging talent in women's wear.

The collection is now carried in 250 department stores and boutiques across the country. But ultimately, it is the prerogative of most designers—particularly those with a growing following—to have a retail home to call their own.

This is where Jeremy Barbour, principal of the Brooklyn, NY-based architectural firm Tacklebox, enters the picture. Once Lim secured a 3,000-square-foot space in the midst of SoHo's cast iron district, he turned to Barbour and project team members Mitchell Snyder and Jerome Hord to conceive the first signature 3.1 Phillip Lim boutique.

The juxtaposition of existing materials and modern elements helped weave a natural and textural point of view for the space. A continuous wall of horizontally stacked oak flooring is used to create the entry wall, a winning counterpoint to the distressed blocks of Douglas fir on the existing floor. "We employed the imperfections of found materials to serve as a coarse backdrop to the sensual play and ephemeral movement within the clothing suspended in the foreground," says Barbour.

The oak flooring makes a repeat appearance on the floor-to-ceiling dressing room doors, but here the wood is spaced apart and backed by laminate glass panels that emit light from inside. Laminate glass reappears in both the main showroom and lower level, where it is set behind existing decorative cast iron railings.

The double-height lower level features whitewashed brick walls and windows overlooking a garden area, and a chandelier composed of cast glass, custom-made bocce balls

Tacklebox also designed custom fixtures for the store, including a series of clear acrylic accessory displays with vintage cast iron claw feet that were reclaimed from a salvage yard in Virginia. A double-sided tufted sofa and dressing room benched were custom produced by Modern Living Supplies.