Beauty Treatment

For the gospel according to Groupe Clarins, trainee sales consultants from U.S. department stores and stand-alone boutiques make a pilgrimage to the New York office. This venerable French cosmetics and skin-care company uses science to extract beauty from botanicals. Since beauty is as beauty does, the tone is set by the words amity, integrity, and courtesy emblazoned on the bronze elevator doors in the lobby of the handsome 1926 building.

The elevators open on the 19th floor to reveal space previously occupied by Perkins + Will. Preserved in the reception area is that firm's curving perforated steel radiator cover. Lipstick-red Barcelona chairs and bamboo ceiling panels, on the other hand, were added during a renovation by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects. The chairs sit on what looks like new terrazzo but was actually entombed beneath layers of other flooring, built up over the years. "It was a really fun few days of unearthing, then having an asbestos scare, and finally getting to the bottom of things," recalls Bryan Bennett, director of design resources.

Principal Randy Gerner compares the newly stripped concrete floors in other areas to a "New York street, with patched potholes and rough edges." Only under the separate clusters of workstations did he install carpet, cutout clover leaves in straw. From the open ceiling—painted dark brown, like the exposed mechanicals—pendant drums hang moonlike, deployed in two sizes. The fixtures were originally designed for another project—a Toyota Motor Corporation showroom in Massachusetts. At Clarins, their fluorescent light supplements generous sunshine.

Gerner carried the Clarins branding message through two levels totaling 35,000 square feet, most notably by integrating the red curve of the company logo—nicknamed the Eyebrow by the architects. It not only swooshes across the top of a conference table but also takes on three dimensions as a red wall arcing alongside the internal staircase's equally red rubber-clad steps. (The stair is necessary because passenger elevators stop short of the office's upper level, the building's penthouse.) In deference to Clarins's botanical bent, grass or wildflowers are embedded in translucent plastic door panels.

Office doors along the main corridor on the lower level alternate with spotlighted advertising images, suspended from easy-to-rehang display rails, and niches displaying up-lit perfume bottles. The niches help the Clarins industrial-design staff "envision how the products will appear on store shelves," Gerner says. Because the company also bottles Thierry Mugler fragrances, one of the conference rooms boasts a collection of Mugler furniture brought over from a former location—throughout, repurposing freed up resources for renovations.

The penthouse level was a favorite with the GKV team. Classrooms for aestheticians are there, and several lucky designers were recipients of facials from students. In addition, the roof terrace adjacent to the staff café and training room proved an excellent spot for design meetings alfresco—followed, perhaps, by a dab or two of Clarins After Sun Replenishing Moisture Care for Face and Décolleté.

Clockwise from top left: Reception at Groupe Clarins features a painted-aluminum version of the company logo, which influenced much of the interior. The logo curve found its largest expression in the vinyl-covered wall along the staircase to the penthouse. A conference-room door's resin panel incorporates bear grass. In reception, an existing terrazzo floor complements chairs by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Clockwise from top: Custom pendant fixtures cast fluorescent light on a cluster of four workstations sharing a maple desktop. Groupe Clarins produces Thierry Mugler perfumes. In a hall's display niche, LEDs up-light fragrance and cosmetics bottles. A logo curve in mirror-backed, acid-etched, tinted glass defines the bamboo top of the custom table in a conference room.

From top: Acrylic frames, containing advertising images, are suspended from a track system on stainless-steel rods. Chairs by Ross Lovegrove furnish the penthouse café.

FROM FRONT CASSINA: CREDENZA (RECEPTION). METRALITE INDUSTRIES: CUSTOM RAILING (HALL). JOHNSONITE: STAIR SURFACING. LUXO CORPORATION: CEILING FIXTURES (HALL, RECEPTION). ARMSTRONG: CEILING SYSTEM (HALL, RECEPTION, CONFERENCE ROOM). TRI-KES WALLCOVERING SOURCE: RED WALL COVERING (HALL), NEUTRAL WALL COVERING (CAFÉ). FSB: DOOR PULL (RECEPTION). 3FORM: DOOR PANEL MATERIAL (RECEPTION, HALL), WORKSTATION PANEL MATERIAL (OFFICE AREA). KNOLL: CHAIRS, TABLE (RECEPTION). HUDSON FURNITURE: STOOL. LUCIFER LIGHTING COMPANY: RECESSED CEILING FIXTURES (RECEPTION, CONFERENCE ROOM). STEELCASE: WORKSTATIONS (OFFICE AREA). GORDON INTERNATIONAL: GREEN CHAIRS. MOHAWK INDUSTRIES: CARPET (OFFICE AREA, CONFERENCE ROOM). HARTER: RED CHAIRS (OFFICE AREA), TABLES (CAFÉ). LITECONTROL: CUSTOM PENDANT FIXTURES (OFFICE AREA, CAFÉ). MAYA ROMANOFF: PEARL WALL COVERING (HALL). ZUMTOBEL: TRACK LIGHTING (HALL, CONFERENCE ROOM). WACO: CEILING FIXTURES (CONFERENCE ROOM). DATESWEISER: CUSTOM TABLE. HERMAN MILLER: CHAIRS. CAESARSTONE: CREDENZA TOP MATERIAL. BERNHARDT DESIGN: CHAIRS (CAFÉ). TEXSTYLE: BANQUETTE UPHOLSTERY. THROUGHOUT BENJAMIN MOORE CO.: PAINT. AUDREY SIGNS: CUSTOM SIGNAGE. LILKER ASSOCIATES CONSULTING ENGINEERS: MEP. KRESENTZ FURNITURE MAKERS, NORDIC INTERIOR: WOODWORK. LEHR CONSTRUCTION CORP.: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.