Date posted: December 26, 2004

Dover Street Market

17-18 Dover Street, London W1

If I had to give out an award for the most inspiring interior design of the year, it would go to the Dover Street Market in London, a six-story shop conceived by Rei Kawakubo of Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons.

It houses outlets by Martin Margiela, Los Angeles based vintage clothes shop Decades, Belgian menswear designer Raf Simons, Japanese label Undercover, Alber Elbaz’s ethereal white dresses for Lanvin, jewelry by Judy Blame and furniture by Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane to name but a few and of course the full range of clothes by Comme des Garçons and Junya Watanabe. On the 4th floor you can sit down for a tea or an espresso and a sandwich from the Rose Bakery and enjoy the view of the rooftops of the surrounding streets, which seems like an extension of the shop’s interior.

Unfortunately I was not allowed to take photos, which I always find a bit silly, so you’ll have to do with my description and of course go and visit it yourself.

Perhaps the best description of the interior is building site chic. On one floor there’s a construction site builder’s hut, which functions as a check out, you have to change inside Portakabins and much of the walls and ceilings have been left bare, revealing the wiring as in the Palais de Tokyo.

Instead of having one architect design the entire space, Rei Kawakubo invited several set designers and artists to work on a particular area on each floor. The space for Raf Simons was designed by Belgian artist Jan de Cock. He creates amazing, intricate spaces out of plywood, which look a bit like a replicating Donald Judd virus. If you ever have a chance go see one of his installations. I don’t know who worked on which of the other spaces, but together they make for a perfect visual fea(s)t.

In all the Dover Street Market is one of the best exhibitions of contemporary art and design in London. Put it on top of your list of things to do if you’re travelling to London.