HMKM refashions technology floor of Brazil’s Daslu store

Cattle-bone mosaic tiles, etched glass pavilions and floors in white lacquer parquet and green leather are some of the signature elements gathered together by HMKM for the men’s technology department of Brazil’s most exclusive department store.

Conceived as a hybrid of a product gallery, an exhibition space and a private club, the 1200m2 department occupies an entire floor in the new building of legendary São Paulo store Daslu, which opens on 4 June.

The space showcases everything from cars to computers and also houses the Club Bar, which has been modelled on the interior of a 1950s Jaguar, and a wine shop, which is set in a green glass cube.

‘The area we were given was a concrete shell and we had to create the whole concept through to the development,’ says Christian Papa, HMKM director of interior design.

Before its move to the new 5000m2 premises, Daslu was based in a converted suburban mansion in São Paulo. Aimed at the wealthiest international clientele, the store is renowned for its exclusivity and personal service.

‘Daslu has a very luxurious but domestic quality to it, so on this floor it was a question of how we display this up-to-the-minute technology within what is a sort of home environment,’ says Papa.

‘The idea is that it is everything to do with technology, from Bang & Olufsen to Apple, through to a Nike concession for sports clothing and a shop selling canoes. There’s a car lift as well, so there’ll be the latest Mercedes sitting within this atelier of technology that we have created.’

The men’s technology floor is crucial to the Daslu concept. Women try on clothes in the open, in the warren of rooms that make up the women’s fashion areas, and men are consequently forbidden.

HMKM’s innovations for the department include a race track for remote-controlled cars built under a glass floor. Cattle-bone tiles line the bar, while a library is lined in Brazilian wood.

‘The materials you find in Brazil are fantastic,’ says Papa. ‘You can get everything down there – fantastic leather, fantastic joinery, fantastic timbers.’

Background

• Daslu was founded in São Paulo in 1958 by Lucia Piva de Albuquerque, specialising in luxury clothing. Eliana Piva de Albuquerque Tranchesi, Lucia’s daughter, took over the family business in the late 1970s

• The new Daslu boutique stretches over almost 5000m2, with a multitude of design-driven spaces. Features include a bar based on a 1950s Jaguar, a wood-lined library, a wine shop set in a green glass cube and a formal walkway of classical columns