AnthonyTsai
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Officine Panerai reopens Florence Boutique with Patricia Urquiola
Florence, November 2014 – Officine Panerai is reopening and enlarging its historic boutique in Florence, the city in which the brand was founded, having commissioned the architect designer Patricia Urquiola to carry out the project.
OFFICINE PANERAI REOPENS ITS HISTORIC FLORENCE BOUTIQUE WITH PATRICIA URQUIOLA
Situated in the centre of Florence, in the Piazza San Giovanni, facing the city’s impressive Duomo, Officine Panerai’s historic boutique is expanding from an area of 58 to 285 square metres and from one to four large display windows.
The shop extends over two floors: the ground floor, facing onto the piazza, and the floor above, with a wide window providing a magnificent view of the Baptistery.
Patricia Urquiola, the celebrated Spanish designer, has reinterpreted the aesthetic and technical codes of the watch house, while respecting the identity of the brand and remaining faithful to the concept of a workshop, where the history of Officine Panerai was born.
The Florence boutique is actually unique, compared to all the other boutiques designed by Urquiola, while at the same time remaining consistent with the concept developed for the new or renewed Panerai shops in Paris, Hong Kong, New York and Miami.
Urquiola has managed to respect tradition with a look that is nonetheless modern and up-to-date, and she has found the ideal blend of the past and the future, of design and technical expertise, perfectly respecting the philosophy of the brand which has endured ever since the Panerai watchmakers supplied precision instruments to the specialist divers of the Italian Navy from the 1930s to the 1950s.
The Florence boutique has several typical and unique elements: walnut wood is a recurrent factor and it is used everywhere, from the coffered ceilings to the watch display cases and the tables.
For this boutique, Urquiola decided to use another element that is typical of Italian tradition: the marble chosen for the floor is “striato olimpico”, a material of great visual impact which creates spectacular geometric patterns. As a recurrent element in all the Panerai boutiques, Urquiola has chosen brass, a metal which recalls the world of the sea and ships; this material is used for the tables and the lights, and in the Florence boutique the reception desk is enclosed by multiple column-shaped elements of antiqued brass.
On the ground floor, in the centre of the boutique, there is a large sign reading: “Bottega d’arte e archivio storico” (“Workshop and historical archive”). The boutique will be the only one in Italy with an exhibition area for periodically displaying instruments from the Historic Museum that tell the story of the brand, as well as having an area for a watchmaker, who is available to carry out repairs and to help clients.
The upper floor is devoted to special sales: here, the floor surface is “cotto Fiorentino”, the classic terracotta tiles of Florentine tradition, and here historic exhibits are displayed: these include two pendulum clocks, one longcase clock and two lathes.
With the opening of the new shops designed by Urquiola, Officine Panerai now has 64 boutiques in the world, five of them in Italy (two in Florence, one in Venice, one in Portofino and one in Milan).
Angelo Bonati, Managing Director of Officine Panerai, says: “I am very pleased to announce the enlargement of our historic boutique in Florence. The history of Panerai was born in this city and it represents our origins. The modernised shop now perfectly conveys our values and the respect that we have for our past. I think it is the perfect setting for exhibiting some of the historic pieces from our Museum.
Patricia Urquiola has completely respected the philosophy of the brand and she has managed to express our link with tradition as well as our continuing dedication to the future, to design and innovation and to the search for excellence. While being renewed and enlarged, the boutique preserves the flavour of the original shop. In the Florence boutique the special editions inspired by the city and our history can be found, pieces which will be unique throughout the world.”
Patricia Urquiola says: “The boutique in Florence has a fundamental importance, for its historic value, for its location and because it makes it possible to work on the original identity of the brand. An exercise to understand, to reflect and to honour the symptoms of success and the stylistic elements which make it contemporary.”
OFFICINE PANERAI
Founded in 1860 in Florence when it consisted of a boutique, a workshop and a watchmaking school, Officine Panerai was for years the supplier of precision instruments to the Italian Navy, in particular equipping the commando frogmen. The projects which were created at that time, including the Luminor and Radiomir watches, continued to be covered by military secrecy for many years, until the purchase of the brand by the Richemont Group in 1997 and the brand’s subsequent launch on the international market. Today, Officine Panerai develops and produces its own movements and watches – combining Italian design and history with Swiss craftsmanship – in its manufacture at Neuchâtel, and these are sold worldwide through an exclusive global network of authorised dealers, and in its own-brand boutiques throughout the world. www.panerai.com
PATRICIA URQUIOLA
Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo, Spain. She studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and at the Polytechnic University of Milan, where she took her degree in 1989 under the direction of Achille Castiglioni. She has been assistant lecturer to Achille Castiglioni; she has worked with Vico Magistretti; and she became head of the Lissoni Associati design agency. In 2001, Patricia founded her own studio centred on design and architecture. Among her most recent projects are: the Jewellery Museum in Vicenza, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona, the Das Stue hotel in Berlin and the Spa of the Four Seasons Hotel in Milan; retail projects and fittings for Gianvito Rossi, BMW, Flos, Missoni, Moroso, Officine Panerai, H&M and Santoni, and Pitti Uomo, Florence. She carries out designs for major Italian and international companies.
Several of her works are exhibited in major art and design museums and she has won numerous international prizes and awards, including the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes (Gold Medal for the Fine Arts); the Order of Isabella the Catholic, presented by His Majesty Juan Carlos I, King of Spain; “Designer of the Decade” by the magazines H.O.M.E. and Häuser, and “Designer of the Year” by the magazines Wallpaper, AD Spain, Elle Deco International and Architektur und Wohnen.
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2014-12-08 11:27:01
