EDITORIAL

Mulberry

Contemporary art and vernacular craft

The Making of the first Mulberry flagship stores — An expression of British craft and design heritage through a contemporary lens.

Mulberry Bond Street

In 2010, our studio was commissioned to create major new flagship offerings for British heritage brand Mulberry. Signalling a new era for the company, these stores helped to further cement Mulberry's rise in the global fashion arena. A core part of our strategy was to juxtapose Mulberry's early Somerset roots with the urban realm. Finding balance in gallery-like interiors that foregrounded English craft and Mulberry's own products.

"We are immensely proud of our British heritage and our reputation for craftsmanship; we wanted to facilitate the translation of these quintessential elements of our brand into our retail interiors.

Rather than a pastiche of the craft used to create our products we have sought out the best of British craft for each material and function and let the quality and authenticity speak for itself." — Georgia Fendley, Former Brand Director, Mulberry

"The form and symbolism of London bricks has been in my mind for a long time and indeed informed sculptural elements of my work. For me this simple brick has dignity, defiance, gravitas and even an element of rock‘n’roll. Out of context in a New York store it becomes even more potent in a way. The simple, solid and calm delivery of these three large machined brass pieces will be incredibly beautiful and calming in a busy store." — Jonathan Ellery for Creative Review

Mulberry commissioned Jonathan Ellery to produce sculptural pieces across three of its stores. These included site specific artworks for the New Bond Street flagship in London and Spring Street flagship in New York. For London, Ellery created Wordly Cares and Love Affairs, consisting of 25 circular, machined, solid brass discs that were embedded into the concrete floor of the store at specific locations. Woven into the fabric of the architecture, each disc depicts a symbol synonymous with its London context that will patina over time.

In New York, Ellery created London Bricks. An unapologetically British piece that defined not only the artist, but a brand that was so quintessentially British in its heritage, craft and outlook - set out of context in the midst of New York's Soho neighbourhood.