Thomas Heatherwick’s redesign aimed at experiential shopping features a vibrant “energy green” exterior and a dramatic ribboned staircase.
Longchamp’s brick-and-mortar presence is once again its most exciting showcase. For years, the 1950 two-story storefront at Spring and Greene blended quietly into the streetscape, but now a towering 42-foot wall adjoining its facade blazes in the brand’s signature “energy green”. The French leather goods house, still family-run since its founding in 1948, enlisted British designer Thomas Heatherwick to orchestrate this makeover nearly twenty years after he first reimagined the space in 2006.
Inside, polished ribbons of 110,000-pound steel ripple across the ceiling in sculptural waves, doubling as displays for Longchamp’s famed handbags. Below, a custom circular carpet with a flowing motif mirrors those undulations. At the heart of it all is the store’s signature ribbon staircase (first installed in 2006 with an oak finish), now revived in electrifying neon green and drawing the eye up to the second-floor loft. It’s the centerpiece for a retail theatre that turns a store visit into an experience.
This ambitious redo is a homecoming of sorts – Heatherwick and Longchamp first collaborated on this Soho boutique back in 2006. That initial design was so striking, the brand dubbed the store “La Maison Unique” (the one-of-a-kind house). Nearly two decades later, the same partnership returned to build on that legacy – and they chose evolution over reinvention. “Instead of wiping the slate clean, we carefully considered what to carry forward, what to reuse, and how the new elements could stand the test of time,” Heatherwick partner Neil Hubbard tells Elle Decor, reflecting on the design process.
For all the high-concept drama, the boutique cultivates a surprisingly homey atmosphere. Merchandise displays are pared back in favor of art and seating vignettes that invite visitors to linger like in a chic apartment. Mid-century furnishings (from sculptural lamps to a curvaceous 1970s “Croissant” sofa by Raphaël Raffel) punctuate the space, adding an eclectic, collected charm. The structural columns, too, get a playful twist. Each is wrapped in a cascade of neon-green carpet that spills down like dripped paint, a whimsical flourish perfected only after countless prototypes to bend rugs around the pillars. True to Longchamp’s heritage and wit, an English oak sculpture by David Nash now brings a note of organic calm, while a neon rendition of the house’s jockey logo and a graffiti mural by the artist André add pops of irreverent edge. “Think of a real Parisian apartment—rarely are two pieces of furniture identical,” Hubbard tells Elle Decor. “It’s collected, eclectic, and tells a story. That was our inspiration”.
