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Spotted: Dutch fashion label Daily Paper has recently opened a flagship store in New York featuring some unusual, repurposed materials – empty drinks cans. The façade of the store is decorated using around 14,000 recycled white, green and black aluminium cans, all provided by Arizona Iced Tea.

The brand was founded by three childhood friends who grew up together in Amsterdam but are all of African descent. The founders of the flagship chose South African architect Heather Faulding to help design the space, which was a derelict and boarded up two-storey building in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The architect fused Dutch and African styles, incorporating ornate Dutch roof gables and Eastern Africa designs.

The cans were all manually cut and crushed, then glued and screwed onto panels in an intricate lattice pattern recalling traditional African beadwork. The store’s design also includes a massive glass cut-out to draw light in from a skylight, and a huge mosaic at the entrance, representing the constellation of stars that formed the day the brand was founded in 2012. The clothing is hung on custom rails made out of black resin and stainless steel, which are designed to mimic traditional African patterns.

According to co-founder Hussein Suleiman, the store was intended as a reflection of the founder’s own mix of a western upbringing and African heritage. He said: “We wanted to make the facade look like the Dutch gables in Amsterdam, but at the same time use repurposed materials so we could mimic the beadwork of Eastern Africa.”

Architects are increasingly working to incorporate experience into their designs. At Springwise, we have seen this with innovations such as an interactive pop-up retail space and a high rise that doubles as a tourist experience.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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