The ever-traveling designer Blake Kuwahara recently sent me some images from one of his favorite shopping destinations in Antwerp - RA.
Check out their fully interactive website as well as these great images courtesy of Blake:
Some info about the boutique:
RA is a new store and innovative platform in Antwerp, Belgium. It is situated in the Kloosterstraat - nested in between second hand furniture shops and galleries – and at a stone's throw from the renowned Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Art, which has delivered successful students in the last decades ranging from Dries Van Noten and Martin Margiela to today's Peter Pilotto. The RA concept store is the brainchild of two ex-students of the Royal Academy, Romain Brau and Anna Kushnerova. They are being supported by a multi-talented, multi-cultural and multi-generational team that will constantly set collaborations with guest contributers to inspire and promote, discover and bridge emerging multidisciplinary talent. RA wants to be an arena for displaying and producing a portfolio of products, site-specific projects, exhibitions, installations and performances to promote and enrich the creative and cultural discourse.
The store is an 800 sqm space, stretched over two floors and consists of a 300sqm fashion floor, an exhibition space, a book store, a music corner and a food corner. The space itself, a former art gallery, has been reconstructed and renovated with respect for its historical architectural value. The white loft like space act as a backdrop to showcase fashion from a great range of high end labels like Hannah Marshall and Louise Goldin on the ground floor and more affordable labels by Henrik Vibskov, b-store amongst others on the first floor. Great touches to the interior and exterior liven up the white cube, we especially love the thatched roof hut at the centre of the space designed by Mathieu Lehanneur and the roof garden by Ben Berckmoes. He managed to create a wonderful dreamlike landscape and liven up a dreary urban leftover space.
Stay tuned to
TAO for more interesting Antwerp shopping destinations.