We are pleased to announce that Pentlja Concept Store, together with flash ARHITEKTURA, has been awarded the A’ Design Award in A’ Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category by the International Design Academy

The award was given by a grand jury panel of the A’ Design Award & Competition, which consists of internationally influential press members, established designers, leading academics and prominent entrepreneurs.

About A’ Design Award

The A’ Design Awards are the World’s most influential and largest design awards, presented each year in Italy. A’ Design Award is the World’s leading design accolade reaching design enthusiasts in over 180 countries in 40 languages. This year they received over 4000 projects from 98 countries in 97 different design disciplines. Entries were carefully evaluated by an internationally influential jury panel composed of 173 established scholars, prominent press members, creative design professionals and experienced entrepreneurs who devoted great care and attention to details while voting each entry. The A’ Design Award gives recognition to the excellence of design on the international stage!

INSPIRATION, CONCEPT, STORY

The first starting point in the design of the PENTLJA CONCEPT STORE project was the name of the shop – PENTLJA (Bow). The second was that the store PENTLJA primarily offers clothes and accessories of more than 30 of the best young Slovenian and foreign fashion designers. Therefore, we used 2 principles in designing the store: the first principle in the design of the exterior and the second one in the design of the interior.

EXTERIOR

The exterior or the entrance of PENTLJA is in the old city centre of Ljubljana with a specially designed roof which communicates with customers in a way that is exposed, creative, special, custom-made and innovative – with its appearance it is “combining architecture and fashion”.

INTERIOR

The interior of the store is a decision that the interior represents the story behind all beautiful products of Slovenian and foreign creators, so the furniture needs to be almost invisible, since the offer is the one that has to stand out. Therefore, the interior is designed quite contrary – unexposed, discreet, minimalistic, “high tech” and functional – which we achieved with the use of white: both on the walls as well as on the entire interior furniture; the use of mirrors: as part of the interior design (existing counter dressed in mirrors) or the entire back wall of the store, which optically enlarges the second space that is without the sun light and “doubles” the offer on the stepped stage in front of it; and the use of glass: round glass coffee tables hanging on wires in the first room of the store.

PECULIARITY, DIVERSITY, UNIQUENESS, INNOVATION

Peculiarity and uniqueness of the PENTLJA CONCEPT STORE is primarily its communication with the surroundings; its front facade with the display window and entrance to the store uses exposed, noticeable and innovative roof made with bows on the facade of the historical building in the Ljubljana old city centre to communicate with customers in a way that directly “invites” them in.Since PENTlJA CONCEPT STORE, as the only of its kind in Slovenia, primarily offers clothes of more than 30 young Slovenian and foreign fashion designers, we wanted to combine two design principle in the design of the PENTLJA roof: architecture, which is fixed and durable, and fashion, which is hand-made and is constantly changing according to the four seasons. Therefore, we, together with the client and a designer of hats, designed the roof with a substructure made of transparent plexi glass; we wanted to get an impression of a floating roof to which we attached bows of various sizes made of waterproof felt (Velctro tape), so that the bows can be removed and changed with each new season.

In the architecture, we used the principle of variability and created a platform for endless possibilities of the store`s appearance in the future, while we also included domestic fashion designers in the design process. The story of the PENTLJA roof develops from its conception onwards, so that PENTLJA CONCEPT STORE “dresses” in a new look and fresh colour with each new season.

The goal and challenge of the PENTLJA project was to design something new, creative, and innovative on the outside, and to create an interior space, which will be the best possible frame, concept and base for such a diverse and changing offer of local creators – so that they can come alive in their best appereance!