Golran: Rugs and Minimalism

Can we just spend a minute to admire the perfection of this space?

Take a bunch of exotic-looking rugs, a lavish brass staircase, and a blue velvet couch to add some extra drama. Done? Ok cool, now place them in the most clean and minimal setting ever and you’ve got the flagship store of Gorlan in Milan.

Persian company Golran produces rugs that are akin to fine works of art, so it seems fitting that the brand’s first flagship store is a gallery-like space. Located on Milan’s lively Via Pontaccio, the inaugural outpost’s interior is the work of Storage Associati architects with art direction by Francesca Avossa Studio.

‘One of the main challenges was to avoid creating just a store,’ explains Avossa. ‘This space is of course a place where exceptional rugs are displayed and staged like in an art gallery. But we wanted it to be more; a meeting space where designers and architects can come, be inspired and where beautiful projects are created.’

On the ground floor a serene clean-lined white space is flooded with daylight by three wide frameless windows. Down below in the basement, a wider ‘sample library’ and office space houses more than 500 carpet samples within a bespoke sliding shelf system. Here, customers can peruse exquisite hand knotted rugs by the likes of Dimore Studio, Inga Sempé, Raw Edges, Bertjan Pot and Isabella Sodi.

To ensure that the basement space does not go undiscovered, Storage Associati installed a glittering brass staircase that connects the two floors. ‘This staircase attracts customers down into the library space,’ say the designers of the opulent intervention. ‘The choice was to let customers enter a calm and simple gallery where carpets are hung on the wall or suspended like masterpieces. Contrary to this, the brass of the staircase creates a break, calling customers down into the working area, where we played with copper and detailed forms.

via Wallpaper*