The clients were very young, they were a group of friends who had decided to bet on a philosophy of natural business, offering the public a rigorous selection of herbal and aesthetic products of eco-certified origin.
A planning challenge to give life to an anonymous narrow long space in very bad conditions, with only a view on Via Rovelli in Como. It is an important location in the pedestrians’ alleys of the walled town, two steps from Porta Torre and San Fedele’s Basilica, frequented not only by Como inhabitants, but also by more and more numerous international tourists.
The clients’ exigence was that of distinguishing themselves from a universe of shops which, in just a few thousand square metres, offer innumerable hints and categories of goods.
These were the premises at the basis of the new herbalist’s shop: “Via del Campo”.
Thanks to a study of drawings, prototypes and colour tests, the project little by little took concrete form, also thanks to the active involvement of the clients.
The final result was the dematerialization of the tunnel or garage effect, obtained thanks to the asymmetric design of the container cabinets leaning on the perimeter walls, from which they detach themselves in a casual way designing a new and unusual sales area.
On the floor the ceramics 60×60 laid at 45°relative to the street/shop windows front emphasize this “untidy” trend, which findsits order in the peninsula of the checkout area aligned with the floor.
All the supply in practical laminate, realized by Arnaboldi Interiors, following my design, is “olive” type in the exterior while the grass green colour stands out internally. Of the same green is also the top of the counter displays and of the pantographed plinth in the shape of grass which, in the idea of the project, represents the field where the trees of Via del Campo grow… The sculptural elements in the shape of a stylized tree are five. They “offer” their branches to expose the marketed products.
The Trees substitute the banal shelves and windows and at might, magically, they look as if they wanted to detach themselves from the wall that sustains them, thanks to an elaborated and ingenious system of low-energetic consumption lightning, invisible from public eye.
Beyond the checkout area, the place becomes more intimate: the walls are covered with floral wallpaper on line with the theme of the herbalist’s shop.
A small waiting area was also created. Here, before buying anything, the customers, comfortably sitting in an armchair, can taste natural herbal tea that the shop can sell also unpacked.
An old authentic Cantù carpenter’s bench, expertly brought back to new life by able and expert hands, was used as a horizontal display for the other goods and as a theatre frame for the photographic shooting of the products which are advertised weekly on the shop’s socials.
The project was completed by a warehouse, a bathroom and a small treatment room, which have no significant valence in this context.
