Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, Rashid Johnson, Anna Weyant, Daniel Arsham. It’s not a museum exhibition but we’re almost there, because the renovated Tiffany flagship store in New York will be a real temple. After five years of work, the brand’s historic store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street will finally open its doors, with a completely updated layout by the expert hands of the architect Peter Marinotrusted name of the Lvmh group, owner of Tiffany & Co since 2021. OMA New York, the studio founded by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus.
In short, the Tiffany store will be a true “Landmark”, a point of reference for the urban landscape, as indeed it already was, made iconic by the novel by Truman Capote and from the movie of Blake Edwards with Audrey Hepburn from 1961. Dating back to 1940, designed by Cross & Cross, it immediately became a symbol of modern architecture and when it closed for this renovation, in 2018, Bloomberg estimated that the works would have cost at least 250 million dollars. Then, due to the pandemic, the construction site was extended by about two years with respect to the expected delivery, but official cost data was not disclosed. Now there is the official date: appointment on April 28, to discover “something brilliant”, as stated on the Tiffany website, which is the supplier of the best diamonds in the world. «The Tiffany Flagship is more than a commercial space, it is a destination with a public dimension», he declared in 2020 Shohei Shigematsu who oversaw the project for OMA.
The facade, with the statue of Atlas and the clock above the legendary revolving doors, has been restored to its original appearance, while the interior has been completely renovated. The impact will be memorable right from the entrance, with a large space illuminated by a skylight. The spiral staircase, with undulating transparent balustrades decorated with rock crystals, is a tribute to the Italian designer Elsa Peretti, who collaborated with the brand in the seventies. On the 8th and 9th floors there will be various spaces dedicated to exhibitions and thematic projects, as well as an open terrace.
Around 40 works of art will therefore be exhibited on the ten floors, including unpublished pieces specially commissioned by the maison. Among the highlights, Equal Pithe spectacular painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the protagonist of the 2021 Tiffany advertising campaign, featuring the musicians Jay-Z And Beyoncé performing “Moon River,” the film’s immortal soundtrack. Exhibited at street level, the beautiful painting, which had previously rarely been shown to the public, is illuminated by that particular shade of turquoise and aquamarine associated with Tiffany. And while there’s no evidence that Basquiat painted it with the brand in mind, the Lvmh patron Bernard Arnault he played with it a bit, arguing that there could be a connection: «The color is so specific that it must be a sort of homage», he declared in an interview.
In the area for weddings and engagement gifts, on the third floor, there is also a concave and faceted wall sculpture in stainless steel by Anish Kapoor, perfect for a declaration selfie or a promise of love. On the sixth floor, dedicated to the home and accessories, one of the famous and seductive paintings composed of fragments of broken crockery, trademark of Julian Schnabel, from his series Victory. Schnabel also created a series of limited edition plates, presented as part of an installation consisting of a two-metre-long tiled table surrounded by hand-painted bronze chairs with velvet cushions, all made by him.