I sought in 94 Greenwich what I seek in my perfumes: a space that could stand the test of time; a future “classic”, as it were. This ambition called for a space that was both at one and at odds with its area, that both drew on the past and looked to the future.

When considering the venue’s location in the West Village, as well as the limited size of the store, I immediately thought of New York-based Steven Holl, who, as well as being one of the greatest architects of our era, had achieved incredible lighting feats in small spaces, notably D.E. Shaw’s offices in NY. His free and unexpected use of shapes – in the Y House in the Catskills, in the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NY, or in significantly larger projects like Linked Hybrid in Beijing – holds the singular power of being able to revolutionize a space on any scale, including one as small as that of 94 Greenwich.

I suggested to Steven that we build the store “like a drawer”, with an exterior and interior of the same style and material, appearing as if it had been slotted into the brownstone. Steven’s only request was that I bring the lighting magician Hervé Descottes on board. Having heard of Hervé’s remarkable talent, and already convinced that he would bring that “missing something” to Steven’s design, I gladly agreed. As for the design itself, it features a new material called Aluminum Foam – a new obsession of mine – that I first saw in Steven’s office in the form of a great panel door. Steven indulged me and used it again for the store, contrasting it with fragmented, futuristic semi-circles of Walnut wood.

F.M.