Omani Perfumer Opens SoHo Flagship

Amouage (Muscat, Oman) has taken the wraps off a flagship boutique at 150 Spring Street in New York’s SoHo. The 860-square-foot space “reveals itself as a space where the red sands of Oman’s desert meet the metal and light of New York,” the company said in a news release/project description of the space.

Designed by Amouage Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon and Héroïne, a Paris-based retail architecture studio, the space – dubbed titled The Brickfield – “forms a poetic dialogue between earth and metal, a tribute to both the Omani desert and the industrial spirit of Manhattan,” the company said in its release.

“With the Amouage SoHo flagship boutique, we wanted to create a dialogue between two cities that share the same soul,” says Salmon. “The red bricks of Soho and the red clay of Oman are born of the same earth. Both are shaped by hand, both tell a story of craft and transformation.”

Here are some design details on the space, as provided in the company’s release:

• The boutique’s historic façade retains its nineteenth-century structure while revealing a contemporary spirit via repainted crimson woodwork, sculpted vitrines inspired by dunes and subtle golden reflections that create a play of light that changes throughout the day.

• Inside, visitors enter a choreography of reflection and shadow. To the left, an undulating red brick wall, hand-laid and modular, evokes the ruins of the desert, alive with shifting light. To the right, champagne-toned metal panels mirror the vibrancy of Manhattan, catching the glow of the street outside.

• The space is home to two red marble curation tables, with fragrances are displayed like artefacts. A third table is dedicated to the Essences, Amouage’s latest collection of fragrances aged for over six months following a double-infusion process.

• At the back is the Majlis Lounge, which consists of soft textures, natural fabrics and muted golds designed to create a space for conversation and contemplation.

Founded in the Sultanate of Oman in 1983 to be “The Gift of Kings,” Amouage has grown to have 21 standalone boutiques in Oman, the UAE, the U.S., China and Malaysia. (Its products are also available at about 1500 department stores, perfumeries and airport retailers.)