Project Description

GMT Great Masters of Time
Flagship Design
Via Della Spiga 25 Milano
2021

Light and time

And there was Light, and with it, Time started flowing.
Today we see the light of stars that burnt out millennia ago.
Light carries time.
From the ancient sundial to the atomic clock, light relates to time.

EINSTEIN TEACHES

Time slows down when travelling at light speed.
Eternity and a second may become equivalent.

SPACE-TIME IS MADE UP OF LIGHT

I envisioned a space-time tunnel in which linear cuts of thin light split the shop into sequential areas and divide it according to the rhythmic setting of the store windows.
Time inhabits this space and is looked after with noble and precious care.
Gold, silver, platinum, ivory and black, the contrast of shine and opacity: laser and zenithal light beams virtually sculpt materials and volumes with a myriad of reflections and details.

The architectural envelope is an ivory casket with a pearly effect that draws from the chromatic tone of the floor’s stone tiling to project its terse and tactile materiality onto the walls.
The result is a main hall divided in two primary consecutive areas, one for watches at the front and the other for jewelry at the back.
The floor acts as memento of a preexisting design, an objet trouvè, a stone weft that rebels against the new stern orthogonality imposed by the bright cuts of the main volumes, as if it were an overlying carpet.
The luminescent crystal layer, covering the entry room wall, contains a metal mesh woven in a diamond pattern. It spreads a platinum brightness all around, reproducing the dynamic rhythm of the opposite shop windows on its reflective surfaces. Floating pairs of orthogonal black shelves branch out from it like sculptural glossy solids over a diaphanous and evanescent backdrop with a three dimensional effect.
The display windows are dark volumes acting as time capsules that morph the perception of the interiors. Each is a prism cladded in black mirror, holding within the glass a luxurious vertical tapestry of golden and iridescent metallic mesh.
The reflectance of the dark mirroring crystal panes creates a virtual bow-window effect that multiplies the natural light towards the interior side of the street windows.
The display cases are thin and lightweight, in orbital polished brass, to showcase with extreme consideration and sober elegance the artisanship and exclusivity of the products.

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