Backstage

client: Men at Work. 2009

For this 1500-m2 Men At Work shop in Groningen (NL),we were enticed by some thrilling backstage images from the thirties and set up the shop as if it were containing a backstage area. Instead of organizing the space in a defined order, we did quite the opposite. Arbitrary positioned furniture on swiveling undercarriage is spread throughout the space. Wall units – turned round frames hung on the wall – double as a point of suspension for garment racks. For the flooring, white marber tiles clash with raw concrete. A steel staircase meanders up, its steps narrowing in size the more one ascends, untill it finally splits up in two parts. The fitting rooms, too, contain a ‘front’ (on stage) and ‘backstage’ side. Whereas the façades are constructed out of a wooden framework, inside the rooms are decorated with white plywood and velvet curtains. Old-fashioned evergreen plants are like a piece of scenery – as everything else surrounding the clothes seems to be. Photos Arjen Schmitz.