Universal Design Studio uses aluminium for Rimowa’s Berlin store interior

An award-winning London-based architect and interior design company Universal Design Studio has reportedly decorated the interior of Rimowa’s inaugural Berlin store with aluminium to create sync with the premium luggage brand’s material palette. Rimowa has used aluminium to form its signature ridged suitcases.

Universal Design Studio has used the same metal throughout the shop in celebration of its "textural beauty and material possibilities".

"We were inspired by the materiality, proportion, and precision of the Rimowa core range and with a focus on the culture of global travel," Hannah Carter Owens, director of the studio, told Dezeen.

Universal Design Studio has created a series of aluminium display fixtures for the store’s three rooms and kept the existing ornate ceiling moulding and wooden parquet floors intact.

Blocky counters accommodate Rimowa’s smaller leather accessories while stepped units that run along the peripheral walls display different suitcase models. Each of these elements can be moved around as well to allow space for in-store events.

"The contemporary presentation displays products in a way that both invites user interaction and also educates on the product's components and materiality," explained the studio.

This is Rimowa’s first Berlin store set inside a listed period building along renowned shopping boulevard Kurfürstendamm. Rimowa has branches in Germany, Munich, Frankfurt, and across the rest of the world.