SMART DESIGN: SHOP 'TIL YOU STOP AND LOOK UP - DISTINCTIVE INTERIOR DESIGN AT LOUIS VUITTON IN PARIS!

Ceiling inside the atrium of the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysee in Paris, France (above)

When I first arrived in Paris on Sunday, somehow I ended up at the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysee with my mother.

As you might already know, this flagship Louis Vuitton store is pretty much the only retail store open on Sunday on the Champs Elysee because they have constructed a "museum" of sorts (if you can call a bunch of screening rooms and a library filled with about 20 books a museum) on the store's 7th Floor, allowing the venerable retail institution to circumvent the venerable French laws which force other stores on the famed boulevard to be closed on Sunday.

Anyhoo, the store's remodel was revealed in 2005 and has been lauded for its design as much as it has been highly criticized as being architecturally uninspired and being a gaudy display.

I actually found the store's design entertaining and thought one of the interior design elements in particular absolutely stunning. The atrium ceiling as pictured in this post is that amazing design element. It has been photographed before, talked about and seen...but for some reason, when I tried to photograph the ceiling, a guard stopped me and said that photo taking was "interdit". Before being "interdit", I did manage to snap a few pictures of this amazing atrium ceiling.

Exterior of the flagship Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysee (above)

The store's atrium, designed by American architect Eric Carlson, is adorned with huge hanging metal rods that seem to be suspended in air. The atrium is several stories high. Although the atrium ceiling and hanging steel rods are not quite conical in shape, a mirrored wall creates a reflection that gives the feeling that this partial cone is in fact complete.




The atrium ceiling is inconspicuously located in a small room leading to the "museum". If you don't look up, you could miss this awesome sight (but for me making such a big deal about the ceiling, many of the store's patrons would have missed seeing it. I saw many of them looking at me as if I was truly a crazy girl, standing in the middle of the Louis Vuitton store practically doing a backbend, looking upwards with a strange grin on my face...what I saw though is that when they looked up, they were just as delighted).



Look up, look down, notice what's around you...you might be pleasantly surprised.

All photos in this post by Coco of Nbaynadamas

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Write by: AN - Thursday, August 28, 2008