-By Danine Alati, Photography by Mikiko Kikuyama and Janson Goldstein

A typical Soho loft space often has such untapped potential—tall ceilings, an open and airy quality, exposed materials like wood, brick, and ductwork. It's the sort of interior that conjures up vivid mental imagery simply upon mention of the words. When TSE Cashmere sought a New York locale for a freestanding store, it knew it had scored something special when it happened upon the quintessential Soho loft. The unique, found space allowed New York-based Janson Goldstein to play with the interiors to create a retail environment perfectly suited to the TSE brand.

Founded in 1989 by Augustine Tse as a cashmere retailer and wholesaler, TSE was intended to make what was perceived as a luxury item more accessible to the greater public. Now, the TSE brand has reinvented itself to focus on quality collections of knitwork, transforming the business from item-driven to more lifestyle-driven collections. As such, the company sought out a space in New York that would reflect its brand and its original mission "to continue to be a laboratory for ideas and innovations." When Tse found this Soho loft, he knew it was the ideal locale to house his brand. And just at the same time, he decided to open a TSE shop in Saks Fifth Avenue and charged Janson Goldstein with designing this simultaneous project.

"The new store had to reflect the character of our knitwear product and also that of the loft space, playing on shape and texture, with a modern sensibility and clean lines," explains Alyson Day, vice president of marketing for TSE. "We wanted to achieve a light, airy feel, with a palette and texture that references cashmere." The highly textural wall panels were a key component in the design scheme to accurately translate the tactile quality of the merchandise, according to Rita Roffe, vice president of retail at TSE. "The wall panels were a big deal," she says. "It was a long process—and a true partnership—collaborating with Janson Goldstein, and once we defined the textural wall element, it helped inform the character of the store."

Janson Goldstein had been working with TSE for years to develop concepts for stores, and Steven Scuro, a partner at Janson Goldstein, knew that the raw aesthetic of this Soho loft would afford his team the opportunity "to create a backdrop that would reinforce the modern, luxurious forms, and allow the clothes to come through as the focus of the space." Previously, the space was very dark and heavily cluttered with dropped ceilings and painted floors. "This is a beautiful space and quite a find," Scuro says, "but it had to be stripped down to the essentials to clean up the architecture, and then we inserted fixturing to reflect the aesthetic and sensibility of TSE." To reveal the potential of the interior architecture, the designers exposed and sandblasted the existing brick walls and left them in their most natural state. They also stripped, bleached, and refinished the existing oak floors and exposed and reorganized existing ductwork and piping to achieve a true loft aesthetic.

In stark contrast to the raw existing materials, the designers inserted sleek, highly lacquered, white-finished wall panels and gently curved satin stainless-steel fixturing. In some areas sloping bars hang from the ceiling to allow merchandise to float, and other displays feature clothing on freestanding racks. A fixture box that also appears to be floating mixes stainless steel, glass, and white lacquer materials and delineates space in the main retail floor, while still maintaining a visual connection. Two rows of adjustable lighting in the ceiling, as well as backlight wall fixtures, highlight merchandise and enhance the bright, open aesthetic.

A combination of the shape of the floor plate and the store merchandising helped dictate the layout of the interiors. Quite narrow at the entry with a door that could not be relocated in this historic landmark building, the typical long and slender Soho space widens from front to back. Within these confines, designers had to accommodate three TSE brand categories: the TSE line at the front and the men's line and TSEsay, which is the contemporary line, split in the wider area in the back. "We wanted to maintain sight lines from the street, but we didn't want to create a fishbowl effect," Scuro explains. "We want visibility from passersby on the sidewalk while still maintaining a little mystery." Day adds, "Good circulation was crucial to giving the customer a sense of direction, but in a casual way, that would allow them to logically flow through the store and see the complete product offering upon entry."

The point of view in Soho and the Saks store-in-store is the same, according to Scuro, but the challenge with the Saks locale was that the designers were bound by department store standards for flooring and finishes. However, Janson Goldstein ensured that the palette, fixturing, and wall systems of the Saks location would match the Soho store. They also had to devise a creative means for articulating the TSE logo within Saks, which they accomplished by applying it to one of the white, vertical wall panels to successfully express the brand in the department store.

Satisfied with what his design team did to convert the formerly dark, cluttered Soho antique shop into a bright, lofty retail venue showcasing luxury knitwear, Scuro is reluctant to call the freestanding TSE project a "transformation." "We had to able to see the old space, anticipate what it could be, take what we had, and express that vision," he says. "We just opened up the space, and let it breathe—in essence transforming it back to what it always should have been."




who
Project: TSE Soho and TSE Saks Fifth Avenue, NYC Flagship. Client: TSE (Soho—Rita Roffe, Eddie Murray, David Altman; Saks Fifth Avenue, NYC Flagship—Alyson Day, Eddie Murray). Architect, interior  designer: Janson Goldstein; Steven Scuro, Yuji Yamazaki (Soho), Camaal Benoit (Saks). Structural engineer: Robert Silman Associates (Soho). Mechanical/electrical engineer: Rosini Engineering (Soho). General contractor: Vanguard Construction & Development Co. (Soho); Creative Corp. (Saks). Lighting designer: Lighting Consultants. Millworker/ fixture contractor: Encore Retail Systems; Steve Cain. Photographer: Mikiko Kikuyama (Soho), Janson Goldstein (Saks).

what
Paint: Benjamin Moore. Masonry: existing brick walls. Flooring: existing oak floor (soho); StoneTile (Saks). Lighting fixtures: Edison Price/Bartco. Glass: Galaxy Glass. Window treatments: Techmatic Window Shades. Seating: Fritz Hansen. Upholstery: Kvadrat. Fitting room curtains/cushions (Saks): Custom Colored Cashmere by TSE (fabrication by Edward’s Interiors). Display fixtures: Encore Retail Systems. Wood: white oak. Metal: satin stainless steel. Lacquered panels: Contour Milled Pattern produced by Associated Fabrications; Finish and fabrication by Encore.

where
Location: New York, NY. Total floor area (Soho): 3780 sq. ft. No. of floors (Soho): 2 (main floor is selling; lower level is stock). Typical floor size (Soho):  2,100 sq. ft. (selling floor). Total floor area (Saks): 615 sq. ft.