dramatic shop windows bring the tropics to urban Barcelona...
Walking up and down Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia last week, there was one shop window that habitually caught our eye; we’re used to all manner of innovative, arty window installations, but there’s something strangely captivating about the 100m2 vertical garden staring right back at you from Replay’s Barcelona flagship. Having been working on such projects since 2004, Swedish landscape architect Michael Hellgren has garnered somewhat of an international reputation for his mesmerising vertical garden installations, and if this lavish, tropical wonder is anything to go by then his accolades are justly deserved. There’s all manner of begonias, ferns and aroids involved in Hellgren’s installation for the Italian denim brand – the latest in a line of European flagship stores for the label, led by architects Studio 10 – but let’s not pretend we know the slightest bit about all that; it’s the drama and the presence that enchanted us and here’s hoping it does you too…