Vila Sofa store, Amsterdam

11 May 2009

Vila Sofa store, Amsterdam

Dutch design practice tjep has worked magic on a humble sofa store in Amsterdam, creating character, and adding energy and a little amazement to the space with a warehouse aesthetic and a touch of humor.

Key facts

PROJECT: Vila Sofa store, Amsterdam
DESIGNER: Tjep
CLIENT: Roobol
SIZE: 1,400 sq m
COST: Undisclosed

Project description

There’s something enchanting and a little surreal about the Vila Sofa furniture store in Amsterdam, where a huge white wall with oversized cutouts of chandeliers, dollhouse windows and fairytale balconies evokes a ‘magical villa’.

It’s the work of Dutch multidisciplinary designer Tjep, founded by Frank Tjepkema (‘a name so unpronounceable it needed a design intervention’), and inspiration came from the company’s guarantee to deliver all display furniture within 48 hours. Tjepkema says: ‘We took the aesthetic of a warehouse as a metaphor for speed, combining functional materials like plywood, which is often use to make crates, with high-end glossy finishes.’

This charming and eccentric design cleverly blends the warehouse aesthetic with quirky, humorous elements. In the store’s main space sofas are displayed on stages made of pine while, on the first floor, large MDF room dividers in the shape of packaging symbols create intimate display areas for the sofas without obscuring them from view.

Feature lighting has been incorporated into these symbols, combining a theatrical aesthetic, reminiscent of the lighting around a dressing-room mirror, with the intimate lighting of a living room. Panels printed with floral designs and graphic wall-stickers create a homely feel, helping customers to imagine how the furniture might look in their own place, while carpets with large, bold patterns, such as checks and spots, give the feeling of a magical, oversized house.

As well as looking unique, the store is also a really comfortable place for customers to spend time and relax while they shop for sofas. Picnic tables on the main shop floor are the perfect place for families to discuss – or argue over – which sofa to buy. In fact, you don’t even have to leave the sofa of your choice to pay for it, as staff wheel over specially designed mobile cash registers.

‘Ultimately we are designing to add a little quality, energy and amazement to the world,’ says Tjepkema.

Project suppliers