LONDON — British jewelry brand Completedworks is making its own rules in setting up its first shop.
Artistic director Anna Jewsbury collaborated with London-based interior design studio Hollie Bowden on the two-floor space, which serves as an appointments-only store, showroom and office for the brand in a former pub in north Marylebone.
The 2,500-square-foot space has been coated in beige paint with hard metalware columns, door handles and a staircase with a glass rail.
“We intuitively understood what the brand needed was a carefully calibrated setting rather than an overly flashy, ‘interior-design’ approach. We focussed on two materials, lime wash and aluminum, that ran through the space,” said Bowden, who had not met Jewsbury before the project.
When Jewsbury was toying with the idea of the renovation, Bowden was the only person she contacted.
“The wraparound lime wash created a perfectly neutral frame, and with aluminum we explored the different ways the material could be manipulated to create sculptural forms and structures — folding it, hammering and welding,” said Bowden.
Jewsbury was operating and working from the space while it was under construction. She saw the place come alive gradually while it was being furnished by Byron Pritchard with a sofa from Italy and the metal pieces from Ritual Works being installed.
The intention was to create a salon concept, so that it feels more intimate, a notion that Jewsbury has carried out through the brand since launching in 2013, from the delicate silver and gold jewelry designs to the quirky take on homeware.
“One function of the development of our new showroom and workspace was to create a space which we could use to develop and participate in projects that act as catalysts for social engagement, leading to spatial and political change,” said Jewsbury.
The first series of projects she’s focusing on is bringing back the dying art of practical work.
“We want people to spend more time using their hands — to spend more time making, foraging and gardening. We started with a ceramic class in the space alongside going into a local school to run a class for the children,” said Jewsbury.