Warby Parker
121 Greene Street
New York
Tel: 646.568.3720
Designer: Partners & Spade
Warby Parker—the American eyeglass brand named after two people who figure in Jack Kerouac’s personal journals—recently hired New York City creative works studio Partners & Spade to design its first flagship retail store in Soho.
Anthony Sperduti and Andy Spade, co-founders of the studio, sought a style that would embody the sophistication, simplicity, and intellectual appeal associated with the brand. “Taking the cue from the origination of the brand’s name, the space was inspired by classic library and reading room designs, referencing not only materials, but organizing principals, replacing books with eyewear,” Sperduti told AN.
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The designers outfitted the storefront space with rolling ladders crafted by Putnam Rolling Ladder, custom-made brass library lamps, long, white-painted wood tables, and Rosewood shelves lined with old books purchased from the Strand bookstore. Customers can browse Warby Parker’s eyeglass selection the same way they would browse books in a library. An open skylight at the back of the store floods the space with natural daylight, which nourishes plants that overflow from custom-built vases. The seating areas feature mid-century furniture, while a terrazzo floor with a laid-in logo lends the brand a sense of old fashioned permanence.