ABC Carpet & Home satisfies shoppers’ desire for chic, worldly wares for their homes. Now the new Chocolat Michel Cluizel boutique inside the store satisfies their taste buds with homemade French chocolate bars, bonbons, drinks and desserts.
New York became home to the exclusive shop when French chocolatier Michel Cluizel opened his first boutique in North America at the more-than-100-year-old Manhattan store (Broadway at 19th Street) which sells everything from carpets, drapery and antiques to handmade baby clothing and artisan toys.
Designers from Turett Collaborative Architects (New York) confronted several challenges as they transformed the area into a home fit for food. Plumbing and other structural elements had to be added and custom-engineered refrigeration units were installed with gray marble counters under glass to keep the handmade chocolates and bonbons at the right temperature and humidity.
Since the boutique is at the nexus of three restaurants, traffic flow was another consideration. “A lot of the design was influenced by the space’s location inside the store,” says design principal Wayne Turett.
Designers installed a rich, custom oval showcase made of macassar ebony in the center of the space. The pod-shaped unit plays on the shape of the cacao bean while effortlessly directing traffic through the space.
In the southwest corner, a chocolate and liquor bar (the only one in New York) features a yellow-glowing glass bartop floating on custom cantilevered metal brackets. Green mosaic glass tile with flecks of gold add a shimmering aura to the bar front and back walls.
Nearby, banquet seating, café tables and chairs covered in celadon slipcovers provide a cozy place for celebrating a successful shopping spree or refueling before hitting the aisles again.
Client: Chocolat Michel Cluizel, Paris
Design/Architecture: Turett Collaborative Architects, New York – Wayne Turett, design principal
General Contractor: Tribeca Builders, New York
Outside Design Consultant: Alain Filiz, Miami (furnishings, color, graphics consultant)
Banquet Seating: Rollhaus Bros., New York
Decorative lighting and bar tile: Ercole, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Refrigerated and non-refrigerated display cases: Parisi Royal, Newton, Pa.
Photography: Spencer Gordon, New York