Urban Oasis

Three years in the making, Donna Karan's collection store opened lastweek at 819 Madison Avenue in New York. The design of the10,600-square-foot space was a collaborative effort among Donna Karan'sexecutive vp and corporate creative director Trey Laird, senior directorof store design Dominic Kozerski, Kramer Hutchison, a retail design firmin New York, and lighting designer Arnold Chang of Isometrix (London).

The well-lit space has a decidedly elegant, Zen-like feel. Simple,elegant materials – limestone flooring, wenge-wood fixtures, aglass-sided staircase – are a dramatic backdrop to the merchandise.Special features include a garden, complete with bamboo grove, twomassive stone chairs (sculpted by Japanese artist Izumi Masatoshi) andan indoor-outdoor pool filled with black granite stones and lotuses.One-of-a-kind items Donna Karan has collected in her travels areinterspersed throughout the main floor, including pashmina throws, chesssets, gardening tools, bowls and ceramics. Mannequins display some ofher collection on the main floor, but most of the clothing is upstairs;men's is at the top of the staircase and women's is on the third floor.

The store is housed in an 1852 three-story brownstone. Originally adoctor's private residence, it was later turned into a retail space.Karan funded the store out-of-pocket, through a private company calledUrban Zen.