Peter Marino on Designing Chanel’s New York Watches and Fine Jewelry Flagship

On February 9 on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Chanel opened its first watches and fine jewelry flagship store in the United States. Designed by the brand’s longtime collaborator, the New York–based architect Peter Marino, the jewel box evokes Gabrielle Chanel’s artistic aesthetic and personal home through contemporary artworks, antiques, commissioned lighting and furniture design, and more. Inside, an extension of the brand’s high jewelry workshop at 18 Place Vendôme in Paris unfolds, greeting guests to a celebration of savoir faire across two floors. 

A luxurious entryway of black-and-gold lacquer paneling first reels visitors into a double-height ceiling gallery with gilded walls and artworks and antiques galore. There, rock crystal Dream Catcher chandeliers by Goossens, wooden lotus bouquets from Japan’s Edo period, face masks by André Derain, and furniture by André Dubreuil glimmer amid glimmer amid Chanel’s finest creations. Also downstairs are two fine jewelry salons—revealing a Regency-era mirror, an ebonized wood writing desk, and gems in cases aplenty—and one watch salon, showcasing a polyptych wall collage unfolding across 13 panels of gold leaf on linen canvas by Y.Z. Kami. 

Radiant Design Debuts Include Chanel’s 100th Anniversary 55.55-Carat Diamond Necklace

Upstairs, the mezzanine floor hosts two additional fine jewelry salons adorned with more details inspired by Chanel: tweed lamps by Delos & Ubiedo, Ming dynasty–era ceramics, a Louis XV desk by Jacques Dubois, a wood wall piece by Louise Nevelson, a panel piece by Anna-Eva Bergman, a portrait of Mademoiselle Chanel by Vik Muniz, coromandel screens from Japan, bronze box sculptures by Marino, and more. In line with other Chanel watches and fine jewelry, the space also features items from the brand’s archive, curated by the house’s historians. Special for the opening was the presence of a 55.55-carat diamond necklace—designed two years ago for the hundredth anniversary of the Chanel N°5 fragrance to mimic the shape of the perfume’s bottle—as well as other archival pieces for viewing, an exclusive “Eternal N°5” high jewelry collection for sale, and the pre-launch of the “Lion Solaire de Chanel” collection. 

Whitewall spoke with Marino to hear how he approached creating the decadent space, co-curating the art, and remaining inspired by Chanel after over 30 years of artistic collaboration.

WHITEWALL: When walking into the space, the first surprise is the expansive double-height ceiling, hosting mezzanines. Why did you decide to divide the space this way? 

PETER MARINO: We built a double mezzanine in the back of both halves. There are two column bases. It was tricky because the ceiling height was 17 feet in the large space. We needed more square feet, so I split the back into two rooms. You don’t feel that because I let them open to the 17-foot-high ceiling. We had to use special six-inch beams to have thin slabs so that you’d get over eight feet in the two back rooms. Then I did the same thing on the other half where the staircase is. We divided it right in half, and it was very delicate work because we needed extra VIP rooms upstairs. That gave it, gratefully, a very cozy feeling in the back and very grand in the front. We had to build the elevator, the staircase. It was a heavy construction job.

A Dazzling Color Palette Unfolds, Inspired by Gabrielle Chanel’s Apartment

WW: What details of Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment did you draw inspiration from first?

PM: The color palette—a beautiful color from her coromandel screens, this purplish black, that I think is really sexy. Then, of course, she loves gold. Her dining room’s gold, her library’s gold. She uses gold touches everywhere, so I splashed gold around. In a jewelry store, it feels okay. And then, her classic white and black. The fireplace in her library is white and she has black trim in her Venetian furniture. 

WW: Do you feel you relate to Madamoiselle Chanel? 

PM: There are a couple of ways I relate to Chanel. It’s very, very personal. She was a modernist who understood that to enhance modernity and not make it vapid and blank, you need to put something incredibly Baroque into it. In her library, she has two huge Venetian carvings that are about two feet wide—gold and twisted. You can’t imagine anything more Baroque.

This thing that she loved was a complete wackadoodle contrast to modernity. But it was the contrast that nobody else was clever enough to do. People would never dare to have something completely modern and completely Baroque. I respond to that. I find it so strong. Different, original. 

It’s in her clothing and her personal style. What I find amazing is that she was born over 100 years ago and is totally still relevant today. It’s sort of unheard of in the fashion world. That’s what I try to do. Modern architecture, modern spaces. I’m a fanatic about the proportions of spaces—the length, the width, the height. And in very modern, simple venues, I’ll throw in Baroque Venetian mirrors. That’s what her dining room is. She has burlap that’s she’s painted a very pale gold, on top of which she puts a collection of off-the-charts Venetian mirrors. She doesn’t use damask or silk. It couldn’t be simpler. This contrast I find really exhilarating.

“What I find amazing is that she was born over 100 years ago and is totally still relevant today. It’s sort of unheard of in the fashion world,”

Peter Marino

WW: Some other antique pieces we were struck by were antiques, like the wooden lotus Edo period pieces and Tang and Ming dynasty–era ceramics.

PM: Ugh, those are amazing. Those I collect from Japan. Whenever I see them, I buy them. About one per year. They’re carved out of wood, then gilded with liquid gold. How crazy is that? And they’re sitting on my own bronze boxes that I make. I’m very proud that Chanel is showcasing those. 

There are also incredible lamps, one pale green and one jade green. Chanel really loved Orientalism and the objects she collected were timeless. She had ancient heads, Hellenistic Egyptian—about 350 BC. So, I put three Greek vases from about 350 in there. She also liked this sense of history and continuity. I put heads by one of my favorite artists in there, André Dubreuil—black and white terracotta stone ones. And photographs by Vera Lutter and Wolfgang Tillmans. 

WW: What was your starting point for curating the artworks? 

PM: I wanted to promote five women artists and five men artists. Then, I gathered my ideas—I got a portfolio together in my head of about 15 to 20—and presented them to the owners for budget approval. They have to be comfortable with it and ensure it reflects the brand. 

I chose the Iranian American artist Y.Z. Kami because of his love of gold and his work with gold leaf. It was very, very strong. I liked it. And the Swedish artist Anna-Eva Bergman’s piece I liked. She was also experimenting with gold and gold leaf. It was also a strong touch of Chanel. The Vera Lutter was very Venice, matching with Gabrielle Chanel’s strong love of Venice, so that was an easy one. And then I put the Wolfgang Tillmans in this black lacquer. The simplicity in the folded piece of paper was the ultimate modern touch. You had to have something that modern in the boutique. They were all relevant to the story. 

WW: For most of the fashion stores you build, you also curate the art inside, which is rare for an architect. How has this evolved? 

PM: I have my own foundation that I curate three times a year, have curated many other fashion boutiques, and have museum shows all over the world. I am curatorial. I was a fine arts student before I went to architecture school, so I come to design from a fine art background. 

I’m not one of those people who said, “I want to be an architect” from the age of 11. Not at all. I wanted to be a painter and sculptor. I went to Cornell—the college for fine arts and architecture was combined. And it felt like architecture was a harder game to play and be good at. Of course, there are great sculptors and they’re very hard to produce, but architecture is a lot more complex and challenging. I figured, “What the heck? I’ll give it a shot.”

WW: Do you still feel like you’re exercising your sculptor hand by making the bronze boxes?

PM: Yes, I make my bronze boxes every month. I’ve made over fifty. I love working at a foundry. I may not be creating [Auguste] Rodins, but I think my boxes will probably last longer than my buildings. [Laughs] 

WW: You’ve taken many references that are quintessentially “Chanel,” and highlighted them in new form, like Chanel’s love of tweed, gold, and even rock crystal.

PM: Gabrielle Chanel loved rock crystal! She had a collection of crystal bowls on her coffee table. That was an easy one for me, rock crystal and gold. And the tweed lamps were made specially to twinkle like her. Those are pretty special. 

I have a pretty free hand. With a boutique like that, I’ll present two or three times over the course of 15 months to show them what I’m doing. I’ve worked for the brand for 30 years, so hopefully there is a large trust factor. They have a great deal of confidence in me, which I appreciate. It’s wonderful when you have a client that goes, “Go!” The synergy is very, very, very strong. The owners of Chanel gave a great amount of artistic freedom to Karl Lagerfeld, and they have similarly extended that to me, saying, “You’re the artist, not us.” And it’s wonderful to work that way. 

“The owners of Chanel gave a great amount of artistic freedom to Karl Lagerfeld, and they have similarly extended that to me,”

Peter Marino

WW: Although you’ve worked with various fashion houses to build their homes, you’ve worked with Chanel for over 30 years. What’s special about the brand? The woman?

PM: I respond to it on a very personal level. She grew up in a convent, and there couldn’t have been cleaner, purer, less decorated architecture, which is what I like. And yet she had a great imagination. She could close her eyes and go. I’m a little in that same camp. To do a little bragging, I have one of the best collections of Baroque bronze sculptures from the Renaissance. That’s kind of nutty for a modern architect. It’s that combination—Baroque objects and modern. I moved into my apartment, and painted everything white, but with 48 bronzes. On that level, the modern architecture with lack of little trim and details, where you let the objects themselves sing, I think that’s the best.

WW: What are your homes like? Your homes in Manhattan, Southampton, and Aspen? 

PM: My Aspen home is completely the year 2000, made of three materials: stucco, cedar, and black slate. The whole house. Ultra-modern. There, I have something I’m very proud of—a collection of [Anselm] Kiefer. My 20 Kiefers. It’s pretty strong.

My other sculptures are at home in New York City, and I put about 7 to 10 of them in the foundation. Different ones each summer. That’s just white walls and the bulk of my art collection. [Willem] de Kooning, Hans Klein, [Rudolf] Stingel, [Mark] Rothko, [Andy] Warhol, [Cy] Twombly. I don’t want to sound . . . [Laughs] It’s a good collection, that’s all I can say! I’ve been collecting art my entire life. 

My Southampton home is completely 1900. I built the house in English arts and crafts style. It has over 1,200 pieces of ceramics from 1900. 

WW: Do you remember the first piece you collected?

PM: Yes. I was an architecture student, and I spent all five years in the summer working as an intern at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. I was 18 or 19. I ran around the corner to a gallery named Pace/MacGill. Today, it’s just Pace. I bought two Lucas Samaras pieces, and I still have them. I remember going into the gallery, wondering if I could afford it, and the answer was no. But I now have a few collections that have turned out to be very valuable. I have the world’s largest collection of Les Lalanne, about 40 at the foundation, and they’ve become very valuable. But they were my house guests at home in Southampton for 12 years; we were friends. I didn’t buy them as an investment. I don’t view art as an investment. I view art as the best way you can spend the money you work hard for. It’s not an investment, and I’m not a trader.

“I don’t view art as an investment. I view art as the best way you can spend the money you work hard for,”

–Peter Marino

WW: Your collaborations with Chanel continue this summer, as you’re opening over 10 new boutiques for the brand in China, as well as ones in Saint-Tropez and Nice, and renovating Gabrielle Chanel’s home in La Pausa. What details can you share?

PM: The Saint-Tropez space opens in June in an old house they bought. I don’t want it to look like any other Chanel store I’ve done in the world. It’s not a typical Chanel, no typical Chanel furniture. I’m renovating her house that she built in La Pausa, in the South of France, so this store is more like that, which will be really interesting. It will have quite a different look.