CUBITTS ISLINGTON
EYEWEAR STORE INTERIOR, ISLINGTON LONDON
A gallery befitting spectacles, the design of Cubitts Islington is a response to the painterly perspective of the building at 56 Cross Street and the area’s artistic character, with nods to surrealism and Italian modernism dotted throughout. 

A vast skylight spills natural light, evoking the artist’s studio or modern gallery. Spectacles line a single Nile glass shelf stretching the length of the space, each given its due as object worthy of reflection. In a space characterised by its perspectival depth and tapering walls, the design looks to the characteristic architectural ambiguity of European surrealism. In particular, the paintings of Kay Sage, with their extreme vanishing points, provide a surprising geometry and colour palette of buttery yellow and aquatic greens. 

Photographic works by Lee Miller cast the store through her surrealist lens, underlining a fascination with depth, light, and shadows. A group of FontanaArte prism-like pieces enhance the reverence for glass. 

Photography by Ludovic Balay