“The customer is addicted to design in whatever shape it takes,” says Jonny Johansson, the creative director and co-founder of Acne Studios. The Stockholm-based fashion label’s attention to the spaces that it inhabits, from runways to its shops and offices, is indicative of the increased overlap between design, architecture and fashion. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Paris, where part of its womenswear team and a sewing atelier are based, and where the Acne Paper Palais Royal – a permanent gallery space owned by the house – opened in the first arrondissement in June. Now it is consolidating its Parisian presence with a new, design-forward headquarters on Rue des Petites Écuries.

Johansson led the repurposing of the former 1930s laboratory of French cosmetics brand Gomenol, in collaboration with Swedish design studio Halleroed. “We talked about everything, including the sinks,” he says, adding that, having known Christian Halleröd, co-founder of Halleroed, for more than 30 years, there was an ease of understanding to their collaborative process.

About 80 employees work in the Paris headquarters, spanning womenswear, merchandising, buying, finance, HR and wholesale, as well as part of the Acne Studios atelier. “We planned the layout so that there was a flow from one department to another, from the fabric developers to the designers, for example,” says Johansson. The structuring of the building’s spaces needed to account for a showroom and a fitting area, as well as the more traditional office set-up. Communal spaces such as a courtyard with a seating area and a canteen were central to his vision of what a headquarters should provide for its employees: a place to gather and discuss creative ideas. “Conversations and employees interacting make a company interesting,” he adds. “I always think that it’s a good investment.”

Throughout the space, original features such as parquet floors, a vaulted glass-tiled ceiling and gold-painted mouldings have been preserved and juxtaposed with exposed concrete and modern furniture by the likes of Lukas Gschwandtner and marble sculptures by London-based artist Daniel Silver. A pair of sofas upholstered in light-pink vinyl by UK designer Max Lamb sit in the showroom; an ultra-contemporary series of light fixtures by French artist Benoit Lalloz illuminate the canteen. “I like contrasts and buildings with history, where the past, present and future are contained in one space,” he says. “To gut out a building is like erasing history.”

“In the future, if you looked back at our brand and why we did certain things, you would see that it wasn’t just to sell clothing,” says Johansson. “There’s also the idea of being a sign of the times in a way. I’m not saying that we’ve succeeded yet but that’s the obsession.”
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