Salon Architects have designed a new store for the sustainable clothing brand Reflect Studio. Located in Istanbul, the space embodies a fluid approach to design that focuses on upcycling, recycling and repair culture alongside a healthy dose of innovative processes and materiality.

Recycled metal, terrazzo flooring, a frozen textile stool, a water ripple changing unit, sigma profile hangers, a green aeroplane-wing bench, and AI-generated furniture are just some of the futuristic elements that make up the interior.

The experimental use of production waste was put to the test. Waste aluminium parts became the aggregate of the recycled metal terrazzo flooring, creating a durable and maintenance-free element. Leftover fabrics from the textile production phases were fixed with resin and transformed into a Frozen Textile Stool. Plastic packaging bags that accumulated as a result of the production process are recycled and turned into epoxy resin shelves.

“Rather than designing the finished objects, we adopted a generative process that mimics nature’s evolutionary approach,” elaborates Salon Director Alper Derinboğaz. Operating an iterative process to generate furniture forms designed by AI, the team employed boat-building technology to transform these digital forms into physical objects.

For example, the water ripple changing room was fabricated through a stamping process of reflective steel sheets. The surface blurs all the contours inside and evokes disillusionment of the body in space.

With a sense of optimism, the retail interior aims to provide an updated portrayal of nature and our relationship with it.