Whenever I step into Solange Azagury-Partridge boutique, I feel like Alice as she passes through the looking-glass and falls into a new magical world. When I visited the opening night of the flagship store on Carlos Place, which, incidentally, is nothing like any other jewellery shop you would have seen before, this sensation only grew stronger.
Spacious halls are spread over two floors and filled with the bright contrasting colours of a painter’s palette. Solange has showered the floors with stars and rainbows. In fact, she used them to decorate everything from her carpets to her star-shaped window displays. Every item in this extravagant boutique resembles unique objets d’art, opening a door into the phantasmagorical world of Solange. This is a world filled with succulent hues of green, crimson and red, the colours of the designer’s favourite gemstones – rubies and emeralds.
All of the masterpieces which are created by this British designer are made under one roof. In fact, Solange’s jewellery workshops and studio are in the building as the show-rooms.
It isn’t often that, when visiting a shop, one can actually immerse oneself in the world of the designer and feel part of it. I was fortunate enough to experience this and at the opening gala party I came to the conclusion that Solange’s boutique is far from your standard jewellery shop; it deserves to be listed amongst London’s other famous sights which need to be seen to be believed.
Photos courtesy of Solange Azagury-Partridge
