New Work: Drake’s

William Russell and John Rushworth and their teams have collaborated on the branding and store design for Drake’s gentlemen’s outfitters. The store at No. 3 Clifford Street is the first ever Drake’s shop and opened in May this year.

The challenge for this established manufacturer who had previously sold their wares online and wholesale was to create a brand presence in an area containing already well renowned and long established brands.

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New Work: MHL by Margaret Howell, Osaka

The latest iteration of fashion designer Margaret Howell’s MHL concept store opened in Osaka, Japan, in May this year. Rolling out this store involved a re-fit of a small shop unit on the second floor of a large mall adjacent to Osaka’s train main station. In the Margaret Howell spirit of good design being about ‘living with thoughtful style,’ William Russell has enlarged the space with natural light, installing a diffuser laminate window at the rear of the store allowing daylight into the fitting room lobby. The store’s storage units and furniture were specially designed and built for the space. The next MHL store opens later this year in Hokkaido with one in London following soon after.

Russell’s previous interior work with the brand includes the design of a MHL concept store in Tokyo and Margaret Howell flagship stores in the Jinnan-Shinbuya District in Tokyo, the Place de la Madeleine in Paris and Fulham Road in London.

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New Work: Attenborough Studio at The Natural History Museum

William Russell and Daniel Weil have collaborated to create the physical environment and experience for the first augmented reality theatre in the world. The Attenborough Studio is a high-tech audio-visual venue on the ground floor of the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum. The space hosts events shows and films about all aspects of life on Earth and scientific discovery.

The project is the product of a partnership between the Natural History Museum and BBC Research & Development, and is the first time augmented reality—the blending of computer graphics into real life—is being used in a high profile public space in this way.

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New Work: Cass Art Hampstead Opens

Pentagram’s long-standing relationship with Cass Art saw the opening of a fifth store on 7 August. Under the brand direction of Angus Hyland and with interiors designed by William Russell the Hampstead store marks a new phase of expansion for Cass Art, which has seen business grow 20% each year over the last 3 years.

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Angus Hyland and William Russell Featured in .Cent Magazine

.Cent is a magazine which celebrates originality, ingenuity and inventiveness within creativity; the process, the people and the product. For each issue the magazine works with a different Guest Editor who picks a theme around which all contributions are based. The “Sense of Purpose” issue was edited by Keith Reilly, Creative Director of Fabric and Matter who sought contributions from Angus Hyland and William Russell with whom he had previously collaborated on the Matter nightclub.

Hyland contributed an exploration of fractal forms, while Russell provided his “recipe for concrete.” Both designers provide quotes linking their contributions to the theme chosen by Reilly because he feels that a sense of purpose is fundamental to great art, rather than art that simply replicates. Russell states that, “Function, or sense of purpose, is critical to my work but never the complete story.” For Hyland, “A sense of purpose is required to find true meaning buried in these abstract forms.”

This issue is available now. Click here for stockists and to purchase.

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New Work: 20 Launceston Place

William Russell has undertaken a sensitive and careful remodelling of a Grade 2 listed building in Kensington London.

The building had been extended organically over the last hundred years to the point where little of the original remained barring the staircase. The project involved stripping away and cleaning up the space in order to create a four-bedroom home with large entertaining spaces.

More pictures of the house after the jump.

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New Work: MHL by Margaret Howell Tokyo Store

Last month saw the opening of a new Margaret Howell concept store in Tokyo, designed by William Russell and his team at Pentagram Architects. The latest product of Russell’s longstanding collaboration with Howell, this is the first stand-alone space for her diffusion brand MHL. The small (43m²) ground floor retail space is in the Daikanyama district and is clad externally with black steel grill panels. The interior features new display units, cash desk and furniture with a warehouse style storage wall behind the counter.

William Russell’s previous interior work with Margaret Howell includes the Place de la Madeleine store in Paris and award-winning Fulham Road store in London.

A look inside the new MHL store after the jump.

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New Work: Margaret Howell

Tonight, a special launch event will mark the opening of Margaret Howell’s first store in mainland Europe, in Paris’ Place de la Madeleine. Margaret Howell Paris and the recent refurbishment of an existing store in the Jinnan-Shibuya district of Tokyo are the latest product of a ten-year creative relationship between Pentagram Architect William Russell and Margaret Howell, during which the pair have defined an award-winning interior style that is soon to be introduced throughout the clothing designer’s 66 stores in Japan.

“For the past ten years I have worked with Will Russell on the design of our shop interiors,” says Howell. “Whilst incorporating my ideas, Will always adds something that just wouldn’t occur to me—a special spatial vision—resulting in a rewarding and successful working relationship.”

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William Russell Shortlisted for the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool

Quick Link: William Russell Shortlisted for the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool

New Work: Matter

A multidisciplinary team led by William Russell and Angus Hyland has created the name, identity and interior architecture for Matter, a live music venue that sits under the iconic domed roof of London’s O2 Centre.

Arranged over three floors, with a capacity of 2,600 and equipped with state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment, Matter is set to become a major landmark in London’s contemporary music scene.

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