Designer Monica Shah, co-founder of JADE and founder of the Grassroot Artisans Project, spotlights five concept stores in London, Florence and Milan that transform shopping into a cultural experience. From LN-CC and Dover Street Market to Maurizio & Salici, 10 Corso Como and Carolina Bucci, she explores spaces where fashion, art, history and craftsmanship intersect and inspire.
In our series of RR Recommended, the newest feature comes in the shape of Monica Shah, for whom shopping is rarely just about acquiring something new. The internationally acclaimed designer and cultural entrepreneur, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of JADE and Founder of the Grassroot Artisans Project, approaches retail through the lens of design, craft, history and culture. To further our RR Recommended streak, Shah shares five stores across London, Florence and Milan that she returns to for their ability to turn shopping into a broader cultural experience. From experimental fashion and historic objects to jewellery rooted in craftsmanship, these are spaces she visits as much for inspiration as for what they sell.
London’s LN-CC occupies a distinctive space that falls within the dynamic locus of fashion, interiors, books, music and contemporary culture. For Shah, that range is precisely what makes it worth returning to. Rather than approaching the store simply as a place to shop for clothes, she sees it as a highly considered environment where different creative disciplines meet. “It always feels like stepping into a carefully curated world of ideas instead of just another retail space,” she says. Its appeal lies in that sense of discovery, with fashion sharing space with objects, publications and cultural references that invite a more expansive way of looking at design.
Florence’s long relationship with art, antiques and craftsmanship makes it a natural setting for a store such as Maurizio & Salici, which Shah visits for its collection of antiques, art and sculptures. Her interest here is less about novelty and more about objects that have accumulated meaning over time. “I have always been drawn to antiques and objects with history,” she says. The store reflects her belief that understanding the past is essential to understanding good design. Sculptures and historic objects become, in her words, reminders of “time and craftsmanship”, offering a connection to the techniques and sensibilities that shaped them.
Dover Street Market has long challenged the conventional idea of what a fashion store can be, bringing together designers and labels within an environment that is as much about presentation and ideas as it is about commerce. For Shah, its significance lies in the way it encourages a more experimental understanding of fashion. Visiting the London store allowed her to see fashion “presented in its most experimental and thought-provoking form”. More than a destination for clothing, it prompted her to reconsider the relationship between fashion, styling and visual expression, and to “look beyond the conventional form of fashion and style.”
Only a handful of establishments offer Milan’s connection between fashion, art, design and publishing quite like 10 Corso Como. Founded by Carla Sozzani, the landmark began as a gallery and expanded into a multidisciplinary space incorporating fashion, books, design and hospitality. It is this wider cultural framework that appeals to Shah. “I visit 10 Corso Como because it has always celebrated fashion within a larger cultural context,” she says. The experience is deliberately expansive, allowing fashion to exist alongside other forms of creativity rather than in isolation. For Shah, it is the kind of place where “creativity feels multidimensional” and, as she admits, she often leaves with “more inspiration (and bags)” than she arrived with.
Shah’s final recommendation turns to jewellery, with Florence-based designer Carolina Bucci. Known for pieces that place an emphasis on craftsmanship, materiality and an understated sense of individuality, Bucci’s work appeals to Shah for its ability to feel contemporary without losing a connection to traditional making. “Jewellery has always fascinated me, particularly pieces that carry a sense of craftsmanship and personality,” she says. She is drawn to the tension between permanence and modernity in Bucci’s designs, which she describes as “both timeless and contemporary”. The same character, she adds, extends to the boutiques themselves, which “emit that energy” and make the experience of encountering the jewellery feel as considered as the pieces.