Think pink
Designer and architect Cristina Celestino delves into The Pink Closet and creates nothing but pure joy.
Just a stone’s throw from one of the world’s most elegant hotels sits a shop so playful, so joyfully reverent of the sea, it’s as if Ariel grew up, ditched Prince Eric and became a niche influencer with her own chic store on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Designed by Cristina Celestino, The Pink Closet is an addition to the fabled hotel Palazzo Avino. The palazzo, on the heights of cliff-edged Ravello, has played host to the likes of composer Richard Wagner in the 19th century and screen siren Ingrid Bergman in the 20th.
“I like to think of my interior projects as a juxtaposition of functional and aesthetic elements — a multitude of interventions made of different materials and colours that create a unique harmony,” says Celestino, and The Pink Closet is a striking example. Textural contrasts pit ceramic tiles against brass chandeliers and micro-mosaics of marble and mirror. There are also many elements that Celestino designed rather than sourced — it’s a lesson in singular vision.
It’s also pink — very pink. But the use of colour isn’t about catering to the millennials. It affirms the relationship of the shop with the Palazzo Avino, also known for its pink hues. “Pink served as a starting point for the project — to establish a dialogue and perfect harmony with the building,” says the designer. “The unmistakable colour is synonymous with the ‘Pink Palace’ of Ravello.”
Given the shop’s seaside locale, the ocean also played a major role in inspiring Celestino’s design. “I played with reflecting surfaces, such as antiqued mirrors and accessories, that recall the surface of the sea,” says the architect. Even the polychromatic marble flooring evokes the ocean floor with its shifting palette of aquamarine, Liberty green and Aegean pink. ››
‹‹ Some of the most striking features are the walls themselves. “I partially covered the walls in ceramic shells — Rocaille tiles I designed for Fornace Brioni — in a mixture of pale green and pink,” says Celestino. As the shelving reaches its apex, the shells recede into the sandy texture of the 12th-century heritage wall, like a beachy simulacrum for the Instagram age.
Complementary contrast was key for the designer. “I was interested in creating a mix of shiny and matte materials. For example, the matte nude pink of the nubuck leather in the low cabinet generates an attractive contrast with the glazed pink ceramic of the shells.”
The central island, which serves as a platform for items that require glassed-in protection, bears multiple finishes. “The central island is one of my favourite items,” says Celestino. “It is a functional microarchitecture covered in mirrors on the side facing the entrance and in soft nubuck leather on the side facing the fitting room.”
The architect has even carefully considered the fitting room, an area so often overlooked in shop design. After all, it’s the one space in which you are alone, where you stand still and reflect. “I love the fitting room,” says Celestino. “It is a soft, padded niche, covered in a decorated carpet I designed for Besana Carpet Lab called Nebula that recalls a dreamlike vision in which fantastic nature lives submerged in an aquatic environment.”
But Amalfi’s rovers don’t just come to this store for the interior. “The Pink Closet is a curation of treasured objects, collated to inspire and be admired,” says the designer. “It re-imagines the concept of a traveller’s closet, comprising everything from ready-to-wear clothes to homewares and lifestyle objects.” Inside, shoppers can find clothing from The Attico, Saloni and Mantero, among others; shoes by the likes of Sara Battaglia and Giannico; and a curated range of accessories by designers such as Katerina Psoma, Katerina Makriyianni, Bluetiful, Leontine Vintage and Officina del Poggio.
It is, at its essence, a cabinet of curiosities — what Celestino defines as “feminine Wunderkammer staging.” It’s safe to say that this is not your average hotel shop. cristinacelestino.com
“I played with reflecting surfaces, such as antiqued mirrors and accessories, that recall the surface of the sea”