Isern Serra designs the new Thinking Mu shop in Barcelona as a meeting place, offering a singular aesthetic experience.

Thinking Mu is a sustainable fashion brand, created in Barcelona, recognised for its commitment to the environment and its ethical production. They use ecological materials such as organic cotton, hemp and recycled fibres to minimise the environmental impact of their products. Ethical production is a fundamental pillar of the brand, which ensures fair and safe working conditions throughout its supply chain, promoting a responsible type of textile industry, with full transparency, continually seeking new ways to reduce its ecological footprint.

Isern Serra has created the interior design of this shop focusing on art and design with the aim of creating a meeting place open to the city, sustainable and inspired by the Mediterranean, which invites interaction and exchange.

With its glass façade, the shop opens up to the city, making its products visible and acting as eye-catching pieces of art, along with the illuminated sign with the brand’s symbol and a counter that allows coffee to be served to those who pass in front of the shop.

In front of this café area, the interior designer has placed two terracotta-coloured building platforms as a showcase and a guide for the visitor to the interior.

Inside are the custom-designed display units which, together with the rest of the furniture and the products sold by the brand, are conceived as sculptural pieces, true works of art.

This first space features a large work table with a micro-cement finish and an original modern-style iron shelf for displaying products. To hang the clothes, Serra has designed iron bars supported on a solid rock and a spherical base, symbolising the brand’s identity, where nature and modernity are fundamental drivers of design and offering a singular aesthetic experience.

The highlight of the shop’s design is a terracotta-coloured tunnel with a vaulted ceiling that communicates with the interior space and is replicated by a mirror in front of it. The terracotta finish is achieved using a clay mortar paint, a sustainable product with much less environmental impact than conventional paint. The dreamlike atmosphere created by this tunnel helps to generate a sensory experience of its own for exploration and the play of perception and imagination.

The tunnel gives access to a large space for events and presentations, with amphitheatre-style seating and a simulated skylight with backlit fabric. In the centre of the space is a sculpture by Sara Regal that functions as a low exhibition table. This piece was created from the rubble generated after the refurbishment, in line with the brand’s goal of sustainability.

The fitting rooms at the end of the shop feature sculptural walls, spaces that not only offer privacy but also maintain the aesthetic and artistic coherence of the shop’s overall design.

Isern Serra has reflected the brand’s values in the design of these welcoming spaces, with artistic elements and careful lighting that make this shop an inspiring place where design and functionality meet.

Project: Thinking Mu Rosello.
Interior design: Isern Serra
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Team Leader: Aasheen Mittal
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Location: Barcelona
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Completion: 2023
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Styling: Aasheen Mittal
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Metalwork: Aluminis Cabestany
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Carpentry: Fusteria J. Vidal
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Partners:
 Signs: Rexlan
. Lamp Zona Café: Flowerpot de &tradition
. Stones: Barbany Artesans. 
Tiered area lamp: Colia de Santa & Cole. 
Central table for tiered space: Sara Regal (Vasto Gallery)

Photography: Salva López.

Isern Serra

Isern Serra studied at Eina (Barcelona) and after completing his final year at the Politecnico di Milano he moved to Belgium where he worked for the company Fractal developing projects for international companies. In 2005 he returns to Barcelona to work in Antoni Arola’s studio where he discovers how to work with light and awakens his interest in exhibition spaces.

In 2008 he opened his own studio in Barcelona’s 22@ neighbourhood, from where, in collaboration with creatives from different disciplines, he carries out architecture, interior and industrial design projects. He believes that being able to carry out projects from different points of view, scales and nationalities improves the final result.

He is a versatile designer capable of tackling projects ranging from exhibitions, offices, shops and restaurants, and his clients are from the public sector, such as Sala Canal Isabel II, BCD, Palau Robert, and the private sector, such as la Caixa, CaixaForum, CosmoCaixa and Mediapro.

The projects are carried out with simplicity and honesty, giving the light an identity of their own that allows them to give each project a unique character.

He combines his professional career with teaching, giving classes and workshops at schools such as Elisava and IED. His work has been exhibited in cities such as Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Dusseldorf, Mexico City and Beijing and has been published in specialised magazines in the sector. He has been invited as a speaker on several occasions, including an invitation from ICEX to present his work at the “Beijing design week 2014”.

Source: Isern Serra.

Project by Isern Serra