Dicentra Wholesale Flower Store in Kiev by Rina Lovko Studio.

Within a monumental warehouse, Rina Lovko Studio carved out a 300sqm retail space for wholesale flower company Dicentra in Kiev, Ukraine. The brief required two large refrigerators, one for cut flowers, and another for potted plants. Also needed was a reception area for managers, a workplace for florists, utility rooms with a kitchen, and a shared bathroom for guests and staff.

A former workshop, the Soviet-era building is similar to a hangar, all open space with no partitions. A tight budget, expansive area and imminent deadlines meant the designers looked to non-standard solutions. They began by transforming the space into a concrete shell, pouring it over asphalt floors and removing whitewashed plaster and green oil paint from the walls. Once the paint and plaster were gone, the walls were covered with a primer and then a glaze, creating a textured and untouched appearance, as if this is the way the building had always been.

The two refrigerators are inserted into the space as cubes made of aluminium, faced with plywood sheets, and equipped with sliding doors, motion sensors and windows. Inside, the refrigerators are painted a graphite colour in order to make the flowers look brighter and more appealing in contrast, encouraging sales. Architectural lighting ensures the flowers look brighter still. Lighting in general throughout the space is kept simple, with linear LED tubes strung on thin wire emphasizing the length of the interior. An office space for employees is conceived as a third cube placed in the centre of the space. Its walls are entirely mirrored, so as not to disrupt the flow of the open-plan store.

Custom stainless steel furniture is lined with grey terrazzo plates with angled corners cut to 45 degrees, including a double-sided florist table with drawers and waste bins. Above the table, a diffuser lamp and mirror allows the florists to view their bouquets from a side angle. Specially milled, black perforated steel shelves for transporting flowers are constructed so that the height of the mount can change easily according to different types of blooms. The store’s main entrance is clad with red perforated mesh, with a neon sign above. Within its industrial surrounds, the flower store is sure to stand out.

See other Flower Shops on Yellowtrace here.

[Images courtesy of Rina Lovko Studio. Photography by Alexey Yanchenkov.]