Iconic Italian fashion brand Pinko has commissioned ExternalReference, a Barcelona-based architecture firm led by Italian architect Carmelo Zappulla, to conceptualise and design its new 95 m2 shop at Rome's Fiumicino airport.      

Pinko, a brand known for collections that stand out with a contemporary, eclectic and original style aimed on this occasion to go beyond the conventional notion of a shop; seeking to establish a new concept for the brand in a space where fashion, design and technology converge.

The new shop is a space where the physical and digital dimensions merge to build an emotional landscape; Based on the history with the brand's iconic swallows and inspired by the textile fibres, a 3D printed skin has been created and wraps the interior of the shop; The manufacture of the cladding uses a novel technique in which robots 3D print directly onto custom-made moulds.

The main source of inspiration for this project was the intricate weaving of the fabrics from which Pinko's designs are made and the iconic swallows in the brand's logo.‘ Imagined them flying with outstretched wings, gracefully and deftly weaving the lines that form the walls of the shop, weaving the delicate branches together to form the nest. Only instead there were ingenious mechanical arms programmed to replace them,’ explains Zappulla.