East Hampton is known for its ease and relaxation – a beach destination where visitors like to forget about their daily lives and slow down. Studio Galeon founder Lucia Galeano wanted to impart this sense of leisure in the East Hampton location of Swiss timepiece maker Audemars Piguet, without compromising its integrity as a luxury brand.

Studio Galeon approached this unique combination through a number of strategies. First, they saw an opportunity in creating a central element that would invite visitors into the space. The studio worked with a local millworker to clad the space’s existing steel support columns in white oak paneling to form a colonnade whose arches mirror the windows of the building’s facade. In addition to functioning as an introduction for incoming visitors, the colonnade subdivides the elongated space into a series of intimate rooms or “nests” where salespeople can have more direct and personal conversations with visitors or where private consultations can take place.

Studio Galeon worked with Audemars Piguet’s store design team in Switzerland to ensure that all store elements cohered with the brand identity. We interpreted it to fit the beachtown setting by steering clear of shiny or glossy surfaces and, instead, privileged more natural materials and an overall monotonal, soft palette rendered in white oak paneling on the walls and floor.