FIRST STEPS: The first signs of the all-encompassing renovation work revealed for the 10 Corso Como building are coming to fruition.
The storied retailer owned by Tiziana Fausti since September 2020 is gearing up to unveil the revamped Galleria and Project Room spaces in time for the upcoming Milan Fashion Week, which runs Feb. 20 to 26.
As reported, the building is undergoing a complete makeover set to be unveiled in stages.
Located on the first floor of the unit that has housed the 10 Corso Como concept store since its foundation on the street of the same name, the two spaces were redesigned by the interdisciplinary agency 2050+, founded by architect and curator Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, a former partner at OMA and president of the international jury at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition.
The new 10 Corso Como Project Room space, designed by 2050+.
2050+/Courtesy of 10 Corso Como
The project, in sync with Fausti’s open and interconnected vision for the spaces, has preserved the floor’s 19th-century, industrial flair and was redesigned to enhance light and air filtering. The Project Room features pantograph tables while the Galleria space is filled with movable walls, allowing different configurations befitting the cultural program to take place at the unit.
10 Corso Como has earmarked Feb. 21 for the unveiling of the spaces with a trifecta of exhibitions.
As reported, the retailer plans to host exhibitions especially focused on photography, the history of fashion and applied art, shining a light on art’s contribution to fashion, with a little help from curator and art critic Alessandro Rabottini, as well as Alessio de’Navasques, a lecturer in fashion archives at Sapienza University of Rome.
The new 10 Corso Como Galleria space, designed by 2050+.
2050+/Courtesy of 10 Corso Como
“Happy Birthday Louise Parker,” a personal show by American artist and photographer Roe Ethridge curated by Rabottini, is to spotlight signature artworks, as well as never-seen-before pieces, drawn from his production over the past 15 years. They include still-life compositions, fashion editorial, landscapes and portraits.
Mounted inside the Galleria space, the show will be flanked by two installations, focused on jewelry and on design, in the adjacent Project Room.
Curator Domitilla Dardi has been tapped to develop the “Stanza Alchemica,” or “Alchemic Room” in English, filled with decorations, tableware, interior design objects, as well as rare and vintage books and niche magazines. The third showcase, “Pietro Consagra. Ornaments,” curated by de’Navasques, highlights the sculptor’s face masks and body ornaments developed in 1969 with the jewelry workshop GEM GianCarlo Montebello.
Roe Ethridge, “Celine Bracelet for Gentlewoman,” 2014, dye sublimation print, 76.2 x 61 cm.
Courtesy of Roe Ethridge, Andrew Kreps Gallery and Gagosian
10 Corso Como was founded in 1991 by Carla Sozzani and acquired by Fausti in 2020. The latter is the founder of the namesake luxury multibrand store in the Italian city of Bergamo. Since her takeover, Fausti has appointed Gianluca Borghi as 10 Corso Como’s chief executive officer, tasked with the expansion of the concept store brand worldwide. She has also been expanding the store’s reach with 10 Corso Como pop-ups, in Forte dei Marmi and Forte Village, Italy as well as at Milan’s Central Station last September.
In addition to the Milan store, 10 Corso Como operates two units in Seoul, opened in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
