Located in the heart of the city centre, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the Swatch flagship store in Milan has just reopened after a renovation that has radically changed the aesthetics of the interior.

Swatch’s history is littered with the contributions of world-famous designers, artists and architects, from Mimmo Paladino to Renzo Piano, from Keith Haring to Bruno Munari, and most recently at the Venice Biennale. Among the art directors is Alessandro Mendini, who has a long history of collaboration and experimentation with Gio Ponti and Domus, and who has directed our magazine during some of its most memorable moments.

With the new design of the store, the Swiss company wanted to pay homage to Gio Ponti: “The main wall, in an elegant symphony of neutral colours, takes up one of the motifs dear to Ponti’s iconography, with its three-dimensional geometries that are elegant, rational and playful at the same time.”

Reminiscent of the Milanese design of the 1980s, the columns are made up of irregular geometries and reach up to the ceiling, where they intersect a mirrored surface that visually enlarges them, and contain showcases and displays for the various watch models.