The street-level window has the large proportions desirable in a retail space, but rather than posed mannequins, the window is hung with Japanese shibori pleated fabric, which Perera says is often drawn closed. “There’s a subtlety to the store and a quiet confidence that people who shop there don’t need to see products in the window.” These billowing drapes are repeated elsewhere in the store, in what has become a bit of a signature of Perera’s work. “I love fabric, I love what it can do to a space. Also, I tend to look at my designs through the lens of hospitality and the theatre of hospitality. Wherever I can include movement, I think that it adds an energy to the space.”Dissh’s palette is soothingly neutral, dominated by travertine and sand tones, so energy and excitement are carried via texture and architectural form. “I love material saturation,” explains Perera, who used a ’70s shag-pile carpet, which creeps from the floor up the wall. He also took advantage of the double-height space to break up the clothing racks with sculptural columns, which soar overhead before abruptly ending before the ceiling. “It was a great opportunity to get architectural in scale.”
