A pared-back concrete showroom with an arched glass-brick ceiling sits next to a historic salon filled with collectible design at fashion brand Acne Studios‘ latest headquarters, designed together with Stockholm-based Halleroed.
Located in an up-and-coming area of Paris’ 10th arrondissement, the Acne Studios headquarters is in a historic 18th-century hôtel particulier – a type of grand Parisian townhouse.
The Swedish fashion brand had been looking for a while when it came upon the four-storey building, which it chose because of its contrasting interiors.
While it has a period facade and retains many of its original features, the building also has a laboratory that was added to it in the 1930s by the family who lived there and owned the Gomenol brand, which made oils and herbal tinctures.
“When we saw this building, with the opposition of the hôtel particulier and the laboratory in the back, it just made so much sense to us,” Acne Studios founder Jonny Johansson told Dezeen.
“We always try and look for spaces that have history and this one certainly has that.”
He worked with design studio Halleroed, which has designed the interior of a number of the brand’s stores, to create an interior that would reflect the Acne Studios’ brand language.
“Halleroed aimed to preserve and respect the original architecture of the 18th-century mansion while introducing subtle, modern interventions,” Halleroed co-founder Christian Halleroed told Dezeen.
“Rather than imposing a completely new identity, the goal was to create a dialogue between the past and the present, reflecting Acne Studios’ own aesthetic language: refined, raw, and conceptually layered.”
While Halleroed kept the historical rooms mostly intact, leaving their ornate details such as gilded mouldings and marble fireplaces untouched, it also added modern touches, including brushed aluminium surfaces and minimalist furniture, as a contrast.
The aim was to introduce modernity through “light-touch, clearly legible interventions,” Halleroed said.
“In the laboratory wing, the raw industrial character was embraced and subtly elevated with curated lighting and bespoke furniture, ensuring that both halves of the building retained their individual character but felt cohesive,” studio co-founder Ruxandra Halleroed added.
Balancing the preservation of the historic parts of the building with its modernisation was one of the main challenges for the project.
“The team had to modernise the space for contemporary use – offices, showrooms, studios – without compromising its historical integrity,” Christian Halleroed said.
“Working with two very different building typologies, the ornate mansion and the 1930s lab, required sensitive spatial planning to create a seamless flow between the two.”
Visitors to the building are met by one of the many artworks that decorate the space, a sculpture by artist Daniel Silver that creates a focal point in the courtyard of the headquarters.
Inside, Halleroed and Johansson decorated the space with art and collectible design pieces by a wide range of artists, many of whom had previously worked with Acne Studios or its Acne Paper publication.
These include custom-made sofas by British designer Max Lamb, which have tactile blush-covered vinyl seating on a steel frame, and gloopy silver candelabras by nail artist Sylvie Macmillan.
The ground floor of the headquarters houses the salon space, which has contemporary furniture by designer Lukas Gschwandtner that contrasts the ornate ceilings and walls, as well as the showroom in the former laboratory space.
Here, Halleroed kept the existing glass-brick ceiling and concrete walls and added unexpected pops of colour with pink shelves and the sofas by Lamb.
“In the lab, materials like concrete, stainless steel and anodised aluminium were used to express modernity and Acne’s experimental nature,” Ruxandra Halleroed said.
“Pink anodised aluminium, a signature Acne hue, was used for shelving and furniture – creating a bold contrast with the otherwise neutral, understated palette,” she added.
The ground floor also has the reception and a VIP area. The two floors above house the brand’s offices and studios, where designers work on the new collections.
Halleroed added a contemporary stainless-steel kitchen to the Acne Studios canteen on the basement level, in reference to the industrial spaces that originally would have been found in the laboratory part of the building.
The dining space was also given a different colour palette from the white, blush pink and metallic hues used in the rest of the headquarters.
“In the basement canteen, the colours were kept soft with an accent of deep blue, a hint of Scandinavia and denim – creating environments that feel calm, functional, and artistically curated,” Christian Halleroed said.
“Ultimately, the palette served to highlight contrast – between classical elegance and contemporary rawness – while ensuring a consistent emotional tone throughout the building.”
The canteen leads out to a sunken garden, which features communal seating by Lamb.
These design collaborations were an important aspect of the interior, Johansson said.
“Some pieces we have have been made just for the space, but it’s with collaborators that we work with closely and that have been making things for us for a long time, and then some others have been repurposed or relocated, from other locations back to Paris,” he said.
“The art and the design pieces at the office show who we are as a brand, what we stand for, and that’s very important to us.”
Halleroed has previously designed the Acne Studios store in Chengdu. The brand also has a Stockholm headquarters, which is located in the former Czechoslovakian embassy in a building from the 1970s.
The photography is by Benoit Florençon, courtesy of Acne Studios.
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