Gucci at Gucci Gaok Flagship Store — Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Seoul (2022)

The top floor of Gucci's Itaewon flagship store opened as Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, a full-service Italian restaurant.

The venue

The venue is the top floor of the Gucci Gaok flagship store, a multi-level retail building in Seoul's Itaewon district. Shopping floors occupy the lower levels; the upper floor holds a separate dining room reached from within the building. The district carries heavy foot traffic and a mixed local and international audience, and the store sits on the commercial axis of the neighbourhood.

How the space was used

For this project the top floor was fitted out as a full-service restaurant. The dining room is wrapped in patterned wallpaper and framed doors and windows; the floor is hand-inlaid wood, with coloured marble mosaic and green elements. Star motifs and ceiling lights run overhead. Aprons, plates and menu covers carry the same print, and dishes are plated to be read at the table.

Why it works here

A flagship store's upper floor gives a restaurant a controlled setting: guests pass through retail before reaching the dining room, so interiors and tableware read as one environment. Sitting inside a shopping district rather than a standalone dining street suits a venue that draws on store traffic as well as reservations.