Over a thousand wine and spirit bottles featuring different sizes and shapes, a single store to display them: these were the main ingredients of the latest interior design challenge faced and won by Tiago do Vale in Braga, Portugal. Located along the Este river, with two windows overlooking the city and the nearby park, the store Bottles’ Congress needed a balanced intervention in the respect of two key elements: modularity, crucial to the exhibition of miscellaneous bottles; and individuality, in order not to make any bottle “disappear” within a chaotic overfilled context.

To that end, four different types of display boxes – consistent with the main bottle forms – were designed and grouped together to form different modules characterized by an underneath storage area. Made out of pinewood, these cases give the store a sense of luxury thanks to the contrast with natural and artificial light, creating a space that recalls more of a jewelry rather than a standard wine store.

Light and openness are the focus of the project: the wide windows create a continuum between the interior and exterior, also thanks to the repositioning of the former bathrooms, now hidden in the back. Despite looking like a luxury place, the store relies on the proximity to the street, drawing the pedestrians’ attention in a pleasant equal dialogue between inside and outside.

INFO: www.tiagodovale.com

PHOTO COURTESY: João Morgado