Cubitts West Village brings the spectacle of New York’s theatrical quarter to spectacles. Set in the building once inhabited by seminal playwright Lorraine Hansberry, it’s a love letter to theatrical glamour, holding a mirror to the dualities of ‘on stage’ and ‘backstage’, public and private lives.

The front of the store is designed as a stage for spectacles. A theatre of the everyday, for the theatrical masks we all wear. Constructed with a set-like glamour, with felt-lined walls, recessed wooden shelving, and black parquet wooden floorboards fit for the stage.

Custom designed furnishings—spectacle plinths and a central unit—have an imaginative prop-like quality, arranged to emphasise the changeable nature of the store. The space is lit by a 1980s vintage pendant by Mario Botta and a 1960s Kaiser Leuchten table lamp by Klaus Hempel, chosen for their allusions to theatre flashlights, and photographic reflector screens. A prop-like custom sofa faces the stage, a front row seat for the weary spectacle browser.

Around the curved spectacle-lined screen wall, the ‘backstage’ area. A contrast in dark bitter-chocolate brown. A vanity mirror lines the wall, set for Bespoke consultations. Deeper still into the store’s recesses, behind a thick leather curtain, two doors present themselves to the most intrepid customers. One leads to a repair station, ready to return broken frames to their former glory. The other leads to the bathroom, a grotto-like shrine to Dionysus, Greek god of art and theatre (also wine-making, festivity, and fertility).