Antonio Marras Brings Sardinia To New York With New Boutique

Inside the new Antonio Marras store in Soho.

Photo Courtesy of Antonio Marras

The wildly creative world of Antonio Marras just got bigger. The Italian designer, who hails from Sardinia and is known for his whimsical takes on classic styles and expressive storytelling, has landed in New York. While the brand has 11 stores located between Italy and Sardinia, for the first time, Marras will have a U.S. retail presence at a new store in Soho. During NYFW, the designer arrived in the Big Apple to greet his devoted clients and meet with the press as they discovered this welcome addition to the New York retail scene.

Marras paused from customizing a leather handbag for a client, who was dressed head-to-toe in his designs, to share his enthusiasm for his first American store. The store is due in part to the designer’spartnership with the Italian group Oniverse, led by Sandro Veronesi, which began in 2022. The deal has helped lead the brand’s development at home and abroad.

“New York is one of the cities that was always a dream. It finally came true. New York has a different feeling for me because it’s the only city that whenever I leave, I ask myself, ‘Why am I leaving? said Marras via an interpreter. The brand is based in Sardinia, where it does its design production and sampling.

Perhaps in homage to this beloved city, the store resides in an original 1897 Soho building with details that include tin tile ceilings, cast-iron columns, exposed brick walls, and a skylight, a standard feature in the former factory building, which lends the space its New York authenticity and in which Marras has created an immersive journey through his design predilections.

Located on Wooster Street in a former Woolrich store, the spacious 7,500-square-foot emporium features 4,300 square feet dedicated to retail. The remaining 3,200 square feet serves as an omnichannel hub for the U.S. market, integrating e-commerce operations, stock management, and logistics to strengthen the brand’s customer experience across the country.

Marras creates spaces where the utility of daily life is elevated to poetry through his keen curation and thoughtful use of everyday objects. He gave the space two distinct areas that flow in terms of design aesthetic but manifest differently.

“When entering, the space has a more open industrial feel, where the customer has their first contact with the brand in a cleaner way to let the clothes stand out,” Marras continued. But in true Marras fashion, antique renditions of everyday objects have been reimagined as store fixtures and décor. Many items were sourced in Hudson, NY, such as an apple-picking ladder with curved, parallel sides, American radiators used as display pedestal bases, and antique picture frames.

He combined these with a slice of Italy, featuring items such as a textile art installation and Sardinian-crafted rugs designed by Marras himself. Additionally, a 1970s Italian Camaleonda sectional sofa by Mario Bellini was brought over to decorate the store.

Like a Baroque curio-vitrine, the back part of the store is a separate room, encased in glass windows, and boasts the slanted skylight ceiling. Bedecked in plants, ornate moldings, an antique metal-frame seating, and Persian carpets strewn on the floor, the room, with its wallpaper and ceramics produced by Marras, evokes the imaginative nature of the designer’s offerings, especially those rich in embellishments.

New York also serves as a perfect spot for the newest category of designers to blossom: accessories. “Historically, we are a ready-to-wear house, but in New York our accessories are very popular,” he noted, pointing to sneakers that have done well for the brand. The Sardinian has spent enough time in New York to know that nothing beats getting around the city on your own two feet, and what better way than in uber-unique Antonio Marras kicks.