ISSEY MIYAKE Opens Expansive New NYC Flagship Where Architecture and Craft Converge

On the corner of Madison Avenue and 26th Street, inside the ground floor of the landmark New York Life Building, ISSEY MIYAKE has opened its largest flagship in the world. The new store, “ISSEY MIYAKE / NEW YORK,” spans roughly 1,200 square meters overlooking Madison Square Park — and quietly marks a new chapter for the storied Japanese house in the city.

The store was designed by New York-based architecture studio SO-IL, creating a space that respectfully preserves the building’s architectural heritage while integrating contemporary engineering and craftsmanship.

Summary

 

A New Flagship Where Historic Architecture Meets Futuristic Structure

The moment visitors step inside, they are immersed in a world where futurism and quietness coexist. Throughout the two-level space, advanced engineering and meticulous attention to detail can be found at every turn. At the center of the store stands a transparent staircase crafted from precisely engineered glass panels. Historic Art Nouveau structural elements from the original building are juxtaposed with custom aluminum and stainless steel materials, balancing industrial strength with contemporary refinement.

Large windows surrounding three sides of the space allow natural light to flood the interior, creating an open atmosphere that resonates with the greenery of Madison Square Park and the surrounding cityscape. The result is a space where the dynamism of New York merges with the quiet aesthetic philosophy long pursued by ISSEY MIYAKE.

A Meticulous Pursuit of “Invisible Details”

In an interview with OSF, SO-IL co-founder Jing Liu reflected on the project. “There are many invisible details here that only a designer would notice,” she said. “They’re not meant to shout for attention. But I think that same sensibility applies to clothing as well.”

Speaking about ISSEY MIYAKE’s creative philosophy, Liu added: “ISSEY MIYAKE has always existed at the intersection of fashion, art, innovation, and craftsmanship.” When translating that ethos into built form, she explained, “We approached it as if we were exhibiting a finished sculpture — every detail had to be perfect.”

That same level of engineering extends to the store’s fixtures. The aluminum racks, Liu said, are produced through a single extrusion process — a deceptively difficult feat. “Supporting a span this long is actually very difficult,” she said. “Even if someone hangs multiple coats on it or grabs onto it, it can’t sag. It has to stay perfectly horizontal.”

The visual intent was equally exacting. While racks of this kind are typically anchored from the floor, Liu wanted the garments to read differently. “We wanted the clothing to appear as if it were floating,” she said. The hardware was calibrated so that when light falls across the pieces, the shadows land cleanly — uninterrupted by any visible support.

For Liu, executing that kind of precision came down to the client. “Very few clients truly understand these kinds of experimental challenges,” she said. “But ISSEY MIYAKE is a brand that pursues structure, detail, and craftsmanship in the clothes themselves, so I think they deeply understood our approach.”

She added, with a smile, “In a way, this became a project where both sides obsessively pushed every detail to the extreme.”

Reusing Materials from the Former Tribeca Flagship

Inside the store, a titanium panel marks the decades-long friendship between architect Frank Gehry and ISSEY MIYAKE. Nearby, glass wall panels salvaged from the brand’s former Tribeca flagship — which recently closed — have been repurposed as display shelving, part of a broader effort to give existing materials new life.

For Liu, that history mattered. “What I found especially remarkable about ISSEY MIYAKE was that the previous store had been designed by Frank Gehry 25 years ago,” she said. “Frank Gehry was one of the defining architects of the 1990s, and ISSEY MIYAKE was already collaborating with him at a very early stage. More importantly, they continued using that space for 25 years.”

That same long-term thinking shaped the new flagship. “We shared a strong belief that this space should also last for another 25 years — or even longer,” she said.

Sustainability, in her view, is inseparable from that approach. “It’s very important not to constantly redesign interiors, because enormous amounts of material get discarded every time,” she said. “We wanted to reuse as many existing materials as possible.”

“MADO”: A Gallery Within the Flagship, a First Outside Japan

At the rear of the store, the flagship features a dedicated gallery space named “MADO.” The space is set to host rotating exhibitions, collaborations, and special projects throughout the year, marking the brand’s first gallery concept integrated within a multi-category flagship outside of Japan.

Going forward, the space is also expected to serve as a broader cultural platform beyond retail through collaborations with local artists and various cultural initiatives.

Jing Liu: An Architect Working at the Intersection of Art and Space

The flagship’s spatial design was led by Jing Liu, an architect recognized for her work on cultural institutions and museum buildings.

Liu co-founded SO-IL with Florian Idenburg in 2008. Since then, the firm has built a portfolio at the intersection of art and architecture, with projects including Kukje Gallery in Seoul, K11 Museum in Hong Kong, and work on the Modern and Contemporary Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Alongside her practice, Liu teaches as an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s GSAPP and as visiting faculty at Princeton University School of Architecture. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and named a United States Artists Fellow, among other honors recognizing her contributions to architecture and design.

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