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The neon artwork I Called Shotgun Infinity When I Was Twelve is by artist Kelly Mark and was fabricated by Noble Neon. The metal rack is by Troy Pillow. Stadium seating lures customers to interact with the shoes. Best Practice Architecture designed the hexagonal lights and Pillow fabricated them. Vertical cedar slats partially reveal a mezzanine storage area, and allow salespeople to continue chatting with customers. The shop sells men’s shoes from brands including Norse Projects, Eytys, Spalwart, Adidas, Puma, and New Balance.
“A COMPOSITION OF SUBTLE, DYNAMIC DETAILS ENCOURAGES CUSTOMERS TO EXPLORE THE SPACE AND FIND SURPRISES AND PERHAPS A LITTLE WHIMSY.”
—IAN BUTCHER, ARCHITECT
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GRAY ISSUE No. TWENTY-THREE
After living in New York City for just shy of 20 years, partners Daniel Carlson and Aaron DelGuzzo had developed a taste for the finer things in life, including an enduring love of shoes. The duo had talked for years about opening a men’s shoe boutique. This past May, three years after moving to Seattle, they finally put their plan into action and launched Likelihood, a shop as stylish as its offerings. “We wanted an interior aesthetic that is simple, warm, and classic, with pockets of quirkiness,” Carlson explains. “Shopping for shoes should be fun, a discovery of beauty and craftsmanship up close.” Enter Ian Butcher, founder of Best Practice Architecture. When he took on the project, the Capitol Hill storefront was raw, undeveloped space. Using a simple material palette of concrete, wood, and white paint helped him to achieve the clients’ design goals. Stadium seating displays rows of shoes and invites customers to climb the steps and investigate. Butcher also took advantage of the space’s high ceilings to insert a cedar-slatted mezzanine that doubles the shop’s storage capacity. Other eye-catching elements include a walnut-veneer sales counter by Nick Yoshihara, custom hexagonal tube lights fabricated by Troy Pillow, and the kicker: I Called Shotgun Infinity When I Was Twelve, a neon sculpture by Toronto-based artist Kelly Mark. It’s all in stride with the shop’s optimistic aesthetic. “Likelihood means the promise of something good that’s about to happen,” Carlson says. “Our shop is as much about the outlook as the outfit.” h