DeMellier expands retail footprint with debut London store opening

Madrid – DeMellier, the acclaimed handbag brand founded by London-based Spanish entrepreneur and creative Mireia Llusia-Lindh, has reached a new milestone with the opening of its first standalone store. Located in the UK capital, this flagship debut deepens the brand's identity and marks the beginning of its own brick and mortar retail network.

Founded in London in 2017, DeMellier is now considered a leading accessible luxury handbag brand, carving out a distinct position in the fashion industry over the past nine years. The label has established its reputation through sophisticated designs carefully crafted in artisanal workshops across Europe. A significant portion of this production is concentrated in Ubrique, the renowned hub of Spanish leather goods manufacturing favoured by major luxury houses.

Until now, DeMellier designs were only available through its official e-commerce platform and select physical and digital multi-brand retailers. These retail partners include Selfridges; Galeries Lafayette; Net-a-Porter; Mytheresa; Neiman Marcus; and Spain's Santa Eulalia. Notably, the brand recently created a limited-edition version of its New York handbag exclusively for Santa Eulalia to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the retailer's first runway show. DeMellier is now expanding its retail operations with the opening of its first London flagship store, incorporating standalone brick and mortar locations as a new pillar of its growth strategy.

Located at 35-37 Sloane Square in the exclusive central neighbourhood of Chelsea, the store spans nearly 300 square metres across the ground and lower-ground floors. The retail space opened to the public on Saturday, October 24. Inside, it showcases a wide selection of DeMellier's best-selling collections alongside the latest seasonal arrivals and the new “Sloane Square” handbag line. Designed as a tribute to the brand's first flagship store, this new collection features “The Sloane” and “The Midi Sloane” styles, both crafted from Italian leather sourced from Leather Working Group Gold-certified tanneries. These initial designs are available exclusively in-store before launching on DeMellier's official e-commerce platform and at its usual multi-brand retail partners. Beyond product launches, the London-based label aims to strengthen its brand presence among existing and prospective customers through a flagship space that embodies DeMellier's core values and delivers a cohesive shopping experience.

“London is our home and the city where DeMellier was born, so it was very important that our first store opened here,” notes Llusia-Lindh, founder of the brand. When undertaking this decisive project, she remarks that she “wanted to find a soulful location with a deep-rooted history that also felt welcoming and capable of connecting with different generations.” She adds: “I lived in Chelsea for many years and felt that Sloane Square was the perfect place for our new home.” When shaping the store's identity, she noted that “many retail spaces feel impersonal” and instead “wanted to create the exact opposite; a place that felt like a wonderful home where people would want to spend time.” With this opening, “it is the first time our customers can truly step into our world,” Llusia-Lindh points out. “The flagship gives us the opportunity to meet them in person, welcome them into our home and show them a much more complete vision of who we are; from our collections and craftsmanship to the values behind the brand.”

Experiential and omnichannel space

Renowned architect Nicolas Schuybroek led the concept and interior design project for DeMellier's debut store. Collaborating closely with the brand's management, he translated its strong commitment to craftsmanship and appreciation for timeless patterns, silhouettes and lines into a physical environment. These core principles converge in a vibrant, sensory space built from a combination of natural materials. Key elements include oak flooring; mineral plaster walls; raw travertine marble shelving; linen accents; and pieces crafted from glazed Italian lava stone.

Accented by a curated selection of design pieces by Axel Einar Hjorth, Pierre Chapo, George Nakashima and Lina Bo Bardi, the ground floor is conceived as an idealised living room. Here, DeMellier's handbag collections are displayed like sculptural works within alcoves alongside vintage furniture, books, ceramics and other unique objects. From this area, the spatial journey continues to the lower-ground floor, which is designed around a dining room concept. The space centres on a large table measuring 4 metres in length, handcrafted from 60-year-old reclaimed wood. Surrounded by DeMellier designs, this setting was specifically created to host intimate brand gatherings and dinners. The flagship store's main rooms are completed by an inspiring “Craft Corner” that highlights DeMellier's dedication to craftsmanship, featuring a leather-clad table that illustrates the various artisanal stages involved in making each handbag.

Complementing the spatial experience across these rooms, DeMellier offers a range of dedicated customer services at its new Sloane Square location. Key offerings include a lifetime repair service for all designs; a bespoke personalisation service; and an omnichannel solution allowing customers to return online orders directly in-store. Additionally, the boutique spotlights the brand's “A Bag, A Life” initiative, which funds vaccines and medical treatments for children in need with every purchase in partnership with the charity SOS Children's Villages. The programme has already funded more than 2.5 million vaccines. To increase visibility for this charitable effort at the Sloane Square store, customers receive a personalised card explaining how their purchase contributes to the cause.

“We approached the DeMellier flagship on Sloane Square less as a store and more as a succession of lived-in rooms,” explains Schuybroek. Building on this spatial concept, he notes that “instead of creating a neutral backdrop for the leather goods, the project brings together stone; wood; plaster; linen; furniture; art; and light to construct a tactile landscape where the collection can find its place.” Within this setting, “the handbags appear in alcoves, on shelves and atop furniture pieces, almost like collected objects that are gradually discovered as one moves through the space.” To heighten these impressions, “the architecture is deliberately understated.” Furthermore, “a limited palette of materials provides continuity, while subtle shifts in scale, texture, light and proportion give each room its own personality.” Across the boutique, “monumental surfaces coexist with domestic elements” such as “a chair, a rug, a lamp or a stack of books.” Schuybroek concludes: “It is through these contrasts —between weight and lightness, precision and irregularity, permanence and intimacy— that the store's atmosphere emerges.” This carefully considered design process ultimately delivers “an interior meant to be inhabited: warm, tactile and serene, where the architecture and the collection form part of the same domestic landscape.”