Rupture started a renovation that uncovered the original structure of Le Corbusier’s idea – they decided to use only glass, cement, and ceramic materials for the store
Rupture: a cultural and hybrid store
When Alexandre Sap and Anne-Marie Gaultier founded their concept store in Paris, they envisioned a cultural and hybrid store where people could discover art as an experience, forgetting about the pressure of the world outside. Their first opening was Rupture Record, a café-disquaire. Thus, this is where the founders sold their favorite artists and merged music with the slower atmosphere of the french café.
As an integral part of Mr. Sap’s life, music played a crucial role. He is first of all a musician who has been fascinated by the notes of Miles David, whose music helps him escape from the world. Using vinyl, Mr. Sap created a place for his customers to sit down and enjoy both the tangible and intangible aspects of music in a protected and different environment.
Rupture Arts & Books
Among the daily openings, Mr. Sap and Mrs. Gaultier added a whole world of events such as exhibitions, signatures, meetings, readings, and conferences where people can gather to discover the art of music.
It was time for another opening in Paris a few years ago: Rupture Arts & Books. Both the concept stores are located in Rue du Vertbois in Paris. This time, the founders decided to explore the art world more in-depth but added their points of view. Books and artwork in this concept store are selected by the owners for affinity purposes, rather than commercial purposes, creating an art gallery-like atmosphere.
A new bookshop has been created in the Cité Radieuse Le Corbusier in Marseille, thanks to a joint venture with Imbernon; Rupture and Imbernon. This is just the prelude to the plans of Mr. Sap and Mrs. Gaultier, who are looking to develop a network of cultural concept stores all around the world.
The Imbernon affair
Imbernon publishing house was founded by Katia Imbernon and Jean-Lucien Bonillo back in 2001. Their vision was to retrace the history of architecture from the twentieth to the twenty-first century and merge it with art and urban planning issues from around the world. Over time, they also published twenty editions of their books, combining their works. This year, they devoted themselves to handing the baton to someone who could pursue their mission, and they found a match in Rupture.
La Cité Radieuse, Marseille
Their bookstore is located in La Cité Radieuse in Marseille, a place created by Le Corbusier after the second world war. Following the conflict in France, minister Dautry commissioned Le Corbusier, an exponent of brutalist architecture, to construct an apartment building in the Prado district of Marseille. The project was finalized in 1952. In his opinion, architecture and urbanism were not two separate things but a whole. The Cité Radieuse, which received its name for its vast exposition allowing sun inside the apartments, is a vertical city built from families’ private spaces and public areas.
As soon as Rupture took over Imbernon, they renovated the bookshop inside Le Corbusier’s condo. They scratched the place to the ground, and by doing that, the restoration revealed the architect’s original structure. Together with their design team, they decided to preserve and enhance it to further strengthen the link with their activity.
Rupture: a space that follows slow culture
From the foundation of Rupture, Mr. Sap and Mrs. Gaultier have decided that the spaces of their concept stores must be places that go against the instantaneity of our current time, with a space that followed the slow culture, a «Time of creation to operate» as Mrs. Gaultier stated. Inside Rupture, they don’t have solely new publishing issues. Instead, they choose what to display by heart or by quoting the words of Mr. Sap: «an anti-algorithm selection».
When customers enter the shop, they can feel like they are entering a window into the world, since the shop is filled with international titles and a café. As a result, the founders decided to spread out the store’s volumes, making it an inviting place where goods mix with design.
The collaboration with Pierre Gonalons
To create the idea and the correct atmosphere inside the concept store, the founders needed an architect to bring their vision to reality. Through a friend in common fifteen years ago, Mr. Sap met Mr. Gonalons, an architect whose works are characterized by a romantic poetic but still modern, with a bold approval to design.
In the Parisian stores, Mr. Gonalons collaborated with brands like Masiero, Paradisoterrestre, Duvivier, and Metaphores. Thanks to the spiritual affinity between the founders and the architect, Mr. Gonalons was given «carte blanche» in designing the stores. The results show red and orange walls mixed with satin that welcome the client into an inviting haute-couture salon with a pop feel littered with works of art and design.
This changed for the new addition of Rupture & Imbernon in Marseille. Rupture started a renovation that uncovered the original structure of Le Corbusier’s idea. After this discovery, with Mr. Gonalons, the founders decided to use only glass, cement, and ceramic materials for the store. Inspired by Le Corbusier’s cabanon, the shed in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, where the architect spent his last days, the interiors of the new Rupture’s store are designed with the motif of a room within a room.
The result is a fluid space with a cafè inside and a reading room where they can organize events and bring forward the research of artists, publishing houses, and books that deepen the history of Le Corbusier.
The future of Rupture is following the Silk Road
Rupture & Imbernon has brought an innovation inside the concept store’s network. The venue is open to travelers, tourists, and citizens. The reason behind this choice is that the business is looking east. They have decided to follow the path of the ancient Silk Road and open stores along it. Inside each shop, people will be able to find different works of art that come from all over the world.
At the beginning of 2023, Rupture will land in Venice, with the opening together within the Architecture Biennale framework. Then, the future will presumably get Rupture to the cities of Athens and Istanbul, with the aim to move even more.
Rupture
Rupture was founded by Alexander Sap and Anne-Marie Gaultier in Paris and the first shop was founded in 11 Rue du Vertbois and was Rupture Record, the concept store dedicated to art and discography. It followed Rupture Arts & Books down the same streets to number 24, where the bookstore turned into a gallery. This year they have added the publisher house Imbernon and their bookshop in Marseille inside La Cité Radieuse, which marks the beginning of the expansion of the business towards the east.
