
It’s not every day a new store opens on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, let alone one that feels like both a love letter and a provocation. But Casablanca’s first-ever flagship, unveiled this June, does just that. It’s not shy, not demure, and certainly not just another luxury boutique squeezed between marble facades.
For Charaf Tajer, Casablanca’s founder and creative director, the opening marks a personal full circle. Born in Paris to Moroccan parents and raised in the vibrant neighbourhood of Belleville, Tajer has never shied away from blending identities. “I want a corner on that street,” he told himself years ago — a seemingly impossible ambition in a neighbourhood stitched together by legacy brands. And yet, here it is: a three-storey monochromatic monument to both past and future.
“Opening our first store in Paris is a bit surreal, but I’m not a dreamer – I’m a man of projects, and I’m driven by a pursuit to manifest the things I believe in,” says Tajer. “This is a real milestone: it stands for the fact that anything is possible. In gratitude for this.”
Set in the city’s 8th arrondissement, the flagship takes over a Haussmann-era corner building with an interior that’s anything but traditional. Designed in collaboration with brand art director Steve Grimes, the interior reads like a cinematic set, where Japanese minimalism, retro-futurism, and the precision of Stanley Kubrick converge.
On the ground floor, Carrara Bianco marble tiles nod to ancient Greece, while a glowing, stretched lightbox ceiling suggests something more otherworldly. The centrepiece, a stunning blend of marble, velvet, and high-gloss lacquer, ties the space together with architectural drama. It pays homage to the work of one of Tajer’s favourite architects, Carlo Scarpa.
Colour, as ever in Casablanca’s world, plays a leading role. Arched niches and mouldings bring in classic Parisian codes, but they’re spliced with a bold palette of red, green, and electric blue. Downstairs, the experience goes tactile: plush green carpet rises up the walls, wrapping around transparent sculptural displays like some surrealist clubhouse for the brand’s inner circle.
But for all its design references and polished surfaces, the store feels deeply personal. Tajer doesn’t position himself as a luxury disruptor, but as someone deeply motivated by change. “It’s a sign of progress,” he says. “And it goes back to our purpose, which is always to inspire people.”
Casablanca Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré opened on 5 June, with a second store opening on 469 North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, later this summer.
photography. Benoit Florençon
words. Gennaro Costanzo