As well as liking his Martinis shaken not stirred, perhaps the world’s most famous spy, James Bond, is also known for driving an Aston Martin (the DB5 to be precise). It’s a detail that speaks to his Britishness, but also his sense of style. Because Aston Martin is a seriously stylish car manufacturer.
And now, it’s opened its new flagship showroom in New York’s Manhattan. The space, on 450 Park Avenue, has been named Q New York. It’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to Bond’s tech guy, because, although Q New York may not be able to fit your car with smoke guns or an ejector seat, it does have an arsenal of other bespoke options to be explored.
Just like 007, Aston Martin is quintessentially British, but when it comes to making a mark in Manhattan first impressions are important. Key to Q New York’s first impression is its giant window (dubbed the ‘Champagne frame’ by the brand), a focal point of the design by architect Alexander Zilberman of AZA. It’s one of the largest single panes of glass ever installed in a New York building, and directs focus onto the cars (a selection of limited edition and even Formula 1 models).
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‘We wanted to make it look as if the street was coming into the building,’ explains Marek Reichman, executive vice president and chief creative office of Aston Martin. ‘A sports car lives for the street, it lives for the track, so it was important to get that relationship between street level and the inside of Q New York right.’
The marble floor of the entrance, created using stone from an Italian quarry that craftspeople flew to New York especially to install, has been designed to represent the markings of a pit lane. The idea for this grand entrance, says Reichman, came from the interiors of English stately homes – ‘that moment when you open the door of an amazing home in the countryside and the floor is just fabulous’.
The stately home aesthetic continues further inside Q New York, as you walk beneath the 2,100-bulb chandelier towards ‘The Great Room’. This space, with its fireplace, wood panelling and parquet floor, looks very traditionally British. Beneath that historically-inspired exterior, though, there’s a wealth of tech power. This is where the magic of Q New York happens.
Pick from what Reichman refers to as ‘the amazing apothecary’ of samples displayed on the wall (colours, woods, metals, different stitching and types of leather) and place them on the large marble table to create a moodboard. Each sample contains an NFC tag, allowing smart technology hidden deep within the table to read your preferences and send an image of your completely bespoke Aston Martin to the giant screen on the wall.
This combination of classic good looks and immaculately disguised technology is also integral to Aston Martin’s newest car, the DB12, which is on display at Q New York right now. The car is, says Reichman, ‘a true clash of craft and tech’. ‘It’s high-tech craft,’ he adds. ‘Q New York is exactly the same.’ astonmartin.com
