A computer-generated image of the studio which Leica says will be ready by February 2012
Leica plans to entice celebrity photographers to a new photographic studio, due to open in Mayfair, London in February 2012.
The firm is also set to revamp its existing base at 34 Bruton Place, W1, allowing it to offer a wider range of Leica Akademie training workshops.
The studio will be opposite Leica?s current Bruton Place store and part of a project that will see new camera hire facilities for users of its professional S-System, plus a street-level café and Wi-fi facilities.
Leica?s Client Care team will be on hand to offer advice in a ?relaxed and informal atmosphere?, adjacent to a lab that will continue to provide light repairs and sensor cleaning for customers.
The ?Studio-S? will be based on the second floor of a vacant three-storey mews property which is currently being converted in Bruton Place.
Speaking this morning, Leica Camera Limited?s managing director David Bell said he hopes the studio will attract celebrities, as many are known to stay nearby when they visit London.
He said plans include a discreet doorway through which celebrities can enter and exit the building without being seen.
The studio will be kitted out with changing and make-up areas, kitchen and shower.
It will also double as a venue for Leica-organised events catering for up to 100 people at a time.
Bell said the café will be open to Leica users and that the project takes its design inspiration from stores operated by Apple and Paul Smith.
A Leica ‘theme room’ will house 50in plasma TV screens, while a gallery showcasing images taken using Leica cameras will be based next-door at 25 Bruton Place, giving the development a ?three-building retail village? feel.
Bell would not reveal the cost of the project.
This is what Leica says its new Bruton Place café will look like
