The Role of the Persian Carpet in the Process of Placeness Based on Marc Augé’s Theory: Case Study: Gucci Brand Stores

As contemporary life increasingly unfolds within spaces of transit, consumption, and standardization, questions of how material objects contribute to spatial meaning have become increasingly significant. This article examines the Persian carpet as a material and cultural mediator in the production of placeness within contemporary commercial environments commonly understood through Marc Augé’s concept of the non-place. Drawing on Augé’s theory of non-place alongside scholarship on place, material culture, spatial experience, memory, and affect, the study develops an interpretive framework for examining the spatial role of Persian carpets in Gucci retail interiors. Using a qualitative interpretive case-study design, the analysis is based on documented visual and textual materials concerning selected Gucci stores in different geographical contexts. Rather than measuring consumer behavior or claiming direct causal effects on customers, the study examines how the material presence, spatial placement, historical associations, and domestic connotations of Persian carpets can be interpreted as interventions within the standardized logic of global luxury retail. Five analytical dimensions are identified: temporal interruption, material and sensory mediation, material memory and historicity, domestic and affective resonance, and spatial differentiation and narrative. The analysis suggests that Persian carpets can introduce material difference, historical depth, sensory density, and associations with dwelling into otherwise circulation- and consumption-oriented environments. Their significance therefore extends beyond decoration: they operate as spatial mediators through which commercial interiors can acquire qualities associated with familiarity, memory, and place while remaining embedded within the economic logic of luxury branding. The article argues that such spaces should not be understood as fully transformed from non-places into conventional places, but rather as occupying an intermediate condition in which placeness is temporarily and selectively produced through material interventions.