New Home: West Comes East to be Part of the Furniture

west-elm-living-wall

Style travels well,

 

… and judging from the stunning arrival of West Elm on this side of the pond, the American home fashion retailer is about to make serious waves in the UK decor market.

The essential elements have been transported safely with its distinctive high wall displays, blocked shelving, colour story chic and opulent ornaments still in tact after the journey East. Particularly impressive and more unexpected is the kitchen department where beautiful boxes build authority across cutlery, cuisine, and crockery which flow into attractive displays of herbs, spices and delicatessen delights.

Customer service is special, as expected, from the home design hub to the cozy coffee bar, where the made-to-measure attention is sure to be a hit with the ecelectic mix of London’s home fashion admirers.

west-elm-food-hall west-elm-cutlery west-elm-bed-wall

Hidden Benefit: Beauty on a Different Level

benefit-beauty-bars

Something beautiful happened on the way to Carnaby Street.

 

Benefits abound in this destination cosmetic store which hides its beauty bushel beneath the streets of London. The inviting staircase leads to the hidden delights of the basement bars. From brows to nails, from body waxing and spray tanning to blow drying and champagne sipping no bar is too high.

Whether its bubbles on the lips or fizz on the face this beauty basement promises to be the destination of choice for pampering parties, corporate calming or just some personal preening below the cut and thrust of Carnaby, the sights and sounds of Soho.

benefit-beautiful-furniture benefit-champagne-bar benefit-windows

Gyroscopical; Chronological; Cosmonautical: Brilliant Breitling

breitling-interior

Time waits for no-one

…and Breitling have wasted no time at all in propelling itself to the forefront of watch design and manufacturing par excellence. Every face tells a story and Breitling communicates every story with style, with integrity and with a precision that complements the design of its watches perfectly.

The new store environment brilliantly combines the precious, authority of the watch displays with powerful store graphics, cartoons reminiscent of the halcien days of aeronautical development. Add to this the beautifully designed fixtures again drawing from the brands aeronautical and engineering heritage and the store is picture perfect, a ticking timepiece of creativity and design excellence.

breitling-display breitling-exterior breitling-graphics

 

Deichmann Shoe Machine: Running like Brickwork

Saving soles in a sea of shoeboxes, value footwear retailer Deichmann has arrived at a smart solution making self-service shoe buying both visually calming and commercially successful.

 

deichmann-shoe-machine-women-boxed-up

Boxing clever and boxing bold Deichmann works with its suppliers, brands and manufacturers to a colour palette that allows a brickwall of boxes to segment the assortment.

Yellow for ladies, blue for boys, reinforces for the not so well at heeled the basic segmentation whilst even the likes of Nike & Adidas conform like foot soldiers, regimented in space for clarity of brand offer.

Against this authority, styles and sellers above the norm, literally and laterally stand out in splendid isolation, no longer just another brick in the wall, but prominent on their cardboard plinths.

deichmann-shoe-machine-vision-of-woman deichmann-shoe-machine-brand-boxing deichmann-shoe-machine-summer-shelving

Sometimes simplicity can be the answer to a complicated collective puzzle, and this cost-effective solution shows a little lateral thinking can go a long way for less on a shoestring budget.

 

Beautiful Windows: The Body & Soul of Selfridges

Selfridges signature statements have always been most beautifully expressed through its window campaigns.

 

selfridges-beautiful-windows-letyourhairdown

Hello Beautiful gave the retailer another enviable excuse to pull out all the stops, crank up the creativity and delivery its most mouth-watering displays for a while. In its finest traditions, each window explored an individual concept within a wider theme, dissecting every possible angle and inspiration, before pulling everything together in the most imaginative and impeccable way possible.

Frame after frame, Hello Beautiful explored everything from eating yourself into shape, body art and colouring, the balance between nature and science, individual perfumes, the merits of the beard for men and the extremes of letting down your hair for ladies. In true interactive style, the windows also played their part in the dynamic event with a live screen relaying beauty makeovers and treatments from inside the store.

selfridges-beautiful-windows-paintedladies selfridges-beautiful-windows-notoneofthem selfridges-beautiful-windows-beardornottobeard

Scratching the surface, maybe, but never did windows reflect the fuller flavour of the main course in such an appetising way.

History in Black & White: John Lewis Unfolds with Every Footstep

It can’t have escaped many customers that this year marks the John Lewis 150th Anniversary.

 

john-lewis-anniversary-windows-1904

In its customary courteous yet engaging way it has communicated effectively through customised bags, exclusive collaborations and a multitude of store events and promotions.

Centre stage literally, stand its “stand-out” anniversary windows, a magnificent understatement in glorious black & white, the backdrop to its colourful stories that span the decades.

A history book unfolds with every step from the dawn of “Ready-to-wear” clothing, the invention & evolution of electrical appliances, through the humble beginning of home furnishing drawing to a million millennium curtain closings. And so into the technological age the narrative unfolds further, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on IT, the internet and e-commerce.

john-lewis-150-anniversary-window-digital-age john-lewis-anniversary-windows-150-years john-lewis-anniversary-windows-hats-off

Omni-channel to all things and all people, many lines read in black and white ensure a bottom one permanently positioned in the black.

Fossil Fuelled: Timed for Evolution

Time stands still for no retailer, and Fossil takes it upon itself to look to the future with an evolutionary new store concept which draws on the strength of its heritage whilst looking decisively to the future.

 

fossil-fuelled-digital-wall

The focal wall is a picture perfect example of this, setting a showcase HD video screen against a sea of classic fossil tins making a massive statement of authority and heritage. Out of the tin and into the future, the store showcases its timeless timepieces in individual cabinets, adding value and luxury from leather straps to personalised pieces and mercurial mechanisms.

The luxury is layered onto its classic casual culture with handbags and leather goods taking a prominent position in a setting not out of place nor out of time with a Selfridges or a Coach. Glass case corridors create a museum landscape, but the modern music ensures this concept is no Natural History.

fossil-fuelled-tower-of-tins fossil-fuelled-classic-ceremony fossil-fuelled-leather-lined

Future Facing. Watch this space!