DISTRESSED DENIM WORKSHOP! 9th November 2015 A grater, scissors, sandpaper and tweezers.
Sound like instruments of torture, right? Or at the very least an incredibly precise too-perfect-to-eat Scandinavian meal. Bit if you throw in a crazy comfortable pair of jeans, 25 of my favourite people and a needs to be seen to be believed brunch situation, you’ve got yourself the best Saturday imaginable. If you’ve been following along on Instagram or Snapchat, you’ll know that over the weekend we got together with my friends from Grana to christen their new store concept The Fitting Room with a distressed denim workshop.
Pin It Pin It Pin It Pin It Pin It. H&M on Conscious Materials. Captivating Customers. Nike (Beaverton, Ore.) recently launched two major campaigns for its London flagship stores, transforming its Jordan brand and authentic basketball annex into visually alluring installations.
Showcasing some current trends in visual merchandising, Nike called upon design firm Green Room (Birmingham, U.K.) to execute its vision. Visual merchandising in a digital era: Instagram-friendly. He store window; much like the old adage that eyes are the window to your soul, the store window has always been ‘window’ to soul of the retailer.
Peering in through the window, consumers can tell immediately what the brand/ retailer/ department store is all about. In London, you have the big name department stores: Liberty, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Selfridges and in New York you have Bergdorf Goodman, Macy’s, Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales. Their exterior facades and shop windows are almost as famous as what’s in store.
But visual merchandising is changing in this Instagram age, and to reflect this shift never has the shop window been more important. Instagram is the ultimate visual tool for brands, retailers and even new start up stores to get their brand message further, wider and more global, making their store a must-visit destination. Mannequins: For Fun and Profit. The Internet is constantly changing the way people shop.
But it’s also turning mannequins into social media icons. “Blogs, images and comments about mannequins are all over social media,” says Faith Bartrug, owner and founder of Faith Bartrug Design (Columbus, Ohio). “They have become an essential part of popular culture. It’s all about personality.” She references the Instagram account @Insannequins – a clearinghouse for people’s favorite mannequin installations – as well as other Instagram accounts of people who post fun mannequin images. Lucy Tauber converts old London post office into light-filled bakery. Architect Lucy Tauber has transformed a derelict post office in north London into an artisanal bakery with its kitchen on show (+ slideshow).
London-based Tauber used bespoke industrial elements such as steel and ribbed glass to convert the space in East Finchley into the Margot Bakery. Her intention was to keep the interior relatively bare, in order to focus the customers' attention on the food for sale. The back rooms, which were originally cut off from the rest of the space, are now opened up, revealing the bakers at work and allowing more light into the interior. "I wanted to create a gentle transition between the customer area and kitchen so you felt, as a customer, that you were part of the productive, almost factory-like environment and not in a dressed parlour that was separate from it," Tauber told Dezeen.
"Bringing through the white walls, counters and industrial palette of blockwork, ribbed glass and stainless steel created that sense of continuity. " Photography is by Ed Reeve. Schemata Architects deconstructs interior of Jins eyewear shop in Japan. To celebrate the 12th anniversary of a Jins eyewear store, Schemata Architects has completed a renovation that involved taking a sledgehammer to the walls (+ slideshow).
The Japanese eyewear brand enlisted the Jo Nagasaka-led practice to create a more open-plan and welcoming space for customers of its store in Ageo, in Japan's Saitama Prefecture. Having knocked through the majority of the shops pre-existing walls, all areas of the shop can now be seen from the exterior – a key element in the architects' design objectives. The new glazing put in its place features a Low-E coating – meaning the amount of ultraviolet and infrared light that can pass through glass is minimised, without compromising the overall quality of light. "We removed the exterior walls and installed Low-E paired glass to create the view towards the beautiful courtyard from the street, whilst making the impressive display of extensive eyewear products highly visible from the street at the same time," said Schemata.
Retail Trends 2016. The five disruptive forces changing the future of retail Technology has changed the way retailers and brands operate over the last decade, and the pace of change shows no sign of slowing.
These are the five disruptors that we think will be next on the agenda for the industry: Internet of Things The IoT could affect retailers in many ways, including their customer proposition – whether this is selling connected products or developing automated services. Some retailers are using their stores to show customers what a smart home could look like, with the aim of inspiring and educating. Others are making an early start on developing the infrastructure and customer behaviour needed for a smart world.
Virtual reality Virtual reality has been of most use to marketers so far. Robots Robots are used throughout the retail supply chain. Driverless vehicles Autonomous vehicle technology is being used to develop driverless courier vehicles, and drones are also still on the horizon.