Conran Store Spring 2017 – Michelin House London

I love popping into The Conran shop when I’m in London, there is always so much inspiration to be found.

This spring they have turned their windows into rooms by adding in a sub shopfront as you walk through the doors, it also acts as a backdrop to the windows.

I have noticed a trend building over the last year for using Critall style metal window frames in many stores. But conran have also added simple blocks of colour to some of theirs, i saw  lots of stores using colour blocking whilst looking around London.

Conran have continued the colour blocking theme inside their store, using it to great effect on walls, architectural features and fixtures.

They are using it for way finding as well, helping to lead customers on their journey through the store.

I love this trend/style wall they have created in their furniture area, it really stands out and offers customers great simple information.

Love the clash of bright ribbons against this royal blue wall.

Where they do not have a surface to paint they have been inventive and used plants to add the colour.

Links

The Conran Shop – www.conranshop.co.uk

Critall Windows  – www.crittall-windows.co.uk

Club Player Nice – Facade foliage

Im in Nice for a few days holiday, but am still always on the look out for inspiration and great things that catch my eye.

This fashion store caught my eye as they had covered the top part of the shopfront with plants, now i did think that it was a real living wall from afar, on closer inspection they had used artificial foliage, but it still looked good and it shows that if you dare to do something different you do attract people.

Louis Vuitton – Heathrow Terminal 5

The Heathrow Terminal 5 shopping area has been undergoing some major changes over the last few months, one of the first new stores to open is Louis Vuitton which is the anchor store at the luxury end of the shopping area.

The first thing you see is this huge LED screen which has some amazing graphics playing on it.

Here are a selection of other pics of the new store.

West Elm – New London Flagship store

From our hometown of Brooklyn, New York to our neighborhood store in London, we think feeling truly at home means connecting with the community. We believe in making things that matter, so we collaborate with independent designers and craft communities, and we strive to design products that make a positive impact on people and the environment. We also believe that nothing adds personality like you, so we design authentic, approachable, affordable pieces for you to use in whatever way you like. Your home is your story. Let us help you tell it. WE LOVE THE WAY YOU LIVE.

 

www.westelm.co.uk

Steampunk – Birth of a trend

Steampunk has been around for many years and has grown and grown but 2014 to 2015 is supposed to be the year that the craze will take off, first in fashion then lifestyle and interior design, will it follow into store interiors and windows?

So what is Steam Punk?

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery,[1] especially in a setting inspired by industrialized Western civilization during the 19th century. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century’s British Victorian era or American “Wild West”, in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk perhaps most recognizably features anachronistictechnologies or retro-futuristicinventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the modern authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld, Stephen Hunt and China Miéville. Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as lighter-than-airairships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage‘s Analytical Engine.

Information supplied by

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

 

Click here for  more detail

This fab video will explain more

We will be keeping a keen eye on this trend in 2014 and will blog as we see examples coming through.

Dear readers please keep an eye out and let us know what you see and lets share the growth of this trend.

Great point of sale idea

 

 

Lynda and I were out and about last week hunting for ideas and came across this fab menu in a pub on London’s south bank. What they have done is to use a gift paper holder which would normally be fixed to a desk or a wall to pull brown paper or gift wrap from to wrap up parcels, but instead they have fixed it to the ceiling and have written the pubs daily specials onto it, and the next day they just rip off yesterdays and start again, what a simple fab idea, this could be used in lots of ways, how will you use it?

Hand painted shop signage

This photo was sent to me by a very good friend who saw this butchers shop in Shrewsbury and loved the tag line hand painted onto the front of the building.

I love it to and just wish more stores would use the architecture of their buildings in a similar way instead of covering them with ugly plastic signs or banners.

Bring back the old crafts is what i say.

 

 

Hubbard’s Cupboard shop front – Cardiff

Love this shopfront for a great little vintage store in the Castle Arcade in Cardiff, the owner has added so many nice little features that helps it stand out from other stores by giving it a personal hand-made feel which compliments the vintage products its selling.

John Lewis – Communicating with customers

John Lewis are masters at communicating with their customers, from tv adverts that pull on your heart strings, to their simple and to the point strap line of “Never knowingly undersold” and they are at their strongest when inside their own stores.

They use every opportunity to tell you about their products and services, they keep it simple and to the point telling you enough to wet your appetite  or inform you but very rarely confusing you with jargon.

Here are a selection of different ways they do this, for more just google them for lots of other great examples.

 

 

Graphic holder idea

 

 

Great simple recycling idea for a graphic holder, use an old A5 or A5 strut card and then just use a bulldog clip to add your new graphic to it. Don’t forget to remove or cover over the old one underneath.

Alternatively you could make a strut graphic holder out of plywood leave it natural or paint it and then use the bulldog clip to hold your graphic.