Group Displays

Dis-playing

Window displays can make, or break a store's image. Anthropologie has developed a unique style that accentuates the store's image, something we are trying to do with The Salvation Army Select. Below are a few of my ideas for the Select displays.


A giant shield created out of flowers made from old t-shirts acts as a symbol of reuse, a bold sign that can be seen from the road, and an art piece.


This idea brings the "Donation Station" idea into the store. The suitcases will be suspended and be "raining" donations into the window. A bright red umbrella with the shield logo will be suspended with the mannequin.
Another display option that I had was using old drawers as part of the display. Reusing them, and creating window boxes of sort full of flowers. The idea of using greenery in the space would make it feel more like a boutique than a generic store.

Blogs can open doors!!

I read an article today about a pretty amazing little girl named Tavi Gevinson who's fashion blog on blogspot got her noticed by major fashion designers, and has now put her on the map as a major fashion blogger! Read the article and visit her blog, because it is amazing what we can do with our blogs!!

Inspiration Weekend

Salvation Army Select- The next step

After presenting the marketing and donation ideas that we had in class on Wednesday, we were split into groups to implement some of the ideas that were discussed. My suitcase idea that I discussed in the previous post, is being combined with the idea of Ms. Lily Glover's mannequin idea, and turned into "Donation-Stations."

(Above Drawn By Lily Glover)

These "Donation-Stations" will be used as both marketing and donation opportunities. People can bring donations and play dress-up with the mannequins as well as being able to place items into the refurbished suitcases for pick-up. For areas where we plan on having a lot of donations, we will be stacking and securing the suitcases together, and cutting a hole through them. We will then place a cylindrical container in the hole for collection, in essence, using the suitcases to create an artistic facade to go around the drop-off container.

(Images by Allisyn Miller)

Our group divided up on Wednesday to try and get the ball rolling on this project. Allisyn Miller & Michelle Bodon are in charge of finding locations for the "Donation- Stations." Allisyn has been contacting MACK&MACK and the Village at North Elm to see if we can get some public venues for the stations, while Michelle has been focusing her efforts on finding places on campus that would be possibilities. Lily is diligently looking for mannequins and bust forms that we could use in the displays, as well as possibly in the store once it is open. I have been in contact with the manager of one of the local Salvation Army stores, trying to get suitcases donated for the displays.

Salvation Army Select

In an effort to promote the upcoming opening of the new Salvation Army Select store, we as a class were asked to come up with ideas to get donations and press for the store. Keeping up with the ideals used by the Salvation Army, I decided to use items found in the thrift stores, and make new items.

My first ideas all started with a shirt. Plain t-shirts overrun the Salvation Army. I thought of all the ways to promote or raise donations that could come from a plain t-shirt.

When thinking about ways to get donations, I had a difficult time. My first ideas consisted of different containers that could be built and placed at different locations around town to promote the store, but that didn't go with the ideals that I was trying to use. I went down to the local Salvation Army and found an old, blue suitcase. ( I actually found a whole shelf of old blue suitcases.) This is where my "donation-station" idea came from. The idea is to take old suitcases from the store and turn them into the donation-station. Clean them up, put a poster inside to promote donating, and take them to local businesses around town to leave out. This not only would reuse an old product, and be an effective promotional tool, but it would make donation collection easier.

Timepieces

We were asked to create three options for "timepieces" to go in our recently designed retail spaces. I wanted the timepieces to be environmental aspects of the store itself.

The first one was inspired by the Pantheon and the cycle of the sun. I designed an 8ft mechanical system at the top of the store, set into the dome. Throughout the day, the system rotates and at different times of the day, and a series of 12" holes open allowing light to penetrate the dark space bellow. The different angles of light will highlight different aspects of the store throughout the day. These renderings show the device open at noon, where the light would shine directly down into the store.







The second option that I designed sits directly below where the oculus would be. Inside of the store, in the center of the space would be a plasma screen set directly into the floor showing the supernova. Around the perimeter of the screen would be a ring of metal with lights imbeded into it. This timepiece more closely resembles a clock. Four large lights found at 12, 3,6, and 9 will be the brightest, while smaller lights in between will be more dim. As time ticks by, the lights will glow according to what time it is. It will continue to light up until 12 noon when everything will be lit for 15 minutes until it starts over again. The last image shows the timepiece at 3:00.





The third idea that I had for the space is similar to the one above, but on a larger scale. This timepiece takes up the entire floor of the private dressing rooms. A 16" wide glass circle, set into the black wood floor, is lit from underneath. As time passes the light travels around the circle gradually, making the room glow. At noon, the entire circle would be lit like it is in the last picture. The lights used in this timepiece will be filtered through the lightly frosted glass giving off a soothing glow.

Material board revisited

Supernova Materials Board

This is a preliminary mock-up of my materials board for my retail space. The space is designed to be a space inspired lingerie store. Black lacquered wood floors and black metal walls are in the main gallery space of the store. Gold chrome mannequins will be suspended at different heights throughout the gallery and will be lit from above to look like alien figures floating in space. The black metal walls will be curved to make people in the store feel like there is no sense of depth, like they too are floating in space. The dressing rooms will be decorated in mid century space-inspired furniture to continue with the space concept, but to allow for a more upscale feeling. The lingerie displayed in the store are futuristic or space inspired, and will be displayed on the gold mannequins.

Material Girl

In my Revisioning Retail studio Monday, we were asked to draw two pieces of paper out of a bucket; one pink and one yellow. The pink piece of paper had what our retail space would sell and the yellow was our concept. Our assignment was to come up with an idea for a store that would go in a mall that is trying to transform itself into a more upscale shopping center. My pink piece of paper said sleepwear and undergarments, and my yellow concept paper said supernova. To say that I had to think for a long time on how to relate my concept to the product sold in the store would be a lie. After doing some research, came across a description of different types of supernovae. It was on this website that my concept took shape for this project, in the form of a supernova created from Binary stars (A binary star is a pair of stars that are close together and orbit about each other), also referred to as a type I supernova.

How a type I supernova occurs:
a pair of stars are close together
they begin to orbit and revolve around each other
the pull of the smaller star draws mass and energy from it's larger companion
when the stars become too unstable, they collapse and explode

After reading this, I decided that the store needed to be an upscale, classy, deisgner lingerie and undergarment boutique.



"Most supernovae reach maximum brightness a few days after they occur and shine intensely for several weeks. Some fade within months. Others fade over a period of years."
With this model I decided to separate the store into different sections based on what the product was. Articles that were for special occasions, and only intended to be worn once, articles for everyday use, and articles that would be kept for years.

Some designers that I am looking at for inspiration for the product to go into the store are:

I also found that scientists believe that heavy metals like gold came from supernovas. In response to this I decided that instead of the traditional chrome clothing racks, I was going to have gold, and gold accents throughout the store. I found gold mannequins that I thought would be amazing in the store, they not only will match the display accents but they have an alien look about them which lends itself well to the supernova concept.

In my exploration of the internet, I found these heat sensitive wall panels that are amazing. I was trying to find something different to put in part of the store to give a little dimension and also bring down the noise level. These fabric panels can be arranged in different configurations and when touched or when a change in temperature occurs around them, they change like a mood ring. The colors and design created by the change resemble the pictures of supernovas, and relates back to the bright, colorful show brought on by heat. I invite you to visit the NunoErin website to check out these panels.

I would like to have a gold leaf ceiling in at least part of the store, possibly the dressing rooms, or at the center of the store. This picture shows a room with recessed cans set in a gold leaf ceiling which gives the room an ethereal feel, which is ideal for this space.

I decided to offset the gold with black floors and black ceilings in most of the space.

I know that I want to use black lacquered drawers in the space, but I can't decide between the sleek, modern 6 drawer units found in most stores, or actual chest of drawers to give the store a bedroom feel.