Babor, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright www.dfrost.com

With the launch of their Sea Creation line of products, Barbor, in conjunction with those great guys at www.dfrost.com have installed this latest installation across their stores.  With such an enormous range of products for customers to select from anything which can encapsulate the essence of the offer and give you that competitive edge is a must-do strategy and this brand always seem to do it so well.

Check out our fantastic sponsors below for incredible Visual Merchandising solutions or click on the banners on the side of the main page at www.retailstorewindows.com

Don't forget you can also join our community and upload your own schemes via our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/154954607862364/

Lamy, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright www.dfrost.com

We're always so pleased to receive images of windows from around the world and particularly if we are not able to get to these places ourselves.  We don't know much about this brand (the newsletter element on their website still has the template text from when their website much have been set up....oops) however this amazing brand have recently launched their Premium Writing Special Editions 2018 campaign where they present two brand new products.  An interesting concept too produced in conjunction with www.dfrost.com.

Check out our fantastic sponsors below for incredible Visual Merchandising solutions or click on the banners on the side of the main page at www.retailstorewindows.com

Don't forget you can also join our community and upload your own schemes via our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/154954607862364/

Galeria Kaufhof, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright www.barthelmess.com/en

We are always so pleased to see what is happening around the world in the world of Visual Merchandising and at Galeria Kaufhof in Germany their seasonal scheme is simply glittering.  Focusing on the party season, the brand have installed outsized prop atomisers, handbags and lipsticks to create this amazingly glitzy installation produced in conjunction with those clever guys at www.barthelmess.com/en

Babor, Hamburg, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright http://www.dfrost.com/ 

If you happen to be in Hamburg then do go and check out the latest scheme at Babor's new flagship store.  Those lovely guys at www.dfrost.com have used glow sticks in a repetition format in order to create a focal point and radiant zoom effect which focuses the eye directly onto the product within their windows. The small ampules at the centre of the scheme contain concentrated ingredients in delicious colours.  Its no easy task working with cosmetics so a job very well done we thought.

Check out our fantastic sponsors below for incredible Visual Merchandising solutions or click on the banners on the side of the main page at www.retailstorewindows.com

Marco Polo, Wittwer, Stuttgart, Germany

Images courtesy and copyright arno-online.com

 If you happen to be shopping at Wittwer the incredible book store in Stuttgart, Germany then do swing by and check out the latest Marco Polo installation.  We hopefully all face the same exciting decision of choosing our next holiday so what better place to look?  Arno, the designers here, showcases brands at the point of sale, created shops in shops and interactive systems.  Just check out their website at www.arno-online.com

Check out our fantastic sponsors below for incredible Visual Merchandising solutions or click on the banners on the side of the main page at www.retailstorewindows.com

Euroshop, Germany

This week just about anyone and everyone within the retail and visual merchandising industry from around the world has descended on Dusseldorf here in Germany for Euroshop.  We are exhausted by the size of this venue and couldn't possibly include everything that we have seen, so here's an overview of some of the exciting bits.  

What is more noticeable than ever before is how guarded everyone is about their latest collections.  So much so that if you happen to be remotely Asian in appearance or perhaps working for an Asian company then the chances of getting onto some of these stands is ever thinly sliced.  Sadly it seems, allegedly of course, that the experience of some of these companies is that within a matter of 'hours' their work appears on Chinese websites and up for sale at a fraction of the cost.  We cant verify this as it is purely anecdotal evidence and there really isn't enough time in our lives to follow every single product shown here and neither does it interest us to do so, although simultaneously it doesn't surprise us either.  OK, well design theft is nothing new and will possibly never go away particularly if one doesn't have ones own legacy of design history to protect, in which case why would anyone care anyway?  Our own feeling with this is that if one is truly creative enough then another bus load of ideas will come along anyway so why worry; this is not said flippantly and we realise that it is very easy to say it.  This blog site has also been directly copied in China, but then without the real critical voice how can it ever be a threat?  It also rather amuses us. 

It is of course frustrating when ideas and designs are stolen and of course this can generate financial ruin.  In the meantime, while the theft of work is despicable sadly the 'Chinese' (as in the ones visiting here) are being very obviously excluded.   With ever greater spending power, it seems China will become an even bigger force in the world and clearly determined to get there fast.  The shameless theft of design and industrial sabotage is hurting us all and even we were faced with hostility by our own British counterparts  Thankfully our Britishness (or probably Brutishness) got us passed the gatekeepers but it took a lot more of 'working the floor' to get there than ever before.  This selective presentation of the latest offerings tarnished our visit even if we did see some amazing new 'things'.  We will get over it of course, well, we already are but in the meantime it is an interesting insight to where we are headed, even if its just culturally as well as creatively. 

Barthelmess, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright Barthelmess, Germany

The designers and trend scouts of visual merchandising specialist Barthelmess have just published their latest fantastic workbook which presents a multitude of visual merchandising inspirations for SS14.  The days of purism and minimalism are definitely gone. ‘It’s going to be cheerful, vibrant and floral,’ Barthelmess designer Doris Repper reports. ‘Flowers, trees and grass growing and blooming in all sorts of shapes and sizes – whether with an urban flair in greenhouses, geometric in back lit acrylic cubes or light..’ Nature’s poetry is pervading the city. Huge patterns, origami and the combination of organic and geometric forms characterise the scenes. Everything is gigantic; over sized objects are mirrored repeatedly to create exciting and enthralling worlds – just for the summer with compositions of water lilies, lotuses and flamingos at the centre.  The comic strip scenes will create a special accent with Superheroes conquering next year’s installations.  Just watch this space we say.

Berlin, Germany



Image copyright cosmicadventure.com

Für den Rest der Woche und alle nächsten sind wir die Erkundung der Sehenswürdigkeiten von Berlin hier in Deutschland. Wir sind für die neuesten und größten in Trends, kommerziellen Umgebungen und spannende neue Dinge, die mit euch allen zu teilen suchen. Nur watch this space .......

For the rest of the week and all of next we are exploring the delights of Berlin here in Germany.  We're looking for the latest and greatest in trends, commercial environments and exciting new things to share with you all.  Just watch this space.......  Our German is a little rusty.....ok well, non existent.  Flicking though our German dictionary, we hope the above translates ok?

Cofrad, Euroshop, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright Sarah Bailey

Following on from yesterdays entry with the work of ABC Italia, we also have the incredible work from Cofrad.  We visited their showroom in Paris recently and they are such nice people that we couldn't not include their name here.  Agents to the best in industry, Cofrad's wonderful installation using these white finished mannequins was quite spectacular.  If you happen to be in Paris, do pay them a visit and have a look at their enormous showroom too as it really is quite a spectacle and contains such a wide variety of groups of mannequin collections that we're sure you'll see something that you will love.

ABC Italia, Euroshop, Germany

Images Courtesy and Copyright Sarah Bailey

If you didnt get to Dusseldorf this week, here's some snippets for you.  We think ABC Italia stole the show this year with they dramatic mannequins accessories and wonderful poses.  Colourful and big wigs are becoming bigger again anyway on the high street although as we have seen around this event.  If you didnt manage to get a ticket, flight or hotel, here's some images for you to enjoy.  

Arc Lighting, Germany

Image copyright: Thomas Schielke, http://www.arclighting.de/

If you haven't see this site, then do check it out soon. The incredibly talented Thomas Schielke, "has been in charge of the didactic and communication division at the lighting manufacturer ERCO since 2001 where he designed an extensive online guide for architectural lighting, leads lighting workshops and publishes internationally articles on lighting design and technology". If you haven't seen ERCO's site, do check this out too. ERCO have been very kind to us in education over the years and they certainly rank as one of the best companies globally. Their on-line guides are incredible. Thomas is also author of the book "Light Perspectives - between culture and technology". In the meantime be amazed by these images from "Face the light" which, as Thomas says "analyses different lighting approaches for mannequins in shop windows." "The situations range from highly professional to coincidental [where] the appearance of the face can be varied with light in various ways: Dramatic contrast of light and shadow with one accent spotlight, complementing the primary light with an additional spot to reduce contrast or diffuse light which results in less modelling." "Grazing light reveals textures and details for the three-dimensional form, but it could also create harsh shadows on the eyes". "Brightness contrasts with a light focus on the face and a darker background guides the viewer´s attention to the face" . Do check out Thomas's link here www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek0Xo30PjCo

Image copyright: Thomas Schielke, http://www.arclighting.de/