Warehouse / Topman, London

Is there a cure for pathological visual deja vu?  Apparently sufferers of this condition are convinced that they have seen this stuff before - strange that hey?  If you happen to be around Oxford Circus here in London this week, then please do be careful, its not for the faint hearted, those suffering from respiratory conditions or children under twelve. 

If you have seen the Korean horror film 'In to the Mirror', you'll know what I mean.  If you haven't seen the film then do, but what I am referring too is how some of the high street brands are eerily mirroring each other - scary stuff, non?  OK, you're not likely to have your jaw ripped apart by your own reflection in these windows,  and if you walk away from the fenestration your reflection will not be left behind.  And no, you wont suffer  all of that other shockingly spine chilling 'redruM' scrawled on a mirror, screams of "don't be scared mommy", or children with White hair eerily singing nursery rhymes surrounded with atmospheric dry ice, kinda stuff.  However, you may well see the below, (please tick/delete as appropriate)

(a) Topman across the street reflecting the male version..ish of this window

(b) the reflection of the back of your head in your own reflection

or

ʍopuıʍ sıɥʇ ɟo ɥsı˙˙uoısɹǝʌ ǝlɐɯ ǝɥʇ ƃuıʇɔǝlɟǝɹ ʇǝǝɹʇs ǝɥʇ ssoɹɔɐ uɐɯdoʇ (ɔ)

Of course it is difficult to say which of these two brands produced their schemes first, however, just have a guess and tick/delete as appropriate:

(a) Topman

(b) Warehouse

(c) Neither Topman or Warehouse

If you ticked either (a) or (b) of course you would be wrong, but how easy was that?  If you ever saw Armani Xchange's scheme in New York 2006 (image below),  then that's right, you guessed it.....taadaaa, same concept, different city (minus glitter ball) and completely unrelated brands  - chronic visual deja vu, hey?  As with other chronic visual deja vu sufferers please allow me to offer you some reassurance that you are not alone.  For now, I'll leave you with your reflections (if they're still there of course).
Incidentally, having had a cursory glance through Google, there is actually a cure for those of us suffering from pathological visual deja vu.  Unfortunately it does rely on the 'multiple' brands being creative and communicating some form of differentiation (at the very least).  You really couldn't make this stuff up, could you?
In the mean time, let me out of this psychomanteum, I'm trying to get my 'jamais vu' to kick in again.....again......again

Diesel, London

My sincerest apologies to the window cleaners at Diesel along Bond St. here in London.  I seemed to have smeared the front windows with my saliva while drooling at this latest installation.  If you happen to be here in town this week then you must check out this latest scheme based on "THE CHASE [which] is a short film directed by Will Davidson and commissioned by AnOther Magazine to debut Sophia Kokosalaki's DIESEL BLACK GOLD AW10 collection".  (you can find a copy of the short film either on YouTube or on Diesel's site) This really is an incredibly exciting development in store concepts and presentation which is absolutely the direction we need to be in.  It is creative, informed, exciting, avant-garde and so incredibly interesting.  I need to go back and have another look as my images don't do this scheme justice.  Thank you so much Diesel, this is so refreshing I couldnt wait to share it with everyone here.  In the meantime, I promise not to stand so close to these windows next time.

Dorothy Perkins, London

I strangely feel like I am a 14 year old again today and holding Granny to ransom with a plastic gun, but really meaning it. Although she's not holding a copy of today's newspaper just these photographs. If you happened to be around Bond st. recently here in London, you may have seen the latest scheme from Dorothy Perkins (as of 12th September 2010 although discount posters have also now been hung in their windows ).  I seem to be covering so many look-a-like schemes recently and as lookie likee schemes go, this is one hell of a corker.  In Summer 2009, the value retailer, Splash (think Primark Prices, New Look fashionability)  based in Dubai, UAE, installed a scheme (two of the images sent to me can be seen below although I have quite a few other views of the scheme too) using out sized 'Polaroids' suspended from ropes with clips.  Just 12 months later Dorothy Perkins here in London (and no doubt a version of this went around all of the branches) launched a scheme of out sized 'Polaroids' clipped and suspended from a wire.  Purely innocent coincidence? a scheme 'influenced' by Splash? or completely shameless plagiarism? I know what I think but will let you decide. Having worked for many years with the umbrella company myself, I do feel that, at least, from my frame of reference, the latter probably applies - I may be wrong (yeah right) but I just cant convince myself enough to believe this is coincidence, and I bet you cant either?.  Who would have thought that Dorothy Perkins would ever be (hypothetically) well and truly busted and exposed for reproducing a scheme first seen in a value retailer?  Its a bit like Prada stealing concepts from New Look - OK not quite.  We are savvy enough to know it wouldn't happen but if it did we would wonder why, right? Wouldn't it be quite desperate?  I've always felt DP's (as they're known in the biz.) was the kind of granny-ish brand that catered for suburban housewives married to guys (possibly called Brian or Ralph) who work as telephone sanitisers or  sell air conditioning units and who bore their wives stupid with the In's and outs of the benefits of compressor fans rather than the ageing Topshop thirty somethings that I think its actually aimed at? But that's just me.  Ultimately, this is quite painful-buttock-clenching-toe-curling-stuff, pretty shameful and shameless behaviour.  If they had asked me I could have told them it has been done before - but they didn't, although I suspect and from my experience that they already knew anyway.  In the meantime, stick 'em up Granny-ish brand you are so busted.

Splash Images, Courtesy and Copyright John Paul Cairney & Jensen Galiza

Alex Randall, Bespoke Lighting

Innovative lighting was quite difficult to find at the shows this year, however, Alex Randall was certainly the most exciting work that I have seen in ages.  I can see her installations working incredibly well in any Uber cool Boutique, Hotel, or Bar that would be brave enough to use them.  There is a kind of darkness (ironic I know) to Randall's lighting that makes it so appealing.  I adore the suspended saws with the tube lighting.  Here you can just make out that the blades have been temporarily covered with sellotape (ya' know Health and Safety an all that and its paranoia) but placed higher of course this wouldn't matter.  The Rat swarm lamp was one of the most interesting pieces, if only just a little too creepy for me, but nonetheless, so wonderfully interesting, provoking and judging from the swarms of people around it, it certainly was a hit.  Anyway, check out Randall's website at www.alexrandall.co.uk I think you need to be brave and commission this incredibly talented woman to produce something for your next project, although be prepared of course for Randall's compelling work to steal the show.

Asprey and Garrard, London

I'm in the middle of practising my SSShhhhh.......right now.  If any of you have spent any time in a library and been caught chatting and God forbid your mobile phone starts ringing, then those old librarians with their hair tied up in the obligatory ballet bun hair style, naturally of course in Grey will be straight over to tell (not ask) you to be quiet or turn it off. I'm not quite privy to this but, maybe there is a secret Librarian society out there that issue's new recruits with a hair bun made especially at the Librarian hair bun factory somewhere that allows multiple users to Velcro them into place as part of the uniform? - I just don't know.  Perhaps the ones you have experienced,  maybe have a discrete tattoo vaguely sssshhhhowing through that floral nylon gossamer blouse or perhaps a body piercing hidden somewhere ready to be tugged and gnawed at during the monthly hedonist night at some dubious night club?  Well maybe the cool ones are tattooed and pierced, if librarians can be cool?  .
Anyway, the scene is painted and my point is, could anything be more incredibly dull?  This week it was very difficult to look at the latest scheme from Asprey and Garrard here in London and be excited. Of course the product is superb, the brand is untainted and they do produce incredibly good quality schemes, albeit, and I know they wont thank me for saying it, and lets face it no one else will say it, but this really is the 'librarian' of a schemes this year in London (without the piercings and tattoos) Motifs of trees in muted tones carry the product behind which a printed screen has been placed - revolutionary stuff hey?. Of course, this scheme is certainly not difficult on the eye, although as with the recent scheme I mentioned at Tiffany, it seems that we've seen it all before, and in fact actually countless times. Looking through my archives, motifs of trees crop up on countless occasions. With a quick scan through my archived images I quickly found Henry Bendel (NYC) December 2009, Mulberry (London) August 2008 (image below), St. John (NYC) 2001 (image below), oh the list goes on. As any of the thousands of students I have worked with would confirm, motifs have been completely banished from my studio's when we work on the development of new concepts. Besides the fact that there is no design left to squeeze out of them, they nearly always, it seems, are used, I find, when retailers are dry of inspiration. OK, its Autumn and this is an Autumn scheme, but surely there's more to Autumn than motifs of trees without leaves and carrying handbags? And please don't make me look for all of those countless schemes using dry leaves, suspended leaves, leaves piled high, images of leaves in vinyl stuck to the fenestration....oh you get the gist. Come on guys....lets move on with this stuff, London is a fabulously rich resource from which to draw upon, so please, why don't you?  In the meantime where did I leave that book on the philosophies of Teyard de Chardin...........SSSSSSShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuush.

Everyday Delights, London

One of my absolute favourites at Tent this year here in London, has to be the outcomes produced at Everyday Delights and the  JJAM Curators Collective's "challenge to London based designers to reinvent the classic yellow duster in a way that we never imagined before." "The project aimed to use the most banal everyday object - the duster - to promote the creativity of London's contemporary design scene."   The work is superbly produced, its wonderfully humorous and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time than looking at the outcomes from this group - incredible.  My favourites, well, they all look wonderful, but for me, the tea set complete with tray (below) and of course, the knuckle dusters (above).  What a wonderful sense of humour these guys have, and I would like to see some of this stuff in some of the major retailers in town.  If you don't snap these guys up soon, what on earth are you doing? 

Tent, London

If you haven't been to Tent yet, what are you doing?  This show is visual porn, and you know how much we like that - incredible stuff.  OK its not exactly porn, but you know what I mean.  The best and sexiest stuff you will find in London right now can be found here at the Truman Brewery.  This is not an area of London that I frequent that often, although I am beginning to wish that I did.  If you want to be with people who are inspired, who will inspire you and just want to share their passion, then get yourself down there.  Without exception, every part of this show is stunning.  The people are so wonderfully friendly and I can see so many potential collaborations with retailers and commercial visual teams here that you must be completely bonkers, and quite frankly uncreative not to see the potential in the guys here and the opportunities that they present.  So, get ready to shred that dreadful spiral bound manual sent to you by head office somewhere in a distant land on how to hang a graphic and get to the show to cleanse yourself of all that dull corporate branding malarkey.  Let the accountants, marketing, PR and HR departments remain committed members of the 'dead hand gang' of design (we all know how much they like to think they are designers - yeah right) and bathe in the creativity of this show.  So come on, burn that corporate bra, shred that corporate Bible and walk into the light, I promise you wont regret it.

100% Design, London

If you haven't been to 100% Design yet, what are you doing?  OK, I know we are all busy (and please don't think I'm sat here burrowed somewhere and behind my laptop sending this to you from the show)  by the time you receive this (thanks to modern technology) I've already moved on to my next show at Tent in East London.  This year at 100% I have found some real gems to keep me feeling inspired and cleansed.  Of course there are the usual wooden floors - real and faux - in every possible tone and material you care to mention and a lot of them too.  There is the usual stuff recycled and Eco friendly, baths and sinks in 'fashionable' colours - Jacuzzis too - wallpapers and stuff I never knew I needed, but clearly I do .  The new materials available for us to use are delicious and I certainly found some new suppliers for my own work.  There seems to be a big and environmentally unfriendly bias towards everything encapsulated in resin - you name it, its been 'resined'.  I have always loved this material (although not the fumes) and it can look incredibly cool used creatively, some suppliers have.  Lighting is a little hit and miss although there are some interesting and in some cases quite sculptural uses of MDF.  Anyway, you still have time to get yourself there, so go on, its Friday.

London Design Week, Love me Live with Me

After a great afternoon scouring 100% Design here in London with new product launches and inspiration oozing from every pore to share with you, one of the best bits for me must be the small barrow just placed outside the venue.  I didn't understand this concept at first, but it doesn't matter.  The guys here are so incredibly friendly, there's no hidden agenda, they just want the opportunity to talk to you and to share the concept with you and for you to share your thoughts with them. "Designed & Made will be giving away over 2,000 items worth over £5,000 specially commissioned from North East based designer makers. They will be given away from an antique market barrow, which will be parked at key locations across London over the nine days of London Design Festival taking place between 18-27 September. The converted barrow has been used as a base on which to build a miniature cityscape of individual vessels each containing multiple items."  "The items have been designed to cause intrigue and to make an impact on the temporary owner’s lives. Items to be distributed include a 9-5 clock by Jonathan Aspinall; taxidermied mice head jewellery by Janet Allison; a poetry family on name labels by Alec Finlay; ‘ Titillation’ handmade, suggestive glass vessels by Gavin Marshall Glass; reusable porcelain memo pad by Helena Seget; ‘You Drink, I Drink’ double wine glasses by Kathryn Hodgkinson; ‘Identity Theft’ brooches by Megan Randall and a graffitiable clock by Amy Levinson" The objects will be the property of the recipient for one week and in return they will be asked to submit their thoughts and photos to a blog on www.lovemelivewithme.com and to pass the object on to another recipient of their choice." "The objects will pass around the country until mid December creating a map of their route and relationships with their temporary owners as they travel. An exhibition or publication of the used objects and the comments they collected along the way is planned."

What an incredible concept.  This is something that I can see working incredibly well at Selfridges.  Selfridges are really quite forward thinking when it comes to these kind of ideas so I really do hope that they find these guys and install it within their Oxford st. site, even for just a short time.  As a customer, this is certainly something which I would like to see and to be part of.  How exciting..!  In the meantime, you must check out these guys at www.lovemelivewithme.org.uk

Poetry Name tags, Image Copyright Alec Finlay

Eek Ring, Image Copyright Janet Allison

Ceramic Medals, Image Copyright Claire Baker

Cardboard Clocks, Image Copyright Amy Levinson

Tiffany, London

I know I ranted a little last week at Diesel's window as so many of you told me so, and quite right too. However, one thing all of your messages had in common was that you all agreed that the scheme had appeared to have been 'lifted' from other brands that I had compared them too. Well, in addition to that previous post we have all seen enormous umbrellas used as props within some of the luxury brand stores over the past few months from Prada to Hermes, following down through the chain of mid-range 'multiples' such as Banana Republic to the bottom of the pile currently at Primark and we understand this process. However, luxury brand to luxury brand is another issue altogether albeit over a longer period of time. I am a huge fan of Tiffany as they do produce the most exceptional presentations although this one installed just prior to Vogue's Fashion's night out, rang alarm bells in me. Having recorded the visual merchandising schemes in New York for the past 15 years at the same time each year and almost daily in London, I did recall seeing something similar and looking through my archives, in 2008, Emilo Pucci, and below at Mui Mui and if I remember correctly Mikimoto had already produced something so incredibly similar to the current global Tiffany scheme that I am a little embarrassed to share this with you. Rather than rant again that no one is looking beyond their own brand to establish what has happened previously 'out there' and that no-one (at least that I am aware of) is doing as I do in constantly collecting this information, I will leave you to decide what you think. I am not of course suggesting in the slightest that the scheme has been plagiarised as these things do happen, however luxury brand to luxury brand - risky stuff. I would have thought that it was someones role within these brands to ensure that this doesn't happen as we have seen the consequences of luxury brands pursuing those who copy their merchandise even though that of course is clearly deliberate, but are they pursuing anyone who has the same / similar scheme two years later? probably not - well at least not yet.

Prada, London

One of the interesting things I find about this store is how they change the use of their presentation space. It doesn't, I feel, always work wonderfully well (but that's just me), but they do do it, which should be applauded and this is quite a creative use of a relatively small space. Occasionally they open up the space to reveal views into the store and alternate this with small enclosed show case type spaces focusing the customers eye on the details of the installation and the product. Here we have the use of Black and White images in a repetition format forming the background to the figures wearing the product. Interestingly the figures themselves do rather jar with the fluidity of the human images in the background, but I guess that's the nature of so many mannequin collections which are often placed in poses in which they were never meant to be which makes them look quite awkward. Still, what the creative team here have done is perhaps to consider how they can utilise their current collection of figures but changing them by covering the faces to which we are ordinarily drawn and within which we are able to find the reflected us, or not. This is not the most lavish scheme I've seen from this brand, but who cares, it works well, its simple, it does what it does and maybe will send a message to smaller independent retailers that you don't have to spend huge amounts of money after all to look good.