Interior Design For Retail @ Central St. Martins

With a wonderful group of students recently, we had the opportunity to visit, Iguzzini Lighting, Adel Rootstein's factory and showroom and Tussaud's production studios. What is so interesting about these places is that students have the opportunity (which is open to very few, but very kindly to us in Education) to experience what companies do and how they do it. Students have the opportunity to view exactly how those amazing wax figures produced by Madame Tussauds are actually developed, from original model celebrity all the way through to the final presentation - students are always left feeling that they have seen something which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Rootstein also take students through the journey from spotting the next 'super model' to the final piece, where they are able then to identify them in most of the windows around the world. Education is such a wonderfully privileged place to be and certainly working for such a famous institution does open many doors. I think students recognise this and certainly feedback from my students has been enormously positive as a result.

Hayley Mills, Display Designer talks about her experience in Leeds

Hayley Mills, Display Designer, Contact: hmills2318@hotmail.com
Leeds is not the first place one would think of for experiencing an exquisite shopping trip. However, tucked away, surrounding the city centre are a flurry of historical buildings which house the Victorian Arcades. These elegant shop fronts give the high street a new dimension and feel. Just from the presence of the buildings a grand atmosphere is created, you get a sense of heritage and prowess from your shopping experience; you could say a true palace of consumerism. Among the stores that stood out here are Louis Vuitton (below), I would not have expected anything less from this brand as they are one of the leading stores for creative displays. In their side window was a fixed architectural structure, which holds a resemblance to contour lines. This sculptural piece of art is what attracts your sightline to the window, with the merchandise becoming a secondary visual and are evenly spaced on the display structure. The solid strips of wood had a hint of red colouring on the edges; this rich striking colour gives it a hint of elegance and simplicity. It created a new dimension to the window space and displaying product. The other picture featured (below) is Mulberry’s store window, this transparent vinyl used to cover the whole of the window is of course nothing new but during this current climate with budgets being cut, it is a very cost effective and simplistic way to bring atmosphere and imagery to a window.

Longchamp, Bond Street, London

I must admit that I know very little about this brand as it is one that I have never bought anything from or have known anyone who displays their merchandise for them. Suffice to say for such a small window they have produced a quite interesting means of displaying their product. This also is the type of window which is quite difficult to comment on, probably because it is so simple. Anyway, Longchamp have used A3 sized sheets in a repetitive format as a backdrop and therefore creating a context. The merchandise itself has been placed on a stiffened version of the text that seems as if it has been screwed up and discarded and therefore providing a kind of hidden narrative.

Dover St. Market - Comme de Garcons

When travelling I am always amazed at how so many retailers are 'allowed' to come out of their spaces and decorate and change the outside. Those of us who have been lucky enough to travel to Tokyo will know how incredibly illuminated the city is (as well as incredibly noisy). Sadly London lags behind in the illumination sense, possibly due to the local bureaucratic council having such a tight grip on what can and cannot be done to London buildings. While this does of course protect these buildings I do always feel that it also stifles a lot of creativity. Clearly retailers have to work around this and ways that they can change how a space looks is with the use of vinyl on the glass. Here, are images from London's Dover street market and the Comme De Garcon 'Black' campaign.

Create Your Space workshop: Moscow

A little while ago I was invited to Moscow to give a talk and run a workshop around Interior Design for students at a conference centre close to the GUM shopping mall and Red square. My initial thought was how I could run a workshop in such an enormous event that would engage such a huge audience? The organisers didn't want me to simply talk to the audience about Interior Design and my knowledge of Russian embarrassingly consists of two words. Therefore, everything that I did say in English was followed by several minutes of translation into Russian. It is not the easiest thing to concentrate on what you are saying, waiting for it to be translated, and then pick up where you were, however after years of having to do this you do develop the knack. Anyway, I decided that I would put together a workshop and presentation which I called 'Create your space' where students were given some basic materials and guidelines and invited to literally create their own space. Some of the results can be seen below. What is so interesting about these is how different each and every 'model' is. We had hundreds of them too which we laid out across the auditorium for the audience to view, including the Mayor of Moscow. What about the presentation? I hear you ask. Well, not everything went according to plan, some things got lost in translation and the organisers had decided to cancel the projector and screen as they didn't think I would need it. The presentation therefore, (and my toes are curling as I write this), had to be done from a laptop to an audience the size of a mini Olympic stadium. Well these things do happen occasionally no matter how prepared we are and they might well happen again in the future, we just have to learn to dance quicker on the rug, I suppose?

Central St. Martins Interior Styling Course: Sarah Zimmer

Sarah Zimmer Germany / London

There are many different types of journey. The journey to healing, the journey to your Holiday resort, the journey to success and the trip back home. After a long exhausting day at work to (finally) relax and let go.

A journey is defined as a process of travelling from one place to another, hence figuratively a passage through life. The Interior Styling course has been an inspiring journey, as an Interior Stylist creates and sends their client on a journey each time. It can be an imaginary one to the Provence, to the countryside in the UK, to the seaside in Spain or to Disneyland. It is a journey through time and style. A trip to the clients dreamland.

We all need to set sail one day to begin the journey of a thousand miles and it begins with one step. I have begun my journey by joining this inspiring course...!

Fda Display Design: Ariana Mouha

Ariana Mouha: Fda Display Design Student

During my work experience, I had the opportunity to work for a Couture Hat and Jewellery Designer, named Louis Mariette. Throughout my six weeks I was able to participate in every aspect of the creation of the hats and head pieces which were to be worn at events such as at Royal Ascot. I also assisted in the styling and presentation for a wedding Television feature which was filmed at Louis's and where I helped backstage at a couple of fashion shows and where the hats were modelled. I believe that I have gained a range of valuable knowledge from working in the industry with Louis Mariette for those few weeks as I was introduced to all the different sectors that his line of work involved. arianamouha@yahoo.com

Fda Display Design: Kathryn Kane

Kathryn Kane: Fda Display Design Student

While strolling around Edinburgh’s streets, after another day of sightseeing, I found this display in one of the shopping centres. It is for a store called ‘Joy’ and I found it an interesting way to display the products. The store has taken the display out of the window and into the shopping centre, which enables the customers to get a better look and a different perspective of the display itself. This extends the relationship between the store and customer. With a couple of simply dressed mannequins in each cage and matching accessories the store is able to interact with the customers in a new way.

Fda Display Design: Kathryn Kane

Kathryn Kane: Fda Display Design Student

On a recent trip to Edinburgh, I took the opportunity to have a look at the various displays Edinburgh store shad to offer. As it was the beginning of the sale season there wasn’t much to offer in terms of ‘eye catching’ displays, but I did manage to find a few little, simple ones. Here I found two at Jenners, Edinburgh’s long-standing department store. The first is a little window display for the Haberdashery department. There is a lot of movement, which draws your attention to all the little products around the display and focuses the eye to concentrate on every little detail. I feel that this display has worked well in such a tiny little space. The next display at Jenners is for the Food Hall department. I thought that this was quite a nice display, due to the products being very simply displayed in the pyramid format typically seen in displays. There is also a graphic to the left of the display which sets the scene that these are authentic Italian products. This display uses the simplest of display techniques, which has been put together perfectly, therefore creating a very neat display.

Central St. Martins, Styling for Interiors Course: Fahad Allwihan

Fahad Allwihan: Architecture Student, Nottingham / Saudi Arabia

This was a really good opportunity to learn something new in my life. Before I joined this course I was so enthusiastic to learn the techniques of Interior Design, especially as an Architecture student because Interior Designers have such good drawing skills which are illustrated through drawing plans, sections and perspective views. Moreover, the course was so interesting especially when we visited St. George's development in Vauxhall, South London on the first day. I love the style of these apartments, and when I saw it for the first time, I felt that I was in Dubai rather than London. I really like modern & colourful design styles, as it gives such a fresh feeling for residents. Below, I have attached an image which is of the building that I live in at Nottingham and is a typical design from the DE STIJL style of Architecture.

Central St. Martins Interior styling course, Stefania Mazzon-McCallon

Stefania Mazzon-McCallon: Accountant, Switzerland

What a wonderful experience....!

It is the end of the week and therefore the last day of the course and finally everything is ready for the presentation.

We had a very interesting week, full of site visits, visits to Museums and Lectures in styling in the studios at Central St. Martins, London.

We had a great group of people and with a very vibrant Jonathan Baker made this course special. I am really looking forward to a follow up one...!

Central St. Martins Interior styling course: Antonella Montresori

Antonella Montresori: IT Consultant, Italy / London:

What a great kitchen for a small apartment.! This is the biggest open space in the entire apartment that I saw at St. George's in Vauxhall, London. Everything is tucked away in beautifully designed cupboards, yet close at hand should an ingredient or a fancy plate be needed or an open cook book on the counter top, herbs and spices laid out in a line and the the laughter of friends enjoying themselves over their first cocktail of the evening. Ah, the single life..! Now, back to reality. The children are back from nursery, they each want something different to eat, the husband is running around putting dinner together and the phone is ringing or off the hook. Catch me if you can, I am typing away finishing my first blog entry..!

Central St. Martins, Interior Styling Course, Alessandro D'Ottavi

Alessandro D'ottavi: Milan, Italy, Screenwriter and free-lance journalist.
It's always like this, at the beginning of something new, I feel always the same. I feel slow, awkward, in one word I feel dumb. It's because I'm overwhelmed by new things, my brain has to decode so many new elements that it is not able to do its normal job. and this is exactly what has happened to me in these first days in London at Central St. Martins Central College. It's funny how in these situations the brain focuses on apparently insignificant things: a kitchen (pic 1), a light switch (pic 2), the floor of a very standard building lobby (pic 2).in our everyday life we don't pay attention to these little things, but may be they are not so insignificant after all. They are the basic commodities that shape our world, they make our life the way we perceive it and essentially they make us who we are. Once we experience something new they are the first thing that we are in touch with and they are there to remind us how amazingly different we are. This is why I do think that that feeling of dizziness we have at the very beginning of a new experience is not that bad after all.