Juicy Couture, London

I guess it must be Valentines day soon. Around the city this week, heart motifs and a plethora of red schemes can be seen. As my students will tell you, the use of motifs is banned from my studio. When students do slip in the odd motif into a scheme they know I will pick it up and usually a friendly banter ensues, with giggles as they know how much I abhor them and there are usually gasps from the rest of the group when they realise someone has broken one of the 10 Commandments of Visual Merchandising 2010 - and its only February. Anyway, what was a pleasure to see this week is the new scheme from Juicy Couture in Mayfair who have used this out sized arrow and a figure shot right in the chest. OK, well I, if any thing it is proof that mannequins are just not meant to be in these kind of poses and I do cringe just a little when creative teams do effectively try and fit a square peg into a round hole. While, of course my toes are curling that the heart motif has been used, it is fun and I have really warmed to this 'multiple' who carry these schemes throughout the world - no easy task.

Kurt Geiger, London

Shoes can be a very tricky product to handle well and I suppose that's why so many shoe stores follow the same format of, well, shoes in a window. It was such a pleasure, therefore to see this new concept from Kurt Geiger along Regent street, here in London this week, while I flaneured the streets. OK, well they have used the usual stacked crates in a pyramidal format (another one of the 10 Commandments broken for 2010) but I feel what redeems this scheme is the use of this beautiful figure. I am not sure who has produced this Mannequin, but of course the high gloss white we have seen in the most de rigeur stores for about 8 months now, but she is fairly abstract and it is quite unusually brave for a retailer to put what is essentially a nude figure in their windows. OK well, you and I know its just a piece of fibreglass but usually the fight with the marketeers of these kind of companies sadly have such a say in what happens visually and I am pleased that this silent seller is doing what it is doing - selling shoes. Men's shoes of course are another animal altogether and thankfully Geiger has given us these beautiful range of jewel tones, so throw out the Black and Brown shoes guys and get yourself a new pair of Geiger's.

The London College of Fashion

This week I took the students of the Fashion Retail branding and Visual Merchandising course at the London College of Fashion to view some of the delights of the Science Museum here in London. Now, one may not think of the Science Museum as the first place to visit while developing a concept for Visual Merchandising but the focus of this exercise was to view and record some of the mathematical models contained within the cabinets, to study shape, curvilinear, centripetal and centrifugal forms and how these can inform the development of a Visual Merchandising concept as seen below in Tiffany, London. The group sketched these pieces which in turn the group will translate into perspex models at the next stage which will then also be sketched. These will be published soon.

Harvey Nichols, London

Still one of my favourite department stores in London is the incredible Harvey Nichols. The new store windows launch the opening of the Christian Biecher designed fourth floor 'Luxury Supermarket' and the Balenciaga perfume. The abstract figures have been sprayed in beautiful tones and have been placed in front of these abstract 'fragments'. The Balenciaga promotion (not shown here) exclusive to Harvey Nichols fills one side of the building and hundreds and hundreds of bottles of the stuff. Each window either contains one of the letters of the brand name or huge cut out silhouettes of the bottle itself in which are contained the product in a repetition format.

Hermes, London

While flaneuring the city this week, I noticed Hermes have installed their new Spring scheme, which consists of these 'cut out' pieces of Fashion with folding tabs. I don't know the history of this kind of thing, although I remember it being so incredibly popular in the 70's and it possibly dates back to the Victorian times, or at least has that kind of feel about it. What Hermes have done here however, is not just to use cartoon-like or printed imagery from which this stems, but real images of their merchandise as a cut out. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be if we could wear Fashion like this? This low tech approach is quite refreshing to view and although I have seen this type of concept used before somewhere else, it was a genuine pleasure to see. In conjunction with these tab-on clothing they have also used mannequins wearing the actual merchandise. As an overall concept, it is a little disjointed if one views all of the windows simultaneously, although there is the germination of an incredible overall scheme and I just wished that they would do more with it.

Esprit, London

Esprit have been producing some really great schemes lately here in London and I wanted to share this one with you. Following their 'Zentai' suit Sale window scheme recently this is the latest one to hit the high street. The concept is based on Route 68. Those of you not familiar with Route 68, the highway runs for 560 miles from Northwest Ohio to western Kentucky in the U.S.A. running through pre-civil war historical sites and the venue for the 400 mile annual yard sale held for 4 days each Summer. Here, merchandise has also been suspended, stiffened and given the illusion of flying in the wind almost like tumbleweed. I do quite like this scheme from a visual point of view although perhaps more could have been done to support the Route 68 concept? Route 68 has an incredible history and perhaps this concept applies too much of a surface approach rather than really getting under the skin of the area? This is rather a shame as so much has been excluded that we only realise it if we are interested in scratching just a little below the surface.

Daks, London

Well, if there was a scheme to warm the winter cockles, here is one from Daks. While it is freezing cold here in London, Daks are presenting us with the warmth of the Sahara / desert-like scheme complete with sand, safari-like tones and drift wood. If we ever needed evidence of how cutting edge Fashion works, months (if not years) in advance here is it. It is hard to 'feel' this concept right now, but hopefully we will soon be there once February is out of the way (not that I like to wish away time). In the mean time could one of you Russian oligarchs populating the apparently nicest (but not necessarily coolest parts of town) please wrap a chain around this island and drag it closer to the equator so that we can at least enjoy the benefits of global warming, if only for a decade or so?

Anthropologie, London

Finally, Spring schemes have arrived (although not the weather to go with it) here in London. As many of you know, one of my favourite brands at the moment is Anthropologie and I have been waiting in anticipation to see their new season's scheme. Here the team have used what appear to be recycled plastic drinks bottles, cut into floral forms and sprayed in a range of Spring tones. I particularly like the recycling element to this concept and and it is proof that we don't need enormous budgets to implement an amazing scheme. My only disappointment is the use of the bust forms which I feel just don't sit quite right with this brand. The bust forms in themselves are absolutely fine but used in these schemes are just not meaty enough and seem to get lost in the vast space. Still, the store is one of my favourites in London right now and I will have a scoot around inside later this week.

The London College of Fashion

After a full day of drawing and model making our Fashion Retail and Visual Merchandising course students had produced an enormous amount of work. The 2mm plywood provided for the students had been cut, twisted and manipulated into a limitless variety of possible positions and sketches of the pieces produced began to emerge. The next stage for the group will be to visit the Science Museum here in London to record some of the mathematical forms which will then be used to produced three dimensional models in perspex. This whole process of research, recording, developing ideas etc. introduces students to a variety of ways of working as many of the group had never studied Art and Design prior to beginning the course and therefore I feel this this is quite a remarkable achievement after just two sessions?

The London College of Fashion

Having taken the group Year 1 students of the Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising course to record the delights of Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum here in London the previous week, students began to use their observational drawings, taking them from the two dimensional flat image into three dimensions. This can be a hard process to do for any novice however, the groups did incredibly well. Two millimetre plywood was soaked over night in water to soften it and make is easier to work with, and students used their initial drawings to work from. The group were not expected to produce cut out leaves of little plants in the material but to look at the lines, the shapes and forms which the plants that they had studied had produced. Once their three dimensional models were created, these in turn were recorded and therefore beginning a Design process. Students also drew random words from a hat which they also had to begin to deconstruct. This added another layer of complexity to the project which they also needed to unravel as part of the process.

Lascco, Vauxhall, London

One of my favourite places in London is Lascco the Architectural reclaimer's based in Vauxhall. I often take students here to look at the wide variety of pieces for sale whether from an Interior Styling angle or from a Commercial Retail context. This is also a great example of recycling and sustainability and perfect for those Eco projects one may have lined up. Lascco is housed within Brunswick House, the former home of the Dukes of Brunswick and built in 1758. Sadly, it now teeters on the edge of new private high rise blocks which seem to be almost nudging the building out of the way, however the building makes a stand and appears quite defiant against these urban mega structures, and is determined not to be moved and I particularly like that about it. Anyway, the selection of products is quite magnificent and very much reminds me of Anthropologie. In fact, looking back through my archives of images there are spaces within Lassco which look almost identical to the store which only opened a few months ago. Coincidence? Possibly. However, if you want to be inspired, find new ideas and touch a bit of History go along to Vauxhall and have a look yourself. I can guarantee you will be amazed.

The Natural History Museum, London

While wandering around the Natural History Museum I came across this Exhibition. I have included it here simply because of the fact that it contains products and also because of the way the Exhibition has included some interesting elements that could work quite well in a Commercial space. It is therefore really worth applying a 'detective' approach to sourcing inspiration for new concepts in some of these unexpected places. Sure, the Exhibition contains elements which may not immediately seem to relate to the shopping experience such as maintaining soil, drilling holes for water and the demand for living space. However, what the Exhibition does do is tackle some of the issues based on human needs and managing the environment. Every day we throw away countless objects made from the Earth's raw materials and the Exhibition explores how much we consume and how we can manage this effectively. Perhaps this is something which some retailers don't wish to hear as well as hungry-for-stuff-type-customers. Although, I do feel that we do need to look at the whole area of Commercial Interiors and Visual Merchandising in a far more holistic way and understand the consequences of the convenience that we all enjoy so much. This Exhibition does that.

The Natural History Museum, London

Housed within the Natural History Museum here in London are the most incredible collection of natural forms such as these. Very often, within a Commercial context we see these kind of formations used to display small products such as jewellery. (I must say here that I am quite tired of seeing this personally). It is understandable, I suppose for a small independent retailer which undoubtedly will not have huge budgets to lavish on developing a new scheme every few weeks as the seasons, products, events and so on change, however much larger and established retailers also tend to follow this route. What I encourage my students to do is to look at these objects purely as the initial starting point from which to develop a concept rather than these becoming the concept itself - otherwise there is no concept. Ideas can literally spark from studying natural forms if one is willing to view them openly, and identifying shape, form, content, colour etc. from which to draw inspiration providing a much richer experience for the shopper and pushing the boundaries of our current understanding of what Visual Merchandising is or can become.