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.

The Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum is not just about prehistoric skeletons, rocks and stuffed animals. Some of the more contemporary exhibits are particularly relevant to my students subject area. Here we have an example of a simulated commercial space in Japan. Every few minutes, the floor begins to shake, the products rattle on the shelves and one is able to experience (at least to a point) what it may feel like to be within these spaces during an earth quake. It probably is a rather gentle experience in comparison to the reality, however, what these kinds of environments do is to promote thoughts and ideas about where were we can move next within Commercial Design. While of course this topic is perhaps a rather sensitive one considering the current situation in Haiti, we can perhaps use the concept of these kind of exhibits to enhance the thrill and experience of the shopper. It does of course need to be targeted carefully and these kind of experiences can become tiresome very quickly. However, the use of natural phenomena within a Commercial space? Who knows, lets see who does it first.

The Natural History Museum, London

In order to explain to my students the process and principles of three dimensional design, I find that places such as the Natural History Museum are a fantastic resource to begin to identify quite literally the bare bones of the process. Students had the opportunity to study these skeletons with words such as Repetition, Radiation, Curvilinear and so on at the forefront of their minds and with the knowledge that they were going to use these observational drawings to begin moving from the two dimensional drawings to three dimensional models. One may question how this relates to Visual Merchandising or Commercial Interior Design? However, what I want to do here is encourage the group, not to literally take some of these objects and place them in store - as we all too often see - but to begin to use these objects as the staring point of their inspiration and begin to test and experiment, include and exclude ideas and begin to really understand how to become Designers or at least understand the difference between 'good' design - establishing a need and unravelling a concept and 'bad' design - simply lifting the motif.

Jihad the Musical, London

As part of my teaching practice I always encourage my students to see as many Shows, Exhibitions, Films, go to the Theatre, view animations, experience Concerts and so on as part of their research. I find it is far easier to work as a Designer if one is able to establish what already exists and therefore avoid a time consuming journey reinventing the wheel and use these experiences to draw upon within ones own work. I happened to have been bought a ticket to see Jihad the musical which of course I jumped at the chance if only because of the name itself. I do adore the Theatre and I highly recommend visiting as many shows as possible in order to find Inspiration and ideas from the whole spectacle, which can of course include the sets, the lighting used, the costumes, the music etc. as well as being an enjoyable experience. The reviews for this musical were rather scathing and rather than a musical were described more as Pantomime. Well it still is Panto. season, so who cares. If you fancy a bit of camp frippery, do go an see this 'musical'. It is a little trashy but the venue holds possibly 30 people so it does feel like a private show, there are some great one liners and it does have a feel good factor about it.

The London College of Fashion

As the weather in London has been so awful lately here in London, my colleague and I decided to take our second group of Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising students to explore the rich resources of the Natural History Museum here in London. The students were tasked to create a series of observational drawings from some of the exhibits which included the most incredible natural forms such as corals and fossilised plants, crystals and prehistoric skeletons. The aim of the process was to enable students to further develop their observational drawing skills and then begin to move from the two dimensional drawings into three dimensional models in a series of materials. This helps to enable students to understand the concept of space, shape and form and how this can be utilised with a commercial environment as well as beginning to understand the constraints of a variety of materials.

The London College of Fashion

This year has seen the beginning of something new and exciting for me with a new group of students from the Foundation degree in Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising at the London College of Fashion. The students have been briefed on a new project for the term which involves them developing their creative skills to produce a creative installation. I like to spend time with my students out of the class room and experiencing the treasures around London and using these places and spaces in order to explain a Design process. Here students visited the incredible Kew gardens in South West London. It was freezing cold and it had snowed but the Palm Houses were deliciously warm, enabling the students to study some of the plants in order to develop their drawing ability as a means of fundamental visual communication skills. These two dimensional drawings will be used to create three dimensional models in a variety of materials. I will post some of their development here on the blog in the next few weeks for you to view.