Burberry, London

I have been following the schemes here at Burberry in London for some time now.  I've seen the schemes around the world, I've seen the Daniella Westbrook brand killing photographs that seemed to have haunted this brand for years, and most of what these guys have produced visually I really haven't liked at all - possibly because it looked so marketing led and therefore little creativity.  However, this is not to say that this company hasn't done well anyway - in fact I believe profits are extremely healthy right now - perhaps to the detriment of the visual aspect of what they do. Well, anyway, after a long while avoiding what this brand has been doing visually, I must say, hands up, they are looking really good right now.  OK, its the usual illuminated graphic format, but strangely, I was rather wowed by this scheme.  Small nuggets of something in a metallic finish have been strategically placed on the bases of this scheme, vinyl on the fenestration, with beautifully illuminated and immaculately dressed mannequins.......I just feel that finally this is all so much better.

Kew Gardens, London

Another day researching in paradise looking at the principles of form and design.  With an incredible amount of resources available to top up all of the senses, with the repetition of structure, visible structures, imperfection, spatial distortion, parallel movement and so on (the list is virtually endless), this is a must do visit for anyone out there, particularly if your workplace is akin to battery farming and you are being bled dry of any sense of inspiration in an office somewhere by one of the corporate giants in mega structure land, because as creative people we can (and are usually expected) to design without replenishment, right?  This is a truly cleansing experience and no fake topiary or plastic grass in site.  So turn off that computer and get a one way ticket to inspiration.  You know you want to.

Esprit, London

Well its all about the wool this week here in London, just about everyone who is anyone has taken the opportunity to dance with the Prince of Wales (almost literally) and promote Wool.  I love wool - terrible for trying to get rid of the moths though in my Victorian abode.  I find myself having to wave my hands in the air trying to catch the little bleeders on an hourly basis.  Living in a scenario of ostentatious poverty, i.e. gorgeous darkwood  floorboards and not a hint of carpet any where, I just don't know where on earth these little things are coming from.  Clearly there is a moth underworld breeding somewhere in here just getting ready to launch their chomping little jaws into a gorgeous something.  I once lost a whole beautifully tailored woollen Vivienne Westwood suit to these little guys - a very expensive dinner on me I guess.  Yes, I have the cedar wood, the candles, the incense sticks burning daily.  It all seems to be in vain keeping on top these flying friends and just cant stand that 'crunch' when one steps on them or bring myself to squidge them.

Anyway, beyond the annoying Sale graphic across the window here, Esprit is looking really good.  Out sized balls of wool in the most gorgeous colours and abstract figures makes this store look cool again.  

Kew Gardens, London

You cant beat a working day meandering around the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew here in London.  Of course, this is not meant as an advertisement for the place, but to research new concepts for Commercial environments this is an incredible place to begin.  Natural forms in repetition and radiating formats, examples of gravity defying plants, colour and texture and combinations of all of these, this is certainly the place to begin.  Winter time is also spectacular, particularly when it snows when you can make your way straight to the Palm houses for a bit of exotica in a tropical climate and yet its freezing outside.   With the oldest and largest glasses houses in the world (unless Dubai make a faux version or attempt to buy these ones) these ooze history and depth that really cant help but inspire you.

Hobbs, London

Apparently this week is Wool Week - until the 17th October at least - here in the city.  Around town we can see all sorts of creative schemes picking up on this thread (no pun intended) and no more so than Hugo Boss, Jigsaw, Daks, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Saville Row itself.  Apparently Selfridges will be driving a flock of Yellow sheep along Oxford St., Jigsaw is holding knitting lessons, and Saville row has been turfed over so that two flocks of sheep can graze on this sacred tailored ground.  I will try and get some images of these little Gems as this is so incredibly exciting that how could I not share this with you.  These kind of 'happenings' are absolutely what London is about.  The creative thought and the chutzpah of these events continues to make this city the place to be.  In the meantime, Hobbs is one of those brands that I have never covered and usually find myself giving this store a very cursory glance, however, wow guys, I love what you have done here. 

Asprey, London

I am so glad Asprey got rid of those dull tree motifs carrying handbags.  This is very much appreciated guys.  Thank you.

Before:

After:

Hermes, London

Someone had a good Saturday night.  Come on Hermes, sort your mannequins out.

Visual Merchandising Awards 2010

Is there a way of unravelling toes that are so tightly curled inside expensive shoes?  A whole weekend and I am still unable to unclench my buttocks too (perhaps a little too much information for you) although after an 'interesting'  evening celebrating the best in the Visual Merchandising industry here in London on Friday (mercifully I was with good immediate company) however, I still am rather traumatised from the experience.  

It seemed to be a kind of sinister, B movie, employee of the month celebration rather than a prestigious award ceremony. Not that I frequent places such as fast food restaurants, but on the very few occasions that I have - for research obviously -  have you ever noticed those rows of photographs of staff usually framed and placed close to the counter?  Employee of the month, or, in other words,  how to simultaneously be a "winner and a loser".  Sadly any prestige attached to these awards has long gone and possibly to the embarrassment of the recipients. 

 

The Australian Drag Queen Vida Las Vegas (no I hadn't heard of him either) hosted the event this year.  While I'm not adverse to coarse humour in the slightest, I like it to at least be amusing.  With such dreadfully unfunny material (actually no material that could be even microscopically identified) it would seem that the only thing amusing about this act was actually how dreadful it all was - and even that wasn't very amusing.  Parading to the UK's visual finest in a painfully cheap velour frock does not a talent make, although of course its nothing slow suffocation wouldn't have cured.  The publicly humiliating walkabout - as a last resort pick-on-the-audience-strategy - completely lost us as if we hadn't already been.  Thankfully we were spared any miming to CeCe Peniston hits or 'Its raining men' - hallelujah, really.  

With intermittent stints from Hot Gussets vaguely amusing routines writhing in faux leopard and glitter, was cringe worthy at best.  I'm not particularly  au fait with celebrating the untalented, in a room full of so many genuinely talented people,  in fact I find it quite insulting, significantly less than entertaining and incredibly sad that in contemporary society that we feel the need to parade our talentless in front of the talented and are expected to find it all so amusing.

While I am of course pleased to see industry colleagues, peers and so on be recognised for their hard work and so they should be, however with information provided for the event that informed us "we had the greatest number of entries ever for this years event and making the final is a great achievement" was soon shattered when it became as ever apparent that the winners were virtually the same as.......well, just about every other year. With supplier sponsored awards it appeared, at least to me, that this was more about securing and maintaining commercial contracts than celebrating the best from industry.  Of course this may not be the case (yeah right) but it is at least how it appears from the outside looking in and originates from the lack of transparency (just like employee of the month scenarios) in how these outcomes are actually decided.

Are we not worth more than this?  Yes we are.  A lot of you in the UK VM industry think it, because an awful lot of you say it to me, but it seems no one else is prepared to say this publicly.  However, it would be helpful to have a fairer system of voting for our UK visual best and some transparency in the process in deciding winners to enable those unsung hero's who perhaps are on the periphery of this industry as well as those who are not and yet never receive industry recognition, however, all make such a significant contribution. This may finally make this occasion something worth celebrating, meaningful, and we can as an industry finally be on the path to being recognised as an integral part of the visual industry that we are rather than surplus to requirements when times get tough.     

In the meantime, who needs surveys, questionnaires or to reflect on the event when the so dreadfully unentertaining say it all about the (w)hole experience in just one image..........?

Mango, London

Mango clearly have their fingers on the pulse of whats happening 'out there' or at least what will be happening.  There seems to be the beginning of a Copper trend with Copper accessories cropping up around town throughout certain schemes.  The Uber cool crowd have clearly picked this up as a future trend of 2012 while the laggards will be picking this stuff up from Primark and M&S sometime around mid 2013.  Interestingly this installation does remind me a little of some of the images I have in my archives, possibly reminiscent of the 'Golden Hands' magazines from the 1970's or one of those knitting patterns with models in stilted poses wearing the most awful knitwear.  But anyway,  a cool scheme from these guys and a pleasure to share it with you all. 

Nicole Farhi, London

I've been following this store's schemes for over a year  now and they never fail to surprise me.  The creative team here have been leading the way over the past year with their use of various artists and designers to work with their vision and create some very cutting edge schemes.  The latest scheme launched recently is based on the work of the French artist Bernar Venet.  "Venet's work explores many media, materials and forms of expression". "From the early sixties, Venet's use of industrial drawings and mathematical diagrams in painting has been a major contribution to Conceptual Art". "Venet has lived in New York for many years, and practices as an artist around the world."

"For Venet, being an artist means not only painting or sculpting, but also to speculate--in art, science, philosophy, mathematics, geometry, and music". "He is an internationally recognized painter, sculptor, and composer of concrete music (technologically manipulated sound), and his main interest in art is to raise questions, to push his work further and further, and to search for new approaches."

What is so refreshing about the schemes at Nicole Farhi is being able to understand their intentions and how in turn this is communicated to us.  Often we as customers are presented with such meaningless 'stuff' that is sometimes overwhelming although more often than not, (with reference to the multiple brands) quite underwhelming, however the creative team here seems to get it all just so right.

Anna Glasbrook, Architectural Textile Designer

Images Courtesy and Copyright Anna Glasbrook.

I do love to find new people to show you all and just by chance while rushing around the shows recently I happened upon Anna Glasbrook's incredible work.  With so much resin being showcased recently I was immediately drawn to Glasbrook's work as the perfect alternative - in fact I actually screeched to a halt.  As my mind races at 100 miles per hour on a daily basis, I couldn't help but think how her work could be used within either a domestic or commercial environment.  "Anna Glasbrook creates striking contemporary textile pieces for domestic, corporate and public spaces".  "Using the effects of layering, transparency and the travelling line, she creates textiles that vibrate with vivid colour and movement enticing viewers to stop and look closer." (which I did)  "Anna's photographs of the rural and urban landscape are the fundamental starting point of her design process, and a technique for exploring proportion of colour and line". "The contours, textures and colours from the images are translated with free and fluid mark-making, into individual works". "The innovative use of three-dimensional stitch creates a changing perspective as the work is viewed from different angles". 

If you don't know Anna Glasbrook's work then you must check out her site at www.annaglasbrook.com   and see what she can do for you.  With the current installations at Levis along Regent St. here in London, Nicole Farhi leading the way throughout 2010 with their use of Artists Esther Coombs and Benedetta Mori-Ubaldini producing the most magical installations, Topshop with Japanese artist Houxo Que then how can you not?  Working with these amazing people not only supports independent Artists and Designers, but it also creates a fantastically exciting and innovative environment for your customers too - and this is what we want.  And lets face it, if you're not going to do it, your competitors will.  If I were you I would have this woman on speed dial.   In the meantime Anna can be contacted at anna@glasbrook.com

Oasis, London

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this brand any more.  They have gone through a few transformations, albeit quite minor, although, for me at least, they seem to have lost their direction a little?  The concepts behind the schemes are interesting, although perhaps the budgets are so low right now that, in the case of this brand, every expense has been spared?  With the repetition of these out sized magnifying glasses, the likes of which were seen at Tiffany (only actual size) earlier this year and I have seen a few cropping up in several other schemes throughout 2010 including Fortnum and Mason.  It seemed to be a trend that didn't really go any where, unlike the use of Chandeliers of course, from just about every high street brand throughout 2009.  The mannequins with their Matt White finish work well and of course they have been placed in the usual pyramidal format / dynamic, but for me the scheme lacks the energy we have previously seen from this brand?  Perhaps it is the lack of humour that's missing?  I can see the humour and fun is screaming to get out but with magnifying glasses that barely magnify anything, a great opportunity to play with them, magnifying all sorts of cheeky 'bits' just didn't happen? 

Browns, London

We have recently seen the growing trend of the use of clocks in store windows recently, both at Fred Perry and at Browns along Sloane St. here in London.  This is actually a very simple scheme using clocks and alarm bells in a repetition format on a Grey backdrop or technically speaking as repetition of radiating forms, These kind of schemes prove, I suppose, that even small independent retailers can look to these kind of stores in order to be inspired to produce quite effective schemes with minimal financial output.  The semi-abstract figures used here have been sprayed with a Gold finish.  The clocks, naturally represent time and the "continuum in which events occur in succession....used to sequence events to quantify the durations of the events and the intervals between them".  With this in mind, perhaps this scheme rather lacks any sense of depth or meaning which, from a 'Designer' brand position was maybe a missed opportunity?  As it is, we have repetition of these man made forms, although wouldn't it have been rather more interesting if this concept had unravelled some thought, theory, ideology and communicated this through this concept in order to produce a scheme with a deeper level of meaning and which brands such as these can afford the luxury of doing?  As it is, its just clocks and alarm bells repeated, so hardly revolutionary, although it is of course, actually quite effective and works very well anyway.