Imagine a store with vibrant colors, little details, and unique elements that completely set it apart from the rest. Here are four concept stores that prove how products and architecture are capable of enhancing each other’s presence, putting the products on a pedestal much like in museums or art galleries.
Photos by Luis Beltrán, Leaping Creative, Ruijing Photo
Rubio Store
When the Spanish educational publisher Rubio reached out to interior design agency and consultancy Masquepacio, they specifically asked them to create a concept to reflect their past, present, and future. The result is a world of pastel tones, neon glows, and acrylic panels.
Located in the center of Valencia, the 200 square meters of space is divided into several sections; a mathematics space, writing and reading workbooks, workshop training area, tunnel of colour, and the projection room.
Each section has its own quirky features. The mathematics space, for example, features rotating shelves that can be used as blackboards. In another corner, there’s a methacrylate board that allows visitors to improve their handwriting.
Further, into the store, visitors can find the so-called tunnel of colour that will lead them to the world of Rubio. From there, a number of interactive activities await to be explored, including the curious peep-hole in the shop window, a time machine with augmented reality goggles, a history roulette that explains the brand’s journey, a narrator who tells tales, and the projection room that is full of surprises.
TFD Hong Kong K11 Musea Store
With the purpose of harmonizing future living spaces and the value of environmental sustainability, Leaping Creative managed to experiment and design a concept store that reminds us of an industrial relic.
Situated on what was one of the main cargo wharves in Hong Kong in the 1910s, called Taikoo Wharf, TFD Hong Kong K11 Musea Store is built in a space of little more than 100 square meters.
The design process began with thoughts of the ocean and civilization. When looking for references, the design team found a large waste facility. The place was filled with waste materials that had lost their original shapes due to the recycling process. Everything, be it metal, plastic, or paper was dismantled, crushed, and compressed into other shapes.
To leave a strong impression on visitors, the team created scenes around installations using the materials that had been taken from the visit, from scraps to offcuts. Discarded aluminum sheets and strips were placed in certain containers into which resin was then infused, along with the materials stored inside, becoming a fossil of time. The same approach was also implemented in the store’s visual merchandising.
YǏN Fine Jewelry Boutique
YǏN may be a huge fine jewelry brand in China, but their boutique is by no means a large store. It was built on a small site, measuring only about 10.6 meters long and 3.5 meters across. But that didn’t stop Okamoto Deguchi Design (ODD) from creating an aesthetically pleasing space.
In order to show the beauty of the jewelry, a minimalist approach has been applied to the interior. ODD brought the concept of a wonderland under a sea of clouds to life by using white artificial stones as part of the displays and adding white airy textiles that transitioned seamlessly into the white rear wall.
Amid the white cloudscape theme, ODD added a touch of color to the store with gold-tone stainless steel displays and chairs upholstered in grey fabric. The lighting system complemented the overall design and brought enough brightness to the entire space while making it appear bigger and wider.
