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Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Burberry, London

Planes used in a store window can of course be created in a variety of ways. Planes can be horizontal, for example as in the floor or ceiling or vertical as in the window, sides and backdrop or a variety of angles as in this Burberry concept. As a young design student we were instructed by our tutor to only refer to floors, walls and ceilings as planes. If we didn't he would simply not talk to us. This was easy enough to do until we had the added difficulty of doors and windows, which we also had to include in our 'new' vocabulary' to which the answer came that they were planes punctuated with an orifice. And so it went on. While it seemed a little pompous at the time, retrospectively this, then new design language became very useful. Here, Burberry have added additional planes in the form of their very recognisable trademark design in vinyl applied to the glass (or vertical plane) and three-dimensional cut outs (possibly) in perspex suspended within the space. There is some unwanted glare from the cut outs, but I feel this adds to the concept as there is no information on the variety of planes used that we have to read or understand. I am not a fan of motifs (as now my own students and graduates will testify as I pass on the baton) although we recognise this motif as belonging to Burberry, and this, perhaps is enough.