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.

Sale: Vivienne Westwood, London

I am hoping that this will be the final Sale window that I will need to include this season. This is a quite an uninspiring time of year, its cold and miserable and although I am excited about seeing the new seasons schemes soon, I wont be sorry to see the back of Sale time. If you happen to be along the Conduit st. here in London do drop by the Vivienne Westwood store. Westwood's stores are usually beautifully produced and ooze depth of quality (even if the product itself doesn't always). Anyway, here the team have used black vinyl on the fenestration with swathes of fabric forming the backdrop. The bust forms, I believe are by my lovely friends at Proportion-London which always look amazing. What is interesting here are the use of lenticulars - 3D moving images. Of course, one has to move around the image for it to change and a camera can only capture one at a time. Anyway, lets look forward to Spring.

Sale: Calvin Klein, London

Unfortunately, my images of the latest Calvin Klein concept here in London are a little blurred but the video that I made which can be seen on my YouTube Channel: Jhvefun probably does this scheme a little more justice as it captures the movement happening here rather than just a still and a moment in time. Anyway, after viewing the superb store in NYC recently this store sadly pales quite significantly by comparison. Although the NYC store is fairly large and there are more windows to enable the creative teams to install much larger schemes, this store has the advantage of being able to house much smaller and detailed concepts. A the end of the day, I guess this is Sale and I am thankful that they have at least not adopted the obligatory Red signifying Sale time, although I am interested in what the first Spring scheme will be - watch this space.

Sale: Reiss, London

If you happen to be on Regent st. here in London this week, do go and have a look at the Reiss Windows. This scheme, although possibly lost during the daylight hours does come alive when night falls. Strings of 'beads' suspended to form these loops are the main concept for this Sale scheme. Reiss, of course do some great quality schemes, although simple and always work well. My only criticism, I suppose, is perhaps that they never really do enough to make a huge impact or statement, at least for me. Anyway, the the product is OK, if a little pricey for what seems an almost identikit Zara but twice the price. Still, I guess there is a market for this type of global retailer and they certainly seem to be doing very well. I am now itching to see the end of the Sale period and the launch of Spring schemes so in the mean time will be scouring the streets on my journey as a flaneur to find them for you.

Sale: Mandarina Duck

I have often seen this store and looked at it with admiration although only once ventured inside. I suppose my need for quality luggage and bags is lacking and therefore never felt that I should return as I tend to find whenever I travel that my suitcases always rotate around the carousel at airports absolutely bashed, handles missing, and zips and wheels broken so I am reluctant to spend a huge amount of money on these things. Anyway, this store is well documented on the Internet although I have always had difficulty photographing it as either there is too much reflection on the glass or the lights are switched off at night time. Anyway, luckily this evening I managed to finally capture some images for you all. Here, the brand use these bright Yellow sprayed figures with a futuristic feel to them on which the product is placed. At the centre of the store is this giant figure punctuating through the second floor. It is a remarkable piece of sculpture and I must say it is great fun. If you happen to be on Conduit St. here in London, do go an have a look. The product of course is superb quality and the store, a real spectacle.

Sale: Pringle, London

Is it still Sale time? Well, sadly yes. London seems to be getting colder by the hour and the dreaded Sale period is still not over yet. Miles and miles or Red banners pollute the shopping journey this time of year which really is so uninspiring. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to happen upon Pringle, Bond St. here in London. Pringle are one of the few brands that do Sale incredibly well. (If you have a look back to their Summer Sale scheme on this blog you will see what I mean) What a wonderful pleasure to see this brand make so much effort during this period of the retail calender. Strings of beads and Black vinyl with product placed against a monochromatic background. This gives the illusion here of much greater space - the windows are actually very narrow, however the team here do handle product incredibly well and the scheme works brilliantly. Thank you Pringle for giving us this gem and spectacle during such an uneventful time of year.

Sale: Mulberry, London

I must confess that I wasn't too enthusiastic with the Christmas scheme at Mulberry recently here in London with its out sized Red Apples and which I also recorded in NYC - but thats globalisation for you. However, we have seen these tree stumps change from Black to Red (Pink and Orange) for their Sale scheme and these I feel do work rather well. Previously we saw them painted Black and used with large beetles crawling all over them in conjunction with figures with quite 'mad' hair. However, I am pleased to see that Mulberry hasn't wasted its precious scheme budgets on the blandest period of the year and have utilised an existing scheme which is perfectly fine as we wade our way through this global recession. Anyway, watch this space and see what happens next.

Sale: Jaegar, London

It is so cold here at the moment in London and the snow and ice doesn't help matters. However, I was crossing over Regent st. from Conduit st. here in London while meandering through the West End in order to keep on top of all of the wonderful concepts and ideas that are being explored in the city and came across Jaegar. Of course we can see multiple schemes around the globe that use vinyl on the glass, and Jaegar seem to be using this a lot in the past few schemes, although, to me, this gives this concept an almost 1950's television set feel to their Sale concept.
OK, well it does look a little messy, if I am honest, but it is Sale time and the 'market stall' look seems to be de riguer here in town. Anyway, again we can see the land-of-the-giants sized lettering, as used in Fenwicks too along Bond St., only these are glittery too. Jaegar, usually produce very high quality schemes, although not necessarily particularly creative, but what they do, they do well. Anyway, role on post-sale.