Innovative Store Design
Courtney Meyers
Summary by Ashley Grillo
Courtney Meyers compared fashion retail store design to art. She presented selected stores in New York and Tokyo that showed how designers look to artists for design ideas. In Tokyo, the Hermes store is fifteen floors high and the outside is all glass. The idea was to make it look like a Japanese lantern that lights up the city. It was built strong enough to withstand an earthquake. The Louis Vuitton store was based on the idea of a traditional trunk. It is a multi-layer building. An interior that opens up the various floors visually draws the customers to the upper levels of the stores. The architect used metal mesh on the outside of the building. Issey Miyake’s new store in Tribeca (an area in lower Manhattan) involved innovation. It was a tribute to the power of ideas and a riff between motion and stillness. The designs change continuously to reflect various trends. Another store Courtney discussed was the Prada store in New York. Prada was probably the most advanced store. When a customer walks in, he or she sees a wooden wave, similar to a half pipe, that seats up to 200 people. The dressing rooms are all glass and with the press of a button, they fill up with smoke so that the customer can change. Computers and the internet allow the customer or clerk to browse for the latest trends or to see what the other stores have in stock. These stores are merging art with culture in the retail industry which allows great innovation.