Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Make Everything Look Better Instantly… Eye Gallery Know How

Stencilled posters with a clear call to action and cardboard cuts out heads wearing the product… the Eye Gallery in South Yarra make merchandising a small and partially transparent product look like an easy task.

Just after I took these shots I paused to watch a couple walk by, double back and share a laugh at the scene.

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Monday, August 8, 2011

Look. Stop. Shop. 2011

Before I go banging on about London (sorry I will get to it, have been busy moving house) I do need to acknowledge one fabulous display I saw as part of this year’s State of Design Look. Stop. Shop program.

Being away for the week (and moving!) meant that I only had a short window to dash around the eastern quarter of the city to visit those retailers participating. The standout of what I did see was Obus. As an add on to the display they offered a workshop, Art for Your Feet, giving participants the opportunity to customise a pair of Melissa & Gaetano Pesce boots – a style specifically created by Melissa for customisation. The shoes were then displayed in light boxes. At the front of the store an eclectic mix of styles of the Brazilian shoes were attached to a row of coloured wheels, creating a windmill effect with enough pop to rival a Hubba Bubba factory. Plus it created a lovely fragrance inside the store (for those unfamiliar, Melissa shoes have a fantastically sticky bubblegum odour).

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I also have to give Zomp on Flinders Lane mad props for the display in their store entry. Shoe boxes stacked high and sprayed black provided a stark backdrop to the white shoes and splashes of fluorescent orange. I hope they use this space for creative displays more often in future.

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Monday, August 1, 2011

Turn It Off!

Apologies for my absence this past week. I do have an excuse though… a very good one in fact. I had to go to London! Yes a last minute job for work saw me board a plane Friday week ago and return last Thursday night. What a terrible job I have!

Somehow between driving around sites on the Southbank and spending hours on end in front of my laptop researching the London property market in the restaurant of the Sanderson Hotel (you astound me Mr Starck!) I did manage to find the time to squeeze in some retailing. But what I want to share with you in this post is a fantastic display I saw travelling through Abu Dhabi Airport.

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Turn It Off is a campaign run by the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency to encourage people to reduce their consumption of power and water. Being in the middle of the desert, the United Arab Emirates shares a similar environmental focus to us in Australia, but the way they’ve approached the campaign to educate people coming into the country is brilliant. Up until now I’ve always had the perception that as a result of oil this is an extraordinarily wealthy country with mind-blowingly opulent facilities and architecture. To the point of verging on being an excessive draw on our natural resources. Seeing this campaign was reassuring that this nation is not only aware of the issue but actively trying to change behaviour of it’s citizens and tourists.

I just hope that the 500 metre long corridor of advertising plasmas, each dotted twenty metres apart, was powered by solar!