RCA students design Topshop's retail space in London
The interior design MA programme at the Royal College of Art (RCA) has collaborated with the British retailer Topshop to re-design the boutique area of its Oxford Street store for London Fashion Week to be held in February 2013.
Students from RCA were given five days with a brief to create an interior system that would encourage shoppers to engage with Topshop’s clothing and provide an inspirational and stimulating customer experience, as reported in Dexigner.
The winning re-design concept by Rob Vinall features a triangular modular ceiling grid that can support hung elements for the products. The grid system will allow the store to change appearance by altering the space to suit different collections and events. The wall graphic at the boutique area features a colour gradation printed onto the mirror that matches the colour pallet of the triangular ceiling. The installation also continues out into the main shop floor to attract customers into the boutique.
The design has made the entire space uncluttered by hanging the merchandise from a suspended grid to remove everything off the floor. It is also been seen as an antidote to classic retail design where most display systems have large unfilled volumes of space above them.
