DDi - August 2010 - (Page 40)

40 | Right Light Crystal light Swarovski’s LED-studded store shines in Times Square By Janet Groeber Top left: The “Chrysalis” art piece is Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka’s take on a traditional chandelier. Top right: Both perimeter and loose showcases in the new 950-sq.-ft. store feature gleaming LED sources. Bottom: The new store maximizes the play of light and shadow by architecturally showcasing actual Swarovski crystals. mid the blazing neon lights and oversized billboards, Times Square shines a bit more brightly with the recent opening of Swarovski, renowned for its precision-cut crystals. Offering crystal-studded fashion jewelry, watches, accessories and décor objects, the Austria-based brand joins a retail revival in the tourist-friendly neighborhood. The new 950-sq.-ft. location at 1540 Broadway is the first Gotham outlet to feature the “Crystal Forest” concept, created in collaboration with Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka. The store maximizes the play of light and shadow by architecturally showcasing actual Swarovski crystals. Two 8-ft.-high crystal “panels,” each made up of 17 hanging crystal strands, complement a larger “Chrysalis” art piece suspended from the ceiling. These design elements first bowed in Swarovski’s Tokyo (Ginza) store in March 2008, and then in the United States on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue last November. “My initial impression on the Swarovski brand was the luxury of crystals,” Yoshioka says. “The beauty, transparency and poetry of crystals are what harmoniously form the brand philosophy.” In the Times Square store, a prismatic metal façade catches and reflects light from outside and inside the space, beckoning customers day and night. Inside, textured walls featuring reflective white prisms of varying size create an illusion of depth and offer a full light spectrum. The overall ambience is a soft glow thanks to MR16s found in wall washers and ambient light fixtures. A “Perimeter wall washers bring the ‘Crystal Forest’ alive by highlighting the reflective white relief prisms (on) the walls,” explains a Swarovski design team spokesperson. Lighting is a key element of the new concept, and Yoshioka incorporated state-of-the-art lighting systems and techniques to explore contemporary interpretations of light. The soft ambience within the space is created through indirect light and forms a “douche de lumière,” or “shower of light,” as it washes over the relief elements featured on walls in a play of light and shade. The design star and workhorse, however, is LED, found in showcases and the store’s Chrysalis, Yoshioka’s reinterpretation of a chandelier. The chandelier’s cut, acrylic prisms transform facets, points and lines into moving light that radiates sparkle throughout. Both perimeter and loose showcases feature gleaming LED sources from varying directions to illuminate both figurines and jewelry from multiple angles. Beyond the temptingly glowing merchandise, though, is another benefit. The company says it is averaging a 38 percent wattage reduction within the showcases of its new store concept, in comparison to the showcases used in its previous store design. Through light, Swarovski’s new Crystal Forest concept paints an overall aspirational and emotional effect that’s nothing short of brilliant and one that customers will, no doubt, easily drink in. To e-mail this article, visit www.ddionline.com/magazine. Photos: Adrian Wilson, New York | August 2010 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com/magazine http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - August 2010

Display & Design Ideas - August 2010
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Department Store Focus
Contents
Anthropologie
Store Windows Showcase
Right Light
In-Store Technology
Product Spotlight
Advertisers
Calendar
Classifieds
Shopping with Paco

DDi - August 2010