Display & Design Ideas - April 2009 - (Page 22)

22 | Channel Focus Jewelry Jewel garden Indian retailer Tanishq redeﬁnes the traditional U.S. jewelry store model By Erin M. Loewe, Contributor ith metals and gemstones as their medium, jewelry artisans are inspired to bend and mold materials into wearable pieces of art. New to the United States, Indian jewelry store Tanishq carries pieces whose inspiration are found in nature, philosophy and art, but goes one step further and creates a store environment to match. Each jewelry piece is part of an overall collection (such as rain, spring or lotus) and is housed in ﬂoating glass cases ﬂanked by live plants. The resulting environment feels more like a hidden oasis than a traditional jewelry store, which is exactly what Tanishq and its U.S. store designer, New York-based Pompei A.D. LLC, were going for. Randhir Singh, studio director at Pompei A.D., says the garden idea came about by bringing some basic company elements—nature, metals and stones-—together. “Humans and jewelry both come from the earth,” he says. “Creating a gardenlike atmosphere helped us deﬁne the ﬁnishes in the store and the ﬂow through the store.” One of the many companies held by Mumbai, India-based Tata Group , Tanishq opened its second U.S. store inside the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., in November 2008. Like W the ﬁrst U.S. store in Schaumburg, Ill., the 2,200-sq.-ft. Garden State store exudes the feeling of a secret garden, where one might happen upon an exciting wearable treasure. Gone are the right angles and endless rows of glass cases that divide customer from employee, says Bhuwan Guarav, head of sales operations for Tanishq USA. “When we were doing our research, we found that people wanted a store where they could relax and appreciate the jewelry,” Guarav explains. “That was the beginning of the garden concept, having non-linearity and placing the themed collections throughout different locations in the store. The design worked with our philosophy of being customer-driven, not competitor-driven.” Even though the store is in a mall, its façade lets shoppers know that it is decidedly different from a traditional American jewelry store. A translucent, laser-cut, ﬁligree-style screen called a “jaali” divides the world of sparkling gems from the rest of the mall. “It gives shoppers a ﬁrst glimpse of the store and what lies behind it, without revealing too much,” says Pooja Rao-Pillai, project manager at Pompei A.D. John Sotir, vice president and project executive at general | April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Display & Design Ideas - April 2009

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Consumer Insights
Quick Tips
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Jewelry
Harvey Nichols Jakarta
Historic Renovations
A.R.E. Design Awards
McDonald’s
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009