DDI - September 2010 - (Page 32)

32 AWARDS 2010 Design Firms of the Year First Place Yabu Pushelberg Headquarters: Toronto Key projects: The Room at Hudson’s Bay Co., Toronto; Printemps, Paris; Las Alcobas, Mexico City; The Jets Team Room; The Waikiki EDITION hotel; Avenue Road furniture showroom, Toronto; Yabu Pushelberg Furniture Collection Photos: Evan Dion number of our projects. Art and nature are always an inspiration to us, but are not commonly used in retail and interiors. We integrate these aspects into our projects to make them unique and unusual, collaborating with artists to create more depth. How has the economic environment changed your design thinking? When we approach our projects, we opt for a smart, effective and timeless design to ensure longevity—a key philosophy in all of our work. For all of our hotels, we take a clean and classic aesthetic, and then add a layer of personality to the design to tell a story that the customer can relate to. What will Yabu Pushelberg’s retail philosophy be for 2011? It is important to create authentic and unique interiors. We strive to continue along the path of differentiating every client and project we do. What does being selected as the Design Firm of the Year by industry peers mean to Yabu Pushelberg? We are honored to be selected as the Design Firm of the Year, especially by DDI, who is so in tune with what they do. We are inspired by our industry peers, so it’s very special to know that we inspire others with our work as well. We are constantly inspired by others—it never stops. What was Yabu Pushelberg’s most influential contribution to the retail design industry this year? We are very fortunate to have worked on two very special projects, which we feel are influential contributions to the retail design industry this year—The Room at Hudson’s Bay Co., as well as the redesign of Printemps in Paris. Both projects were similar in theme, but very different in scale. Our goal was this idea of the resurgence of the department store—bringing people into the store at a time when it’s harder to entice customers and it’s not enough for lines to carry themselves anymore. What were some of Yabu Pushelberg’s biggest inspirations this year? Art and nature. We incorporated these two aspects into The Room and a | September 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDI - September 2010

DDI - September 2010
Table of Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Portfolio Awards 2010
Retail Design Luminaries
Retail Design Influencers
Design Firms of the Year
Best Visual Merchandising Programs
Retailer of the Year
Best-Designed Stores of the Year
Retail Standouts
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDI - September 2010