California Closets believes exceptional design changes people’s lives. The industry leader in custom closets for premium and luxury space management since 1978 has a business model based entirely on customization and personal service. Their showrooms have to do more than simply display products; they need to be studio environments that promote interactive experience between their on-site design consultants and their customers.
It is important for this studio-like environment to clearly and consistently support their business model in every market they serve. Bergmeyer’s design assignment for California Closets had many layers. The first step was helping California Closets create a customer experience strategy. This required the reinvention of the typical showroom. From the outside in, the space evokes a modern and spacious residential setting with a sublimely well-organized aesthetic. Clear and immediately intuitive visual cues at the front of the space invite customers into living and dining room-like settings with a loft-like sense of urbanity. Further into the 2,600 SF space, the fixtures and furnishings change to cue entertainment walls, bedrooms, and dressing rooms.
Next, Bergmeyer developed the showroom’s iconic brand elements to showcase the company’s creativity, inventiveness, and focus on craftsmanship. Veneers, hardware, laminates, shelves, drawers and sliding doors are cleverly and prominently displayed in angled display walls and on hands-on fixtures that never overwhelm the space’s pervasive sense of calm.
The center of the showroom is anchored by the California Closets “Design Studio;” a unique space that serves as a tranquil area where the customer and design consultant can work together to create a highly customized solution. An electronic display wall allows design drawings and computer models to be shared. Hardware and finish samples are within easy reach in well-organized drawers.
The Design Studio is where the design collaboration happens. Clients have an opportunity to see their storage solution systems come to life via 3D projections, material and lighting displays. The Design Studio is the centerpiece of the California Closets showroom prototype. The Design Studio features a Virtual Wall that fosters an interactive process with the customers.
The Design Studio creates a collaborative process so customers not only feel they are part of the design process, they are! Sample Cabinets give easy access to materials, finishes and hardware for designers to show design options to clients. By putting the materials away (instead of everything shown at once) we allow for a more modern collaborative design process.
Finally, the Bergmeyer team developed a prototype standards manual for California Closets – a full kit-of-parts and design documents including a “how to” guide for the use of environmental graphics and trade dress components so the original flagship showroom in San Francisco could be faithfully implemented in locations across the country.
Now every customer can design and create their own vision of closet nirvana.