With a lease signed in the posh Presidio Heights neighborhood in San Francisco, and the desire to be up and running for the holiday shopping season, the design team was given a mere three months to design the store, fixturing, and millwork, find a General Contractor and fixture fabricator, and oversee construction, fabrication, and installation.
Restraint and design discipline along with modern details, simplicity, and quality reflect the Hudson Grace brand image. A well balanced play of high gloss vs. matte surfaces differentiates millwork fixtures from the architectural envelope. The brand colors of International Orange (referencing the Golden Gate Bridge), white, and gray are strategically integrated throughout the store. Perimeter fixturing provides a warm white frame to the merchandise and is juxtaposed against a dark gray background, carefully selected to complement the primarily neutral merchandise color palette. The result is a graphic play of lights and darks. Loose floor fixtures are fabricated in cold rolled steel tops with dark wood legs and are clearly influenced by residential design.
The low ceiling height of 7’-8”, which could have been viewed as a negative, creates an intimate and personal scale to the overall store experience. The white ceiling plane itself houses a simple grid of track lighting and mirrors the white faux wood plank vinyl flooring. Decorative pendant lights are suspended over display tables and accentuate the simple, modern décor.
Due to the small footprint of the entire retail space, perimeter fixtures were required to perform multiple functions – serve as a display “stage” for product, carry the burden of maximizing merchandise capacity, provide storage for back stock, convey the warmth and familiarity of a universal “home” décor. The fixtures are designed with a modern stair-step crown, chunky adjustable shelves, and storage drawers along the bottom 18” of the nine merchandise bays.
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