Retail revolution

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Top clients: major international brands including BBC are just some of the big-name clients Fitch has worked with. Middle East clients will include Emaar, Dubai Holding and the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building.

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Top clients: major international brands including Dunlop are just some of the big-name clients Fitch has worked with. Middle East clients will include Emaar, Dubai Holding and the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building.

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Top clients: major international brands including Bentley are just some of the big-name clients Fitch has worked with. Middle East clients will include Emaar, Dubai Holding and the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building.

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It is the largest business in the world and other than sleeping we spend more time doing it than anything else. It is the only way we can distribute all of the products in the world - it is the purpose of life," enthuses Rodney Fitch, chairman of Fitch design group.

It may come as some surprise to learn that Fitch is in fact talking about shopping. Not surprising, however, when you learn that he is the founder of Fitch, one of the world's leading design companies, which has designed some of the most well-known retail areas in the world. Among other things, he has also been awarded title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his influence on the British design scene, as well as accepted one of the most prestigious awards an individual can receive in the field of retail design - an ISP Legion of Honour.

"Even today I think the business of shopping still gives me the greatest design buzz. The history of flight doesn't define the human experience, nor does the Industrial Revolution, but the business of shopping started when we were cavemen. The hunting and gathering form has now evolved into four million square foot malls, which is only another form of hunting and gathering," he says. "You can be very facile about it, but if you want to think about it on a deeper level like I have done, you can convince yourself that shopping is the purpose of life."

Fitch is passionate about design: that much is clear. In particular retail design, which is what Fitch, both the company and the man himself, specialises in. "I have a love affair with the shopping experience and retailers. Fitch is a consumer experience company as well as a design company because we are about the consumer experience at all touch points. What drives our business is delivering vivid experiences rather than ordinary experiences."

What becomes apparent when talking to Fitch is that he takes design to another level. He thinks about design quite differently. Throughout our conversation he refers constantly to design and innovation, the subject of choice for his speech which he will give following his interview with Arabian Business to around 45 investors and potential clients in the region. The speech coincides with Fitch's trip to the region to meet his new team from brand consultancy agency, gscs, which is based in Dubai Media City, and which Fitch has just bought a majority stake in. His speech, he tells Arabian Business, will aim to inject some of his unique design philosophy into the Middle East region.

"I am trying to persuade people here, and this is not exclusive to Dubai, that design on its own is insufficient. Innovation on its own cannot work without design and both are the product of imagination." This is somewhat of a mantra for the design guru, who having acquired gscs, now known as gsFitch, will now head up one of the largest design companies in the world.

Fitch's tried and tested mantra must be working. If you think hard about all of the major brands in the world, Fitch has probably worked with them at least once. From the luxury to the everyday, clients have included Bentley, Marks & Spencer, Universal Studios, General Motors, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Louis Vuitton, to name but a few.

Fitch, the company, is based on a business model first used by the "father of industrial design," Raymond Loewy, whom Fitch greatly admires. "I am arrogant enough not to admire any contemporary designers but I think the father of what we do is Raymond Loewy. He was the first who bought together people of different design skills to work together collectively for a client. The Loewy office would contain graphic designers as well as interior designers, and because they worked as a collective they could work on almost anything. Their work included designing airplanes, space ships, interiors, graphics and packaging."

Following on from Loewry's early business examples, Fitch offers a range of design disciplines to its clients including retail design, architecture and brand communications from 18 offices across North America, the Middle East, Europe and the Far East through 500 employees. Not bad for a company which started in 1972 and now is now a multimillion dollar concern. "I already had the basic design skills but wanted to be an architect so I went back to college," he recalls. "Before I qualified I started working for a shop fitting company where I was completely inspired by the head designer. During my time there I learnt a lot about retailing, which really set me on my life's work."

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"Retail Revolution" by Claire Ferris-Lay, 11/1/07
Posted by Laurence Loewy, CEO, Atlanta, United States on Saturday 3 November 2007 at 00:00 UAE time


I thoroughly enjoyed Rodney Fitch's thoughts on modern retail design and how his company has been inspired by Raymond Loewy, the father of industrial design. It's amazing how Raymond Loewy continues to influence today's leading designers and affluent consumers of modern design. Laurence Loewy, CEO, Loewy Design, www.RaymondLoewy.com

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