Rural to urban

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The pink lights are an example of traditional English design being brought up to date.

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Glass, chrome, wood and gold all complement each other on the same wall.

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The laser-cut metal screen allows partial views into the store, whilst defining the shop’s boundary.

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Quirky aubergine seating for the changing area.

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A mirrored back wall separates the changing area from the rest of the store.

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The design team agreed that the clothes should take the limelight, hence the store’s design is not over-bearing.

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An English countryside scene is displayed by using individual frames.

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Bright fuchsia chairs provide contrast in the store’s design.

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Whilst there are no direct design features that have to be synonymous with Ted Baker stores, the in-house design team has been working with the brand for many years and has cultivated a form of design consistency whilst injecting innovative touches into each outlet.

Phil Burch from Ted Baker’s interior design team told CID: “Each store is bespoke and created in conjunction with their local and global position. No two are the same but can however have a design thread that runs throughout a cluster of stores. Our starting point is usually to analyse the store’s location and its potential customer profile. This will govern how the store is pitched and create the all-important capacity levels for stock that can affect early design decisions. From this point on we endeavour to create a lively comfortable environment, which is richly layered in humour to appeal to both new Ted customers and our faithful.”

For the DCC store the team opened up the space and created unified warm and rich surroundings with the British countryside as the theme — a stark contrast to the sandy environment of Dubai. Burch explains: “We were aware that most customers were locals and wanted to provide an environment that would welcome, engage and excite them.”

The starting point was to remove all internal walls and ensure that the maximum space was utilised. For instance, the changing room area which is situated at the back of the store deliberately opens onto the shop-floor with a large mirror mounted onto the back wall both for customer use and to help lengthen the store. The shop-front was left open through the use of a laser-cut metal screen depicting leaves, strawberries and wildlife set along its length. This screen defines the perimeter of the store whilst allowing views into it.

Many of the basics in the store are recognisable elements that have been given a twist or used in a way not usually associated with that material or idea. An example of this is the countryside wall. This was based on an idea where a photograph of a recognisable scene was split into individually hung paintings that would be both singularly interesting yet as a whole would create one large-scale fractured picture.

Burch adds: “Other materials used include traditional English wallpapers that usually have an association with dingy dark pubs and putting these into an opposing environment. The general idea is to use everyday objects that we are happy with and have an association with, then putting them into an alternative environment giving them a slightly different association. By using everyday materials you are able to establish an interesting environment whilst not scaring your customer by stark harsh design. Further features include oil paintings of birds based on the ‘Observer book of’ series’ that were painted by a local UK artist.”

As part of the design process the team used local artists and specialised manufacturers to help enrich the environment and make the space feel less ‘designed’ and more lived in. “We brief them on the design of the store and let them come up with their own take on that brief. In this store alone we used two different artists for the bird and wildlife paintings found in the changing room area. We also used specialist lighting designers for the rotating feature lights in the central ceiling area which were based on the traditional table lamps of the 1930’s/40’s but given a twist by using Victorian lampshades and ceiling roses and specialist metalworkers, local to Dubai, for the manufacturing of the screens.”

“Ted loves the main feature lights that are a cross between traditional and 1930’s/40’s lights. These were envisioned as a way to break up a large white ceiling space. They are great fun as each light can rotate 360º and pivot, enabling the shades to be lowered from a 3.4m height down to 2.2m height. This simple concept means we can change the feel of the store (all lights regimented in a row or haphazardly positioned) and highlight different elements of the store and the collections. It is possible to position four of these eight lights so that the double lampshades all lie above the central seating area.”

The central seating area with its low smoked mirrored table with turned steel legs has also been garnering favourable comments according to Burch: “This seating epitomises the Ted Baker look, being very modern yet using traditional qualities and forms.” There is also a dependence on warm natural materials and colours. “Where possible we try to use real woods; walnut is chosen for its warmth, colour and wonderful grain but the DCC floor is actually stained maple due to the nature of the site.”

Each wall elevation was set up to contrast with, but sit against each other. Burch explains that an early decision was to use the black granite wall (previously seen in South Coast Plaza, Orange County) as the back-wall creating a definite end to the store.

“This influenced the use of an aubergine velvet curtain behind the gold frame picture wall to contrast. The right hand wall then required a more organic treatment that would sit with the granite wall but counteract the horizontal treatment of the gold frame wall. Originally this was proposed as a set of large floating angular panels but technicalities arising from using both a UK contractor and local contractor dictated that this be altered to the use of apparently sporadic (but actually carefully calculated) use of dressed boxes in different tonal materials, thus keeping the organic, moving, changing, feel that was required.” He adds: “All elements are bespoke, and therefore there is always room for improvement as there are no trial runs. We like the concept behind the panelled material wall on the right-hand side of the store but believe we can improve upon this as the clothes don’t sit as well as they could do against the backdrop. Whilst designing we have to remember of course that at the end of the day this is a store to showcase the clothes not the store design.”

The principal challenge was co-ordinating with both the UK-based and the Dubai-located manufacturers and contractors. The site-works were manufactured and installed by a Dubai based contractor — including floor finishes, some wall treatments, hv/ac, lighting and fire strategy elements. Most wall treatments and more specialised site elements including all furniture items were manufactured and then shipped from the UK before site-works began in Dubai. Burch says: “This has an influence on design decisions to allow tolerance for the unknown problems that always occur on site, such as hidden down water pipes being exposed or fire hoses that were previously encased being revealed. The design must cater for the fact that the manufacturers might not necessarily be the contractors installing certain elements.”

He adds: “The most challenging element of the design is actually the implementation. We are working with a relatively new licensee partner in RSH-ME who has proved invaluable in its support in what we are trying to achieve.” The first concepts were proposed at the beginning of September 2006 with the store being completed and opening on the 20th December 2006. Considering that all concept designs; landlord submittals and approvals; municipal approvals; design and commissioning of all specialist items; purchasing of all materials; the manufacture and shipping of major shop-fit elements sent from the UK; budgeting and managing; demolition and implementation took place in this limited time, the outcome is very impressive.

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