With the success of the Palladium revamp, the owners of brands entrusted us with the fitting of their Ben Sherman store. We were tasked with interpreting the Ben Sherman shopfitting guidelines, creating a shop layout, providing a turnkey solution when fitting and coming up with branding solutions. Once again we were handed a blank canvas that needed to be transformed into a high end boutique store. Now we were familiar with working with international bands it was standard practice to present our proposed fittings to Ben Sherman international based in the USA.
Our brief was a relatively simple one, interpret Ben Sherman international’s brand guidelines for shopfitting and create a shop that aligned with them. The biggest job at hand was to take the brand presentation and with basic drawings and develop technical drawings of pieces that suited the brand aesthetic. Once more this would be the only Ben Sherman Shop in South Africa and the hub for all Ben Sherman online sales so storage was a critical element when designing the fittings.
Sticking to the guidelines we used blue subway tiles as accents on the corners of the oddly shaped shop and on the doorways that link the shops. This created a gentle transition between the spaces drawing customers from one shop to the next. Shirts being the main product that Ben Sherman meant that interesting display rails had to be designed. Using a mix of solid kiaat for the structures and kiaat veneered board we pulled in the warm textures from the guidelines. As an added element we introduced steel structures which were mixed with the timber and the board. In the reference we were supplied the majority of the cabinetry were drawers which are aesthetically pleasing but not as useful when storing mass items. The solution we came up with was to create doors for the cabinets that mimicked drawer fronts allowing for maximum storage. This was achieved by glueing 3mm strips of veneer board onto doors, painting in the gaps and attaching 96 drawer handles on 12 doors. The finishing touch is the trademark Ben Sherman neon target that illuminates the store, drawing you to the back of the shop.
