Ms. Raeder, what is your approach on a new project?

First, together with the developer, we take a close look at the project’s store’s target customers and the product they sell. This gives us a sense of the atmosphere we need to create to make the shop inviting to customers. From this, we develop our initial ideas on basic design, materials and colour schemes as well as a schedule and budget for the project’s realisation.

Are there certain tricks that you use?

There should always be an idea or a storyline as the basis of a project. I do not try to design a room by piling up popular design trends but rather develop the overall concept from a central theme, as if it were a leitmotif guiding the project’s entire development.For example, in a home store, the feeling of “cocooning” or retreating into the privacy of the home is emphasised in the store’s design. To do this, areas nesting in one another are created, and appropriate lighting and the natural materials are used to give customers a feeling of protection.

What are the most important design elements for you in shop design?

Within the parameters of a given floor plan, an architectural plan is developed which leads customers through a room. This does not only contain colours and materials, but rather much more a solution to an individual room situation. An emphasis is placed on enabling the customer to experience something, to allow them to enter another world. To do this one needs to play with materials and lighting.

How important is lighting in your concept?

Lighting plays an essential role. Light is used to create important accents. Some products are staged so that the light emphasises their quality. A room first becomes three-dimensional through lighting. Moreover, lighting can actively control a customer’s point of focus. There is also a trend to link lighting and ventilation into one system. If a store experiences a lighting outage, even a partial one, the customers literally run from the store, which by the way also happens with too high or too low temperatures.

Are there certain materials that you prefer to use?

I often use natural materials such as wood, stone and cloth. These materials correspond well to people’s current wish for sustainability as they create an atmosphere of well-being. In the meantime, many customers value an environmental lifestyle, which aims to strike a balance between satisfying consumption and responsibility for the environment.

Where do you find inspiration for your concepts?

Architecture has the greatest influence on me. Shop design is architecture on a small scale and likewise, it can have a positive influence on people’s mood. Unlike “regular” architecture, location or the ‘genius loci’ usually plays a subordinate role in shop design. The character of the product itself serves instead as inspiration and underscores the design.

However, art, graphic design and fashion, such as say the current trend of vintage, are often the basis for a shop concept.

What role does the store’s business sector play in its design?
Where does one have the greatest freedom in design?

Some sectors require special staging and lighting for the merchandise, for example jewellers or grocers. Some merchandise sectors require a perfectly planned ordered system, which helps with orienting the customer, and this in fact, places certain borders on creativity.

The greatest creative freedom in design is where the concept can already find its form in the façade’s development, and where a store design is required to be custom-made for the product and the store location. This is usually the case for the luxury sector.

What are the most important new developments in recent years? What are the new trends?

To counter balance the increasingly strong trend of online shopping, those factors only available in ‘real’ shopping situations must especially be emphasised. These include individual consulting, new services and communicative zones on the sales floor. The customer can now shop at home. Creating social situations will become an especially fundamental element to strengthen retail shops in the future.

Also, the merchandising or staging of products through events or special interactive multi-media devices for trying on or trying out merchandise, this will also play a larger role. Moreover, conversion or recycling of ‘used’ store display systems has become increasingly important.

Are there national differences in shop design?

One finds noteworthy designs worldwide. Particularly, the most exciting shop concepts originate in those large cities with a diverse design scene like New York, Tokyo, London and Amsterdam where one immediately feels their progressive character. However, I highly regard German shop design in an international context, as the desire for energy efficiency, sustainability and value is a common priority here.

Ms. Raeder, thank you for speaking with us.

Viola Raeder
The 33-year old architect is specialised in store design and has worked on projects throughout Europe since 2002. In recent years she has planned and created stores on behalf of Gruschwitz GmbH for a world-famous fashion company.