Stuff We Like Category
London’s pan-Asian bar/restaurant Inamo has moved retail design into the future with cutting-edge technology.
They have replaced the waitress/waiters with touch-projection-screen technology to provide a tabletop menu system.
Diners can use the digital projectors to select and order their food and drinks as well as check out the latest weather reports, surf the web and pay their bill. Not only can the diners use the projection tables to interact with the restaurant, they can also find out information about nearby bars and order a taxi.
The projectors hover over each individual table in the restaurant and give diners an
interactive experience and entertain them while they wait for their food to be served.
The style of the restaurant combines the futuristic style of the interactive tables with the retro feel of the furniture, patterns and colours.
This might not be the best news for waiters and waitresses of the world but we are sure that it will be of interest to anyone who is interested in retail design or gadgets and technology.
Design4Retail love this new packaging design from heinz Ketchup for all you undecisive people out there.
The product is the same but the way it is packaged and served to you has changed for the sachets you get in fast food outlets and restaurants. The new packaging allows you to make a choice between dipping or squeezing! (Read more)
We have worked with a lot of companies on their packaging but nothing quite to this scale!
As a massive PR stunt the makers of Mini, BMW have come up with a great packaging design for one of their cars, yes that’s right their Mini has a box!!
They designed a box big enough to fit a full scale Mini Cooper as if it had been picked up off the shelf of a local supermarket and the box discarded.
The boxes obviously became a talking point for those who happened to notice them , and lets be honest they weren’t that difficult to spot.
The stunt is in keeping with their “fun” mini brand. Its all part of the “It’s a Mini adventure” slogan.
Here at Design 4 Retail we love this computer design concept.
(Read more)

Evian have joined forces with Paul Smith to launch a special edition water bottle designed by the clothes designer.

The branded bottles will feature 5 different coloured bottle tops to collect.
Paul Smith continues the annual designer bottle tradition, which began with a limited edition design by Christian Lacroix followed by Jean Paul Gaultier.
The British designer has included his trademark stripes on this latest edition of branded Evian water bottles.
Back in 2002 Evian collaborated with Kylie Minogue to supply free bottles of ‘Kylie’ water to concert goers on her Fever Tour. Each bottle was branded with Kylie’s name across the bottle in place of the Evian logo.
As Christmas is the time of year when those extra chairs are required to seat the many guests over the festive period Design 4 Retail take a look at a number of weird and wonderful chair designs.
Question Mark Chair
The question mark chair, designed by Stefan Heliger, is an unusual shape that adds style to any room. The chair is available in 196 fabrics and leather colours to allow it to either blend in or stand out in any interior space.
www.tononitalia.com
(Read more)
It’s extremely exciting news for all kids (big ones too!) across Scotland to learn that a new Hamleys store is to open in Glasgow – the first in the UK outside of London since opening in 1760.

With not only high demand for their world-famous product lines, there were over 1500 applicants for the new store’s 40 permanent positions. A telling sign of how dear people hold the toyshop retailer to their hearts.
Hamleys originally started out as a toyshop called Noah’s Ark in High Holborn, London back in 1760, but took on its latterday magnificence when founder William Hamley’s grandsons opened up the world famous Regent Street store in London. During the Blitz, the store was bombed 5 times while its dedicated team served in tin hats from the shop’s entrance.
In a new £100million shopping centre in Glasgow, the store will take up an entire floor that’s so big it would cover an entire football pitch.
Opening mid-November, the store’s management team is making bold promises to unveil more of the infamous Hamleys magic that attracts over 8 million visitors each year to the 7-storey Regent Street store in London.
First up at the 25,000sq ft St Enoch Centre store will be special Christmas snow scene store displays, children’s parties and sleepovers, to be followed later next year by an in-store beach.
Source

Design4retail just couldn’t ignore the window display ideas from ja! studio.
The shop window displays are so unusual and really stand out as works of art as much as anything else.
(Read more)
Owned by Levi’s, Cinch stocks only the most premium concepts from the global denim brand, and couldn’t be further away from the image of a commercial store.
The store is regularly given a retail design makeover to showcase the latest products, and the latest incarnation is currently Levi’s X Original Fake – a new collaboration between Levi’s and the Japanese streetwear label founded by graffiti legend KAWS.
Now in its fifth edition and never before released outside Japan, this exciting collaboration is bringing fits to the London’s fashionable masses due to releasing only extremely limited numbers of stock.
(Read more)

Like most of my designer friends I was excited about the new Design for Life series that started in September. Here was an opportunity to see how one of my design icons Philippe Starck thinks and teaches, and hopefully to watch young, fresh designers change the face of British design.
(Read more)