Images: Proposals by Emese Stork and Klaudia Radlinska’s for Berghaus
Two third-year Glasgow School of Art students triumphed at the 2020 Retail Expo Student Design Awards with proposals for specialist outdoor brand, Berghaus. Emese Stork was a joint winner whilst Klaudia Radlinska was highly commended. This is the fifth year in a row that a GSA student has been a winner in these prestigious awards. The young designers responded to a brief set by Katie Greenyer and Andrew Cooper at Berghaus parent group Pentland Brands and they were mentored by Ross Hunter of Graven Images.
The judges described Emese’s winning design as “an incredibly bold pop-up structure that captures the pioneering spirit of the Berghaus brand. The detail goes as far as specifying lighting. There is a clear customer journey too. And Emese has looked at social media opportunities”.
Klaudia was commended for the “carefully considered use of materials and the clarity and freshness of the presentation”.
“We are thrilled to see Emese Stork from Glasgow School of Art sharing top prize in this year’s
Retail Expo Student Design Awards,” says Lynda Relf-Knight, chair of the judges.
“The quality of work submitted for the Berghaus brief was outstanding. There was a strong grasp of the brand’s values and an understanding of retail from the perspective of both customer and retailer that is rare at this level of a student’s development.”
“The GSA students had clearly gleaned a good deal from their visit to Berghaus’s Sunderland headquarters in January. A long day well spent inspired them to mould their ideas into schemes that were relevant and thoughtful.”
“It has been great working with GSA on the awards over the past five years. The college has fielded a winner each year, setting it apart from any other participating university. Credit is due to the commitment of the tutors and Ross Hunter of Graven Images, who has mentored the students from the outset, as well as to the sheer hard work the students have put in.”
The Brief
Students were asked to create a full-price retail environment that could be a permanent flagship or a pop-up store, and should present the Berghaus brand is an engaging way, encouraging repeat visits and bringing the products to life. Students were asked to consider how the store could be the centre of a community, and how it would connect to the digital world.
Emese Stork’s winning proposal
The Berghaus Cliffhanger.
Berghaus’s passion is undoubtedly living on the top of the mountain while they have just launched a more fashion orientated collection for the street, based on their own archive and heritage.
My retail design resolves this contradiction and targets two groups of potential customers: the native outdoor sportspeople who are interested mainly in practicality and quality; and those who just started to get in touch with these activities and culture and are starving for experiences and fun. Here both of the groups get what they need: professionalism, passion, fun, engagement
A nomad flagship store
Wouldn’t it be selfish to locate it in only one city?
Luckily, its relatively light weight material, cross laminated timber, makes it possible to transport as prefabricated elements and build it on site within days.
The Dean Street heritage
The Berghaus’s story is highly valuable, inspiring and worth to show.
The purpose of the Archive black room is to present Berghaus as a living organisation and establish a clear connection between Dean Street Collection and the brand history.
Low pressure sodium lamp for the ‘instagrammablity’
The Archive black room is lightened by preferably 18- or 35-Watt low pressure sodium lamps to re-create a vintage feel. it is a fun experience – customers could try to do selfies in sportswear in front of the mountain wallpaper as if they were on an expedition. Or they could just experiment with the stories and clothes and when they step close to a product a little normal spotlight would light it up to restore that one product’s colour fidelity while everything else would remain vintage.
Staff orientated experience
This design delivers a strong outdoor gear shop aesthetic culture rather than a sportswear shop. The layout of the store is designed to help understanding. The cash desk is located in the front; therefore, every customer can be welcomed and get help instantly or just be encouraged to look around.
The staff and motion
In an outdoor gear shop, customers might ask for more help than in other retail units. Therefore, in many cases the customers move with the staff together in the space. The staff should be highly competent both theoretically and in practice – be able to occupy the unusual mountain-like space which represents the dynamism and competence of the brand. The ladder makes locomotion easier, faster and more organic for the staff or even for the confident and playful customers. The ropes fixed to the rear wall can help the movement especially in the steepest last 2-3 metres.
For further information contact:
Lesley Booth,
07799414474
press@gsa.ac.uk