FRESH COSMETICS- UNION SQUARE BOUTIQUE
A pioneer in the beauty industry for their use of all-natural ingredients, Fresh has quickly become LVMH’s premiere natural skin care and fragrance line. The flagship boutique, located in New York’s trendy Union Square District, combines architecture, exquisitely designed fixtures and advanced digital media elements to create an interactive customer experience that is centered around the senses – sound, sight, smell, taste and touch.
Mapos and Materials & Methods were tasked with creating an environment where customers not only shopped Fresh, but experienced it. “We wanted to animate and revitalize Fresh’s brand and core values to reflect an appreciation for tradition, storytelling, and innovation,” explained Lev and Alina. With Mapos Studios, Materials & Methods developed an interactive Story Wall, an 8’x4’ array of 24 Christie MicroTiles. The Story Wall is a “moving canvas” that visually displays new products and communicates Fresh’s core values to customers with the use of content designed specifically for large format viewing within an intimate retail environment. By using bezel-less Christie MicroTiles, these digital signage installations could be seamlessly integrated into the boutique’s interior walls.
In 2012 Materials & Methods, along with integration partners at Christie Managed Services, were awarded the Silver Medal for “Retail Digital Signage of the Year” at Fresh’s Union Square location.
Working in collaboration with the award-winning architectural design firm of Studio Mapos, Materials & Methods designed and implemented a number of thoughtfully integrated video and interactive digital display solutions. The initial task was to develop the new concept for their flagship New York Union Square store, and then to implement it globally, starting in Asia, then in the UK, and other US locations. Fresh co-founders Lev Glazman and Alina Roythberg were determined to develop an entirely new retail concept for the LVMH luxury brand that reflected the company’s core values and engage its customer base.
In addition to the Story Wall, other media installations within the boutique include a smaller story wall comprised of 9 MicroTiles arranged in a 3×3 open pattern and equipped with audio jacks. Table mounted iPads were also installed with custom surrounds for customers to explore Fresh’s online store. The content management system specified for the boutique enables remote administration of all Fresh’s media content worldwide. Since the flagship store’s opening in 2011, Fresh has opened additional locations in Hong Kong, which mark the first completed design transformation in Asia.