D-ash Design has reinvented the chocolate experience with five new flagship locations for international chocolatier Godiva. The new store design will serve as a template for future Godiva retail locations, and it signals an exciting new chapter in the history of the world-renowned chocolate-maker.
The first of the Godiva retailers to feature the d-ash design concept recently opened in Istanbul's Nisanti district. Godiva and d-ash design are continuing their collaboration with newly completed stores in Amerkez, Turkey; Xintiandi, Shanghai; Shanghai's Pudong region; and in an IFC mall in Hong Kong. Stateside locations will open in Atlanta in Spring 2011 and in New York City in Summer 2011.
The d-ash design team (led by David Ashen) partnered with Linda Lombardi, Godiva's Vice President of Global Store Design & Visual Merchandising, to create the new concepts, which brings a more luxurious, immersive retail environment to the company's worldwide operations. Together, Lombardi and Ashen have fashioned a glittering aesthetic that pays tribute to Godvia's venerable Belgian heritage while presenting a fresh face to the world, with clean, modern interiors where as Ashen puts it "chocolate is the star."
Each flagship has its own personality and amenities, including a Godiva cafe that provides guests with an elegant and stylish place to have a cup of cocoa, an interactive 360-degree "Chocolate Island," and a two-storey vertical vitrine in place of the traditional chocolate display case. The interiors highlight a palette of dark browns and bright creams, rendered in an array of rich materials, and the exterior features beautiful Art Nouveau-inflected bronze gates framing the Lady Godiva logo.
"Our objective was to make the consumer feel totally surrounded, in a sense, not just by chocolate itself but by all the emotions that chocolate conjures-pleasure, indulgence, comfort," said Ashen. "Everywhere you turn there's a different way to enjoy Godiva, a different type of chocolate encounter."
The redesign gives new life to one of the biggest brand names in the chocolate industry, with d-ash design bringing a touch of 21st century glamour to chocolate lovers everywhere-just in time for Godiva's 85th anniversary.
Photos: Ali Bekman