Lotte van Velzen recently completed 'The Arrivals Pop-Up Store,' located in SoHo, NYC. The contemporary retail space emphasizes the architecturally inspired identity of the brand through the use of familiar geometries paired with graphic textures creating a playful take on the retail experience. The store will be open for 10 weeks during this Holiday season.
The Arrivals is a direct-to-consumer outerwear brand was founded in NYC by architect Jeff Johnson and entrepreneur Kal Vepuri in 2014. As a digital brand entering the physical retail space for the first time, the design brief was short but clear, create an on-brand experience for a pop up budget, and it needed to open in 6 weeks.
Playful Terrazzo
Given the architectural roots of THE ARRIVALS, van Velzen was tasked with creating a space that represented the clean minimalistic approach of the brands aesthetic while constrained by a 13K budget to create a high-impact experience that connected the user, space and brand. This lead to the main design concept for the space of a stylised Terrazzo pattern recurring throughout the store. Through the use of 3M vinyl, van Velzen was able to recreate a graphic perception of the traditional material using a tri colored palette to represent terrazzo chips of marble or granite set in concrete, giving a playful wink to the SoHo space.
Collaboration
Given the scarcity of space in Lower Manhattan, the use of space was particularly important. The Store consisted of two levels, the ground level (public) with wall to wall window frontage and a lower-level (private). Due to the high visibility, it was a natural choice to use the ground floor as the retail zone, however van Velzen wanted to further systematize the space by creating an architectural display system that would bolster THE ARRIVALS merchandising strategy. The space is build around three displays zones, named 'The Carousel' rotating each week as a new collaborative partner entered the space. THE ARRIVALS and brands like Pintrill, Killspencer and OTHR are presented on the carousel. The triplicate displays consisting of a metal bend rack leaning on a block represent the unity that existed within each collaboration. The floor graphics describe the visiting brand while defining their area in the space.
Photography: Garrett Rowland