Decision Making

Firstly I need to figure out what exactly I am wanting to sell within the space, and to what extent. I want to design a retail space in the form of selling a product such as perfume but to make it more of an experience of the product. I want to design a space where shopping becomes an experience.

I have chosen to sell perfume as my product but am unsure if I can narrow it further to a real life brand...

I have personally worked for a large New Zealand designer who's made a brand for herself and is now a new comer in the world of Eau de Parfume. Karen Walker (personally not a huge buyer of her clothes/fashion lines) but working for her perfume range really stood out to me as it does make a connection between the physical product and the social media. The campaign of the three scents, I think, was really well thought out and was developed and released effectively into this time. A decade where technology and social media has a huge impact and influence on our lives.

To create an experience inside a retail space I want to move away from the current stores where there are thousands of individual scents that can effect the way you smell a scent one bottle after another. I want to narrow down and sell one perfume or hopefully a range of three. I have selected to sell perfume because I personally love different smells, and enjoy the experience of testing and trying out different scents. As scents get changed in store as the more you smell the more your nose becomes influenced and you will not be smelling just one smell at a time, the purpose of this store will be to really sell the perfumes individually without any distractions for you sense of smell. 

The reason why I think Karen Walkers perfume would be a suitable choice for this store is because of many factors. The location of the site is not a highly known about spot and I think having a well known about brand store here would make it more of a destination store instead of a store that you walk past on a regular basis. The people who are a follower of the brand will know its there and will go there I think because of the image and highly thought of perception they have about the brand. The product and what people who associate it with (Karen Walker is a highly sought after NZ designer and is known that her market is of an upper class - trying to  put politely) creates her brand - thus I think also fitting into the area. Goodness and Room 99 are both different and distinctive store who sell New Zealand products, so positioning a New Zealand designers product here I think would also work well with people passing from these shops.

She is known as a designer who shakes things up a bit, which I feel I could use for inspiration for the space. For her fragrance she used the concept of ABC - any thing is possible. She used coloured child building blocks as an influence, which is already a unique thing to use as a adult and sophisticated designer. I feel as though I could use these things to create a space that is fun and playful, and an experience of the scents.