Retail: Good as Gold

Ruben Bryant is the owner of Good As Gold here in Wellington. "He talked a couple of friends into opening a store and in September 2004 they proudly flung the doors open. The store was then situated in a small space in Victoria St; modest, concrete, mint retro furniture, a wee café in the rear and jam packed with rad brands, toys, art, mags from around the globe.

With the little minty shop ticking along very nicely, Ruben turned his attention to online pursuits. He recruited some of the country’s top design talents to help launch the Good as Gold Online Store in 2006. Since then it has had a couple of makeovers and grown from a one-man band into a team machine. The highly competitive and fast paced world of online shopping inspired him to bring something a little different. Again to create community but to also offer the personal touch of down-to-earth customer service so often missing from other online stores. The language is everyday, the information is candid and the staff members very attractive.

By 2011 Ruben started to get itchy feet and decided to move the store into a new phase, thus began the treehouse years. He worked with his architect father to design a store born from nostalgic memories of building tree forts. He wanted create a store that was warm, fun and functional for staff and customers. The fitout took 3 months, 2 builders, help from many friends and family, A LOT of native NZ timber and plenty of sweat and tears."

Descriptive Witting:
When entering Good As Gold, the vast amounts of timber warm the interior space of the shop. A comfortable and cosiness feeling is flushed over you, while winking at your subconscious large sleeping bags hang up at a distance in front of you. An open flow winds through the womens clothing, to the mens, up the timber stairs to a tree hut like balcony and a further room in the top right area of the space. From here, looking back down at the first floor, the timber structure helps to evoke the feeling of being in a tree house.

  

sketches of how a railing is structured

Shoes were on display on top of wooden blocks - staying with the natural and organic feel

Ways of holding and connecting shelving together - ropes. Adding to the industrial/handmade feeling of the shop.