Directly opposite Apple’s first store in china and sitting alongside esteemed neighbours Prada & Dior, d_raw have designed a super slick luxury environment for this women’s only store, with polished flooring offset with concrete walls & hand painted silk artwork by fashion illustrator Marcus James this is sure to be the flagship Reiss required to launch their focused eastern expansion.

d_raw are working with Hong Kong factories on all aspects of the implementation with an eye to refining the manufacture process as a source for the global Reiss expansion in 2012 including significant US, Russia, UAE & Chinese sites.

Location: London, W1. Size: 4,500sq.ft

d_raw have been commissioned to convert the existing roof space of the Reiss Headquarters into the west ends finest penthouse apartment. A 4,500sqft, with  2 floors of prime real estate and fully panoramic views over west London’s  most prestigious community, is to be constructed as a no expense spared,  high-end interior and will set a precedent amongst other contemporary urban dwellings. It will also complete the development of the Barrett street site, a unique feat of architectural engineering including Reiss’ own flagship store, design studio and central offices.

Size: 4,500sq.ft

An elegant hybrid of classic English architecture and traditional Japanese styling, Montagu Square house demonstrates how a series of innovative material treatments can imaginatively marry a myriad of disparate influences and breathe new life into an historic building.

In transforming the space the owners of the house were keen to preserve its Edwardian heritage but also wanted to open out its inherently oppressive dark corners, and heavy corridors, in order to create a more modern, uncluttered ambience. The result showcases a series of seductive, sculptural design interventions including a marble plinth stairwell with a ‘floating’ upper staircase, expansive sliding glass doors throughout and bathrooms clad in marble. Re-emphasising the Asian accent, the sweeping walls which face the central staircase were crafted from burnt Japanese cedar (manufactured using an ancient oriental technique), the fireplace in the first-floor living room was restored complete with ornate timber carvings and a traditional teppanyaki cooking booth, with huge glass surround, was installed in the first floor kitchen. An open hallway and cool, marble entrance floor (adorned with a modern print) add a personalised touch beyond either cultural tradition.

The most extraordinary – and transformative – feature however, is a contemporary extension at the rear of the house, within which a glass void has been embedded inside the centre of the building. Creating an internal glass courtyard, the extension – with white polished concrete floors – allows sunlight to flood into the lower levels of the space, epitomising the building’s metamorphosis from subdued to sublime

Location: East London, Size: 4500sq.ft, Completion: 2011

Created for the 2011 opening of the retail group Westfield’s Stratford City destination in East London, d-raw’s store design for long-term retail partner Reiss borrows as much from the art world as it does a traditional retail repertoire.

Faced with the void-like space of a vast, warehouse-style unit d-raw drew inspiration from British architectural art landmarks such as the Tate Modern’s turbine hall and the White Cube gallery, to create a space both minimal and yet awe-inspiring. In the centre of the store sits a floating cube, adjoined to super-sized light-box, which appears to hover above the shop floor like an ethereal, sculptural installation. Replicating natural daylight the cube delivers an oasis of calm and serenity and is the driving force behind a current of elegant minimalism throughout the store.

The fixtures are all move-able, freestanding pieces, allowing the layout to shape-shift with ease (again referencing the transience of a gallery space) while the starkly addressed black, grey and white Tadelact (Moroccan plaster) walls, heavy-duty steelwork and pitch-black ceiling all allude to the industrial nature of the locality.

Hand painted silk panels by artist Marcus James adorn the walls, reflecting a key seasonal print design, and materials such as tulip wood, corian and Burma Grey marble provide a series of lavish top-notes.

Although overwhelmingly modernist in style it’s a sweeping glass arc finished with brass detailing which outlines the store’s entrance – hinting at the proud sense of craftsmanship and traditional artistic flair that still underscore the history of the brand.

Leading independent department store Fenwick launches Bond & Brook – a new, integrated restaurant concept, central to the re-design of the prestigious luxury retailer’s flagship London store.

Privately owned British department store Fenwick are set to show a major return to form, leveraging their status as one of London’s key ‘boutique’ retail destinations, with the launch of Bond & Brook – a bespoke restaurant concept that will sit on the 2nd floor, overlooking Brook Street and sitting comfortably beside displays of high fashion, will be an all-day restaurant open for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, cocktails and canapés in harmony with the store’s opening hours.

Designed by architectural and interiors practice d_raw, in collaboration with the hospitality consultancy A Private View (founded by Evening Standard restaurant critic Fay Maschler & Journalist and Broadcaster, Simon Davis) and brand specialists Made Thought, the site, as one of a very small number to offer food and drink on Bond street, will boast not only a daytime restaurant but also a less formal café area and a large, sculptural, showpiece of a cocktail bar central to the no-expense-spared space.

All elements of the design have been created especially for the reclaimed space, most prominently a curtain of semi-reflective, floor to ceiling, asymmetric glass ‘fins’ that encircle the two store-facing sides of the restaurant, allowing the restaurant to be concealed or indeed opened up onto (and mixed with) the fashion floor, highlighting the stores several new acquisitions.

Other features include a full ‘fashion library’ of books and magazines and a ‘champagne burst’ chandelier (a visual echo of the celebratory ambience) rising above the pewter wrapped cocktail bar.

The new restaurant, as a key part of the Fenwick’s major new re-design for 2010, signals a renewed commitment to a stronger than ever fashion proposition plus a stylish reminder of the unique flair of one of Britain’s most charming independent stores.

63 New Bond Street, London, W1A 3BS.

Location: Melbourne, Australia. Size: 6,000sq.ft

d-raw collaborated with creative business stratergists ‘The Future laboratory’ & graphic designers ‘Madethought’ on a full brand and stratergy repositioning for this Australian favourite.

In essence, our design is intended as an environmental rendition of The Future Laboratory’s strategic thinking to create a destination for the Just Jeans brand. Intended to elevate and add inspiration to the existing proposition in order to RECLAIM and consequently OWN denim. In keeping with the premise of a flagship store the Chadstone Just Jeans is both a playground for new ideas, and a core brand statement of honesty, skill and heritage.

As a store it is an experience that serves to reinforce Just Jeans true and deserved authority within the denim market while clearly signifying it’s constant and visionary commitment to inspire the consumer.

Our starting point for the store design was the entrance due its potential as a captivating visual aperture into the world of Just Jeans – an aperture with the unique capacity to turn a currently brand disaffected target audience into engaged, inspired and ultimately loyal consumers.

In doing so, influenced by the brilliantly graphic utilitarian simplicity of petrol stations and the famously intoxicating wide open spaces of the Australian landscape, we’ve opened the store front up to the furthest edges, pushing back the perimeters of the traditional-style façade to create a clear and inviting entrance which not only distinguishes the flagship from the identikit design philosophies of its neighbours but also sets the tone for the entire store (and indeed brand) experience.

A direct result of cultivating this ‘openness’ in the design will be to psychologically signify a level of sincerity from the outset, a genuine and unforced welcome to those consumers whose loyalty to Just Jeans may have lapsed. This ambience of sincerity will also echo the grounded, paired back visual brand language being developed by Made Thought, further inferring Just Jeans as a brand firmly rooted in the tradition of denim.

Having swept those barriers aside we then designed a ‘decompression zone’: a 5 metre space devoid of product stretching back into the store to allow consumers to slowly, and crucially without the pressure to purchase, re-familiarise themselves with Just Jeans as a brand once more. Entirely concerned with establishing brand perception the treatment for this area is concerned with establishing a stage for some pure visual theatre that will force consumers to re-evaluate, and consequently re-engage, with a brand they thought they knew everything about.

The idea is to create a space where Just Jeans will be able to display a passion for denim verging on obsession – a space reclaimed from the regular selling floor – to prove a level of commitment and an intensity of spirit that goes way beyond any brand competitors. It is a space designed to give a little breathing space to a constant rotation of denim-based installations, and possibly even gallery style seating – non-sales motivated tributes to denim and denim culture (to reinforce that denim is most definitely the Just Jeans brand hero) – to re-ignite a slow-burning but distinctive allure that will trigger a new affinity with the brand and ultimately entice the consumer further into the store.

The ceiling has been lowered to half store height in order to vertically pull some focus back to the wide-open horizontal store-front and infer a friendly touch of intimacy that balances the industrial and technological elements threaded neatly throughout the fabric of the design such as the LED screen that stretches back along the underside of this lead-in ceiling. This LED matrix system panel can be used to display anything from random sequences of fashion/design visuals to moving imagery to text to campaign shots.

The flooring throughout is parquet, a material historically relevant to denim to generate a sense of permanence, authenticity and respect rooted in tradition – albeit refined in order to add a premium edge and a nod to Just Jeans ability to remain as contemporary as their consumer.

Moving through the store and the emphasis shifts to a kind of carefully contained chaos as the consumer moves into the more product heavy, functional part of the store where the denim proposition really comes into it’s own.

In an artfully orchestrated sense of disorganisation denim of all shapes, sizes and styles becomes the main event but although the design accommodates the necessity for high volumes of product it is without any compromise as to the overall visual aesthetic. Functionality and high volume are celebrated as positive facets that inform the landscape and the resulting design emphasises this by using large, dual purpose storage/display units which exploit volume to achieve sheer impact, scaling the walls – stacking, folding, hanging and wracking the multiple styles of denim like a fantasy stockroom built on the perfectly dove-tailed tenets form and function.

The idea here is also to allow for a level of transition from the previous Just Jeans visual language, recognising the heritage of the brand and it’s valuable place in the consumer consciousness, but translating it into a much more covetable contemporary experience. Further echoes of the omnipotent ‘modern industrial’ creative vision resonate in strip LED panels which, slice through the middle of the shelving units establishing a further synchronicity between high and low tech components of the store design which will keep a visionary space feeling grounded at all times.

To the right hand side of the store is the ‘denim gallery’ – a space constructed from reconstituted shuttering plywood treated with a luxe-look white gloss finish – essentially making the unloved loved, returning to the solidity and authenticity of industrial base materials while allowing the addition of a subtle but visually powerful design treatment to raise it to the next level.

Echoing the entrance space this wall provides more space for pure creativity and visual play, a platform for narrative corresponding to the lead denim stories at any given time.

The free-standing low-level floor fixtures have been designed with a specifically ‘Bleisurite’ aesthetic preference in mind – jettisoning what is obviously superfluous and fussy in favour of artfully constructed, sculpturally shaped metal – simple and spacious alluding to the fact that synthetic ‘hi-tech’ materials, can also be sumptuous if conceived with enough attention to detail and crafted beautifully enough (the pleasure being in the angle, the feel to the touch or the curve or choice of colour) while simultaneously reflecting that crucial tone of authenticity.

Lighting takes on an industrial bias in the fittings to echo the raw appeal but low hanging lamps provide clear vistas onto key product groupings so that the overall effect is refreshingly warm and bright.

To the sides of the store are individual ‘sub rooms’ – which house seasonal merchandise, fashion product and accessories in addition to the core denim proposition. Again in reference to The Future Laboratory’s ‘Less is More’ directive this is to emphasise denim as the true brand hero but also serves to salute the clever buying choices of the Just Jeans team – positioning these additional (but much smaller quantities of products) as carefully edited pieces to complement but not overshadow the denim collection. At the very rear of the store is the final section in a distinctive white and neutral palette with a lowered canopy skylight, sleek black and steel rails and clear bright lighting, serving a beacon to pull the consumer to the final recesses of the flagship.