design:retail - September/October 2019 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR

DESIGN:RETAIL

SEPT/OCT 2019

And the Award
Goes to...

a creative
spirit and an artist all walk into
a bar...I swear this is not a joke.
Rather, it's what will be happening on Sept. 12, when Bruce
Barteldt, Heesun Kim and Leigh
Ann Tischler walk into the room
at the celebratory Portfolio Awards dinner, during
our annual design:retail Forum in Nashville, Tenn.
On that special night, we'll be honoring those
three immensely talented visionaries-the 2019
Retail Design Luminaries-along with other outstanding individuals in the field and the retailers
paving the way for excellence in design, experience, innovation and disruption.
This issue of design:retail chronicles the recipients of the 2019 Portfolio Awards-the winners of
which are nominated by YOU, our readers, via
an online survey. In our opinion (although, yes,
we're biased), these awards represent the highest
honor-acknowledgment and praise from your industry peers, those right in the thick of this crazy
retail world with you on the daily. They get it. And
to be elevated, honored and admired by them is
no small feat.
The Portfolio Awards issue is always one of
my favorites to work on. Delving deeper into the
stories (both personal and professional) behind retail's greatest minds-like those of our Luminaries
(see page 40) and Influencers (page 46)-is always
a treat. We learn new things about our industry
friends every time. For instance, this time around,
we learned that Bruce Barteldt, chief innovation
officer at Little, was obsessed with critiquing the
beauty of buildings since childhood. We also found
out that it's the accomplishments of others that he
takes the greatest pride in these days, when he can
stand back and watch his team members lead. He
says: "That puts a lump in my throat. It is through
these coming-of-age moments of my team and
colleagues that I become inspired." I'm not crying,
you're crying.
And then there's Heesun Kim, vice president,
managing creative director, FRCH NELSON. We
F O R WA R D -T H I N K I N G L E A D E R ,

JESSIE DOWD
EDITOR IN CHIEF
DESIGN:RETAIL
JESSIE.DOWD@EMERALDEXPO.COM

learned this creative spirit was born into an environment that fostered artistic expression-her
father, a wood sculptor, and her mother, a Korean
traditional floral artist. And uncovered that she
strongly believes in design facilitating deeper emotional connections with consumers. "My passion is
to create an environment where the customer can
feel the space, not just see it," she says.
Not surprisingly, we found out Leigh Ann
Tischler, director of windows and special interior
visual campaigns for Bloomingdale's, is an artist
in her own right-but did you know she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting, with
minors in psychology and graphic design? Or that

she has been painting since she was 2 years old?
This relentless, creative problem-solver is far from
the "starving artist" she thought she would be-in
all the best ways.
Discovering what makes these retail rockstars
tick, figuring out how they see the world, what
fuels their passion, their views on the future, seeing where they came from and the paths that have
brought them here-it's inspiring. We are proud to
be able to share their journeys with you.
On the company side, the standouts showcased
in this year's Portfolio Awards represent the pinnacle of retail design brilliance-from an exemplary
design firm navigating the terrain of this new retail
world to a retailer's reign on the visual merchandising throne to immersive experiential spaces
to innovation and disruption at their finest. This
year's winners are a force to be reckoned with. If
you were looking for proof that retail is alive and
well, we think you'll find it here.
As you peruse the pages of this issue, we hope
you'll find the 2019 Portfolio Award winners as inspiring, motivating and invigorating as we do.
Now if you'll excuse me, there's a bar I need to
get to.

P.S. Looking for even more inspiration? Get your
fill of retail design eye candy by following us on
Instagram @designretailmag using the cool little
smart code (that's a fancy new word for QR code,
BTW) below. You'll also see more of these smart
codes start popping up throughout the magazine
(see page 64), giving you instant access to bonus
content and behind-the-scenes exclusives. It's
another way we hope to help you #stayinspired !
@designretailmag
Hover over this smart
code with your camera
to instantly access
our Instagram!

design:retail - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - September/October 2019