DDi - April/May 2011 - (Page 38)

38 | Right Light Fresh scoop LED ribbons bring a bespoke swirl to frozen yogurt retailer Snog By Vilma Barr n the 36 months since the first Snog Pure Frozen Yogurt shop opened in London, these destination yogurterias now operate in six locations around the city, as well as one in Dubai. Snog’s young founding entrepreneurs adopted the name Snog (a slang word in the U.K. vernacular for “kiss”) to brand its retail outlets that exclusively purvey healthy, organic frozen yogurt. Playing a leading role in Snog’s upward business spiral are the sculptural LED-accented environments designed by London-based Cinimod Studio. Their design, displaying a singular form of illumination art, has evolved a colorful contemporary environmental image that has become an attraction in its own right. Six months after opening the newest Snog shop on King’s Road in Chelsea, U.K., Cinimod Director Dominic Harris and his design team are already working on Snog outposts in Rio de Janeiro, Medellin and Kuwait. “Every new Snog is different,” Harris affirms. “Their lighting designs have become a signature of the Snog identity.” Cinimod’s LED concoctions are grounded in innovative lighting technology. For the 539-sq.-ft., Photo: Courtesy of Cinimod Studios I shoe-box shape Chelsea site, the designers created a ribbon ceiling of undulating forms, 10 ft. above the shop’s floor. With the experience of successful customized LED designs for the other Snog shops, and the energy efficiency offered by LEDs, Cinimod collaborated with lamp and control suppliers for the store’s ceiling. Their solution for the Chelsea Snog was to treat the space overhead as a single unit that is animated in a wave-like effect. “Our vision was ripples of color programmed to move interactively across the entire space,” Harris indicates. Suspended overhead are cut mirror panels that change their depth by 20 in. to create the moving ribbons. A ladder grid of RGBW LED battens designed by Cinimod was installed in each of the ribbons. For precise color control and higher color rendering, Harris added white to the LED strips. “This allows for much more natural colors, such as sky-blue tones that are not over-saturated as they would be with regular RGB LEDs,” he says. Each of the 400 LED strips is individually controlled digitally, and is linked to the store’s audio system. Color in the strips moves in time to music heard by the customers—a system devised by specialty controller producer amBX. “In this way, the ceiling colors continuously respond to the acoustic environment and avoid repetitiveness,” Harris explains. Snog’s Chelsea facility is 100 percent LED illuminated, for both ambient illumination and the color-changing feature ceiling. “From the earliest design stages, we knew we had to provide a balanced level of white light under the feature ribbon ceiling,” Harris says. Cinimod collaborated with Philips to integrate their StyleID white LED projectors and 22-watt downlights. They are mounted within two service channels that incorporate heating and cooling vents, smoke detectors and speakers. Philips also provided the store’s LED luminaries, as well as LEDs for service areas and the exterior fascia lighting. “I’m pleased when people tell me that we have brought fashion design to a food outlet,” Harris notes. “I like to design with materials and finishes that work well with curves and can be formed seamlessly in three dimensions. My main tool, however, is light. It is a basic element of the conceptual design process.” To e-mail this article, visit www.ddionline.com/magazine. | April/May 2011 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com/magazine http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - April/May 2011

Ddi - April/may 2011
Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor's Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Footwear
Multichannel Retail Section
Digital Engagement
Shopping for Kicks
Mobile Retailing
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Global Shop
Booth Winners
Speaker Sessions
Trends
Products
EuroShop Products
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - April/May 2011