Christian Louboutin has picked us to collaborate on the future store  concept launching 2010 – signalling a new direction for the business.  Here’s a little bit about why...

“We chose Household to work with us on this pivotal, very different project, which will be a departure from our current concept. They have brought to the table a fresh and dynamic approach, a passion for the brand and very creative ways of working on this new retail experience.”  Anne Muhlethaler, Christian Louboutin

So, over the next few months we’ll be working closely with Christian himself to co-create the type of shoe heaven, women dream of – ensuring the ultimate shopping destination to experience Christian Louboutin. 

Five things you may not know about Christian Louboutin:

1. Christian Louboutin’s red sole was trademarked in 2007

2. On his shoes… “I’m not trying to dress the woman, I’m trying to undress her”

3.  Aged 12, Christian would sneak out of school to watch the showgirls performing

4. The Luxury Institute has rated Christian Louboutins as the Most Prestigious Women’s shoes – 3 years on the trot

5. Christian Louboutin’s most recent collaborations range from David Lynch to Barbie…the latter on sale exclusively at Net-a –Porter

Michelle Du-Prât, Insights Director, Household

The world of marmite has broadened its horizons yet again.  A limited edition pop-up shop has debuted on Regent Street amongst the big brands jostling for share of Christmas spend.  As we seem to have a penchant for pop-ups and indeed marmite – going to sample the delights was a must.

Maybe I’m biased, but marmite here, really is fun.  It has a genuine sense of humour, and the joys it brings to many fans has been explored through a myriad of products including cookbooks, tea sets, art prints, kitchenware, sweatshirts, t shirts, and much more… Who knew the potential.  It sounds gimmicky and it is – but it works, and what’s more…people were buying the branded novelty items and enjoying it.  As I wondered around the store, I got sucked in to everything that was going on from the comedy breakfast table in the shop window to the Warholesque prints and would have readily accepted the marmite logo on pretty much anything.

Such was my enthusiasm that all I began to hanker after was to actually eat some marmite (preferably on toast, with a generous portion of butter), so to turn the corner and see the hand drawn sign “tea, toast and mmmm marmite this way’ … was the motivation I needed to go upstairs. Up on the second floor, a café space offering a ‘draw on and leave your message’ table … and the all-important opportunity to eat the stuff.  I couldn’t quite believe it when the sign went up before my eyes, saying ‘tea and toast bar closed for the day’ – the invitation that started so well did not ultimately fulfil my inner marmite needs.

But back to the shop – what’s clever about it is that the iconic black and yellow signature colours have been used to full effect – allowing the product to do much of the hard work cost effectively through scale, theatre and VM.  If pop-ups have the ability to offer something innovative and fresh, in the eyes of the customer – then regular retail should learn a thing or two from them (but don’t shut the café early).

For the full brand experienceOnline:

http://www.marmitepopup.co.uk/

Store: 82 Regent Street, W1, London

I was recently recommended to stay at the eccentric ‘Reflections’ hotel in Bangkok by a good friend. Its owned by the Thai artist & designer Anusorn Ngernyuang (aka Nong) who first came onto the scene roughly ten years ago with a series of brightly coloured rice sacks transformed into traditional carpenters bags.  He quickly expanded the concept into a range of accessories called ‘Global Trash Chic’ & not long after opened the first Reflections hotel that was born from the same eco-creative credentials.

The first incarnation was demolished last year for more offices but the money used to create a new larger hotel footprint close by & this is where I checked in. Each of the 35ish rooms are individually designed by a variety of established artists & designers from Thailand & South-East Asia. All feature reclaimed or reinterpreted materials & furniture & have fantastic names like ‘My Boo Shit’, ‘Hong Kong Pat’ & ‘I Love Rice’.

I wanted to stay in one of the Nong designed rooms called ‘Trash Chic’ for the first night. The space was easily big enough to swing a cat around in & a snip at 1,500 Baht a night (approx. £25).  It featured rice sacks as wallpaper, a rainbow coloured zipper bed sheet with matching chairs & corrugated iron partitions to the bathroom. Knowing that each room was different I moved for the remainder of the stay to another called ‘Concrete Jungle’. The designers name escapes me but the room was even bigger than before with reclaimed wooden walls ala Shoreditch House, handmade bird silhouette light shades & a his ‘n’ hers walk in shower - the walls studded with Beer Chang & Singha bottle ends.

The interesting thing about Reflections is that it is naturally quite rough around the edges & it’s really not a problem because you know that it should be.  All the spaces use an eye-watering hit of colour & pattern to create excitement & you turn a blind eye to any messy paintwork because of it all being pieced together from recycled materials & objects.  It is an approach in harmony with one of the world’s busiest, most colourful & overwhelming cities.  Despite this potential chaos both rooms I stayed in were comfortable spaces to relax in and felt considered in a home from home kind of way, meaning that I had an amazing nights sleep in each.

I have never been excited by eco-design but in this context it felt appropriate & inspiring – it’s also very commendable because Thailand is in many areas incredibly polluted & industrial.  Ecology & sustainability are not at the fore front of the country’s psyche, however one of its fascinating contradictions is that on an individual level its inhabitants have long reused & recycled without thinking about it, simply to make do.  All of this made me think of an excellent book I’d seen called ‘Thailand: Same Same, But Different!’ (A popular Thai phrase used by hawkers to sell fake Rolex’s & Man Utd Shirts).

All week long over breakfast I had been eyeing up a distinctive tablecloth in the main lobby – white with scribbled black figures.  Although it wasn’t for sale I made an offer for it at the reception before I left & they accepted. Delighted I have now returned with my own crazy little piece of Thailand & very much in the spirit of the Reflections ethos I am planning on some innovative ways to reuse & reinterpret it in my home.

By Thomas Howlett

http://www.reflections-thai.com/index.html

http://www.rupapublishing.com/shop/blog.php?blog_cat=3&blog_item=5

Belts have been tightened, budgets cut, and as some city centres are already recording vacancy rates of almost 40%, temporary retail spaces still seem to be flourishing.

Joining the recent Comme Des Garcons & Uniqlo pop ups in Paris, Prada opens 570 square metres of fashion retailing on Place Beauvau at the top end of Rue St Honore  - rumoured to hold open only until November this year.

With its theatrical double height trompe l’oeil style wrap around façade and glimpses through to the 2 storey shop floor - this is definitely one worth visiting if you find yourself in Paris this side of Christmas.

The traditional ‘Prada Army’ style mannequins were replaced with clusters of avant garde, wigged mannequins creating strong in-store windows bringing the latest collections to life and creating dynamic invitations for customers to engage with.

The walls are lined with large format graphic backdrops continuing the shop front story inside – whilst the lighting scheme is blackened ‘exhibition style rigging’ delivering strong high & low punches  throughout the environment. The shop assistants were as excited as we were, letting us happily snap away whilst telling us about their bespoke uniforms, apparently hand picked by Muccia Prada herself.

We came across this store the day after opening. With its mix of soft luxury furniture, black & white checkerboard marbled floors, bronze metal exhibition cases & taupe silk fitting rooms, it’s hard to believe that this store is not here to stay...

The store was designed by Italian architect  Roberto Baciocci and opened on my birthday 20th July!

We like it very much

By Keith Fowler

We are partnering Soho House Group to design their latest Hotel venture and Cowshed Spa come Deli addition to Shoreditch House, part of the expanding Soho House portfolio of private members clubs, hotels and restaurants. The new scheme will be housed in a disused pub, empty since the 80’s, that sits adjacent to the Tea Building in Shoreditch, where Shoreditch House is located.

We’ll be creating 26 rooms that feel like they should ‘have always been there’. The Cowshed spa and deli situated on the ground floor aims to be a buzzy, local sociable destination featuring treatment rooms, men’s grooming, beauty and ‘hang-out’ deli accessible to everyone not just members.

The concept we’re developing will capture the energy of the local area, creating signature elements that add character and playfully hark back to the past whilst setting the scene for a unique and unforgettable escape within the city.

We’ll be collaborating with known artists living locally to enhance the one-off Shoreditch experience, capturing comfort of a very personal nature.

So that’s a bit about the project, but back to the pub…very little is known about the pub…so we got our research hats on and unearthed all sorts of gems…

The pub was built in 1879 at a time when Bethnal Green was little more than a cesspit of dirt, disease and crime, housing the poorest of the poor, often in dire slums.

Initially we were informed that the premises were originally named The White Swan. It was however, known as The Swan Tavern. The Swan Tavern was situated near the infamous Friars Mount Slum, housing 6000 people in appalling conditions.

Arthur Morrison’s acclaimed Victorian book, A Child of the Jago, based on life in the nearby slums, portrays the slums (or Jago as it was commonly known) as one of the roughest and the poorest neighbourhoods in the East End towards the end of the 19th century. In his book he asserts that The Old Nichol had been “for one hundred years, the blackest pit in London”

Ironically, A Child of the Jago is now a men’s fashion boutique on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch, owned by Joe Corre, co-founder of Agent Provocateur and son of enfant terrible Malcolm McLaren and Dame Vivienne Westwood, the mom and pop of the punk movement.

So it seems that the typical patron, during the Swan Tavern’s golden era, would have been the tailors, costermongers, shoe makers, dustmen, sawyers, carpenters, and silk weavers who were traders in the area at the time, along with the unfortunate slum dwellers.

Quite unexpectedly, in reply to an ad we posted, seeking information on the pub, we heard from Jane Stopps. Jane is daughter of Sybil Stopps, wife of the last recorded licensee, Albert Edward Stopps. Sybill is alive and well at 95. Albert took on the license after returning from the war. The couple had two daughters, Jane and Anita, but moved out of Bethnal Green due to the harsh living conditions and the area’s bad reputation. During their time living in the Swan the rooms upstairs acted as a B&B to passers by and were let out to “whoever would pay for them.”

Finding out about the history of the area has added a richness to the project that we didn’t expect. Fast forward to 2009 and Shoreditch/Bethnal Green is a very different place indeed.

The project is set to launch in December 2009

For more info contact Keith Fowler, Creative Director – 020 7739 6537

Liberty is currently basking in a delightful glory that harks back to its halcyon days of original style curator – under founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty. And who can blame them, by all accounts the new store look named ‘The Renaissance’, has been a roaring success. With an official opening involving Slumdog Millionaire Star, Freida Pinto – Liberty is getting lots of attention, and for all the right reasons.

The store on Regent Street has been re-energised through detailed attention to flow, and space – helping customers enthusiastically get round what was previously a cacophony of rooms.

Giant mirrors breathe life and light throughout – whilst a very visible de-cluttering enables customers to view the carefully edited presentations without interruption or visual noise.

Each product display is a carefully framed work of art – and less of it means you remember more – the store in turn achieves its goal of high impact, wow factor and full-on sensory experience. Do we sound like we like it?…well just a little.

Things to head for include:

Champagne bar in basement

The Scarf Hall

Catwalk of looks in womenswear

Mirrored fitting cubes and comfy sofas in womenswear

Chocolate displays for Easter and Mother’s Day

Perfume scent booths on the ground floor

Furniture and art exhibition on top floor

By Michelle Du-Prât

I think the Travelodge shipping container hotel concept (www.designweek.co.uk,22 January), is fascinating, and certainly not new.

There are many companies working with freight container developments - Lot-Ek, for example, has created a container store for Uniqlo that is clever, fun and mobile.

Its progressive that Travelodge is working with freight containers and developing them into a mass-market proposition, but is this a missed opportunity?

The Yotel model uses windowless spaces that are small and cheap - thereby lowering the costs. The difference with Yotel is that the experience is different, exciting and designed intelligently to fit the small space and cater to the needs of the customer - it is compact, bijou and refreshingly different.

Leveraging Travelodge's innovative building scheme and making it part of the customer experience would make the starting price of £19 even sweeter.

By Michelle Du-Prat, Insights Director

Published in Design Week : 5th of February 2009.

5 ways to celebrate the year of the Ox – Chinese style

1. Get your hair cut on new year’s eve for a fresh start to the new year

2. Eat noodles for longevity along with fish and remember to leave some uneaten for ‘surpluses every year’

3. Go to a Chinese New Year flower market and pick out a plum blossom tree for luck

4. Bathe in pomelo leaves to wash away bad luck and bring you good health for the coming year

5. Get dressed in red clothes to scare away evil spirits

If you still aren’t satisfied there’s always the Chinese New Year celebrations in China town and Leicester Sq this coming Sunday 1st Feb with dragon dancing and lots of food

The London Chinese Film Festival is running at BFI, Museum of London Docklands and Odeon Covent Garden.

http://www.chineseculturalcentre.org.uk

A gift of money is usually given in a paper packet called Hung Bao (English translation). The pictures shown are of different types you might receive (if you’re very lucky!).

To find out more about your Chinese sign, follow the link http://www.chinesezodiac.com/index.php

By Siu-Lan Choi

The Future Laboratory, the people behind the internationally acclaimed Viewpoint magazine, asked us to re-think a space that has been traditionally associated as 'male' - what it could be like from an 'Eve-olutionary' perspective i.e. an experience that responds to 'right-brain' female orientated sensibilities.

Here's our response and thinking.

Creating spaces that appeal more to a ‘female’ sensibility of collaboration, communication, playfulness, motivation, sharing and so on, means turning everything on its head – slightly painful for the logical amongst us – but certainly a richer more rewarding experience is possible through this approach. So, rather than starting with a product and how you might sell it or experience it, you start with a personalised need and how you’re going to fulfill it and enhance it.

The petrol station triumphs in the field of masculine environments and has become the object of our affection in receiving the Eve-olution face-lift. We’ve also turned our minds to brands that understand the ‘right brain’ sensibility, like Nike, for its ability to engage people through lifestyle and emotion – two ‘needs’ based drivers. Building on these values as a springboard – has inspired how the disappearing sites could become a highly commercial destination pit-stop for the 21st Century.

The concept: ‘Re-fuel’ joins up the dots between our complex lifestyles to offer a series of relevant and uplifting experiences to support any busy body on the move. Driving a car reflects just one way of travelling, and with increasing pressure to select alternative modes of transport – ‘Re-fuel’ has evolved the humble filing station into a healthy pit-stop for four key areas of our lives: travel, body, mind and community.

Research shows women are more compelled to make greener choices than men, and out of purchases made through a trusted brand, over half of women will recommend those brands or products on to others – the right brain naturally wants to communicate, share and is open to decision-making beyond the obvious, such as price. Creating an environment that is circular and inviting, that allows brands to sponsor, suggest and endorse through ‘conversation’ is the way to go to engage and build loyalty.

We’re now asking ourselves, “How can we possibly live without it?”

See the full published article from Viewpoint in our Press section. http://www.household-design.com/press/

For Future Laboratory: www.thefuturelaboratory.com

by Michelle Du-Prât

Angels, Europe's largest film and theatrical costumier, held an all mighty sale at its very cold and and damp warehouse in Wembley North this Saturday. This felt like a real sign of our times for two reasons: 1. With ever increasing purse tightening, second hand is in and bargains are cool. 2. As Primark and other mass players becoming ever bigger, a backlash towards the individual is occuring. So perhaps unsurprisingly, Angels Sale was descended upon by thousands - eager to get a slice of the unique bargains on offer.

Arriving there at 7.40am for a 9.00am opening, I made my way to the back of a queue already 800 people strong. When we were finally let in I was punched in the lip (by mistake) within the first five minutes whilst rummaging in a box full of vintage 1930s dresses. It would not be an exaggeration to compare the scene to a pack of wild hungry monkeys let loose in a field of banana trees.

For £10, £20 or £50 you could get a bag (small, medium or large) and fill it with as much as it could carry. Supermarket sweep goes vintage. The photos here give you an idea of the items on offer - pink bloomers (bought) and muscle man outfits then worn in the post-sale show and tell in a local Wembley cafe.

This sale felt part of a bigger movement. Customer behaviour is shifting, excess spending is out... as testified by the brown paper parcels Net-a-Porter now offer customers who want their designer goods delivered disguised.

Meanwhile, unique is more in than ever. Warehouse has a limited edition jump suit made out of recycled silk. Visa's swap shop encouraged people to replace their unwanted goods for others unwanted goods, turning cast-offs into gems. And as the Angel's Vintage Sale proved, there is a market of foolhardy thousands, desperate to get themselves something 'different' at a bargain price.

By Zoe Daniels (sporting the bloomers)