Light on parade

MALL OF THE EMIRATES, DUBAI, UAE

Accidentally I have bunped into a marching band opening a Shopping Festival in Dubai. Lood music and some hundred or more participants. Such heavy shopper as myself, I had almost turned away until I saw the glow.

Marimekko Graphic Line

MARIMEKKO STORE, Helsinki, Finland

Is it a token of a cool shop? Or great minds think the same and catch the zeitgeist? Either way, it seems that the trend for light lines and patterns made of our fav fluo tubes spreads all over the world. Like pencil strokes, the linear lines can create whatever print you choose - provided you have space and imagination. Eaaaaasy!

Above, the Finnish company Marimekko that manufactures clothing, textiles, bags and accessories and is famous for it's super-cool graphic prints (ah, stripes for T-shirts are symbolic of the Marimekko brand) uses stripes for drawing with light. Spiral rays for clothes and bags floor, asymmetric lines for the moving staircase walls. 

...and one more stripey T-shirt for me :)

Green merchandising

SVERDLOVSK OBLAST, Russia.

Want to see the evolution of merchandising in practice? Come see spontaneous racks along highways in Sverdlovsk oblast, some 30 km from Yekaterionburg. Peoples' wit uses white sheets to add on contrast for racks with Russian banya bunches, or veniks. With days coming shorter, they start using incandescent lamps turned backwards from drivers and inwards to the rack. If I get the chance to travel there by that time, I will try to make a picture.

Eye-Catching Exposition of Lucas de Staël Glasses

EXPOSITION EN VITRINE DE LA NEW GALERIE DE FRANCE, Paris, France. Drag a passer's-by attention to a shopwindow in the middle of a sunny day? Could be difficult for even all those standardised luminances, shops cannot be compared to an unshielded sunlight.

Designers of a temporal exposition of Undostrial glasses went on antagonists' way, they juxtopposed darkness to light. Perfect way to beat the Sun! Perfect way to ignite interest and curiosity!

In a small Vitrine de la New Galerie de France, where plaster walls were still smelling fresh paint, the exposition was coming to an end, when we spotted it. Unique glasses emerging from and melting into white pannels were lit with a profile halogen spotlights. No light was spilled over. The only source of ambient artificial light was a multimedia projector looping ppt presentation of the products. At dawn and night time the scene may even be more dramatic. Excellent solution!

Smart Glass at Valentino Boutique

VALENTINO, Paris, France. New-fangled technology - Smart Glass - is applied at the brand house whose designs never scream too avant-garde. Smart glass aka switchable window refers to electrically switchable glass or glazing which changes light transmission properties when voltage is applied.

Certain types of smart glass can allow users to control the amount of light and heat passing through: with the press of a button, it changes from transparent to opaque, partially blocking light while maintaining a clear view of what lies behind the window. Smart, huh?

"I'm going deeper under ground..."

Central city square: a place for military parades...

... or rooftop for undergroung market place

REVOLUTION SQUARE, Chelyabinsk, Russia. This is a project developed in mid nineties. Beforehand the market was located on the square which caused a lot of discontent amongst citizens, so the authorities decided to hide the market underground. Those dipleased at rubbish and noise under the Lenin statue faced construction with all the digging-hammering-cursing-dusting-traffic jamming.

Now everything is neet and clean. I would change the lighting though...

Color rendering as an attraction device

WEEKDAYS, Gothenborg, Sweden. It captivates you from far away, orange glow and yellowish details on the entrance walls. Come closer and find yourself at night even if it is a sunny noon! And whoosh! A beam of white light spots small dichroic figures and dresses them up into motley garment.

A secret is simple yet unknown by shoppers: orange light comes out of low pressure sodium lamps and kills colors (remember street lighting?); metalhallide beamed out from a rotating fixture revitalises color and pleases our eyes.

Two thumbs up!

Idea is the engine

JULIA DIMA HAT BOUTIQUE, Yekaterinburg, Russia. What you see is a small boutique of a local designer (vive hyperlocal trend!) practically square space with no ceiling fixtures. The store is lit by only two light boxes, handmade with T8 fluorescent tubes, and six pairs of recessed downlights with integrated fluo bulbs (E27). Glare and contrast is strong, because all the surfaces are dark, but as soon as your eyes adapt and you start tell one hat from another, you kind of like the atmosphere.