Bristol Store Design
When Fleur, Finisterre’s Visual Merchandiser, started putting together concept ideas for our recent Bristol store, it was important to celebrate both our history and the innovation we strive for, creating a space to house our cold water community and bring together our three points of commitment: people, product and environment. Fleur gives us the rundown on the project, from concept to launch, and how we engrained our values into every corner of the shop.
Bristol is heralded as a green city; considering our own strong environmental standpoint, was it important that our Bristol store reflected these green credentials?
The London store is a great example of taking our legitimate adventure aesthetic and putting it into the city setting. While this works well for London, with the new Bristol space there was a greater opportunity to link the sustainability of the city with the space and our brand heritage, whilst talking to new and existing customers.
70 Park Street is a Grade II listed building – how did you take that into consideration with the shop design?
The entire space is on one floor with tall ceilings and an awesome lantern half way down the shop floor. With the shop design it was important to keep the natural layout of the space and a feeling of inclusivity, at the same time bringing the brand and product to life. I think we’ve achieved a good balance. There’s a kind of historical context and I think preserving heritage is part of sustainability in a sense.
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When it came to sourcing materials, how did that tie in with the brand story?
We kept the materials selection quite small and we only used oak, slate, and steel. The idea behind using oak was it should get better with age, each part wearing in a unique way, similar to our jackets or a pair of our jeans. We chose European oak that planed really nicely and it had an interesting grain. We sourced it from a place in Exeter before being taken to St Ives for crafting.
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Was it a conscious decision to commission makers local to the South West for the project?
Yes - I wanted the idea of craft to come into the fixtures and so I wanted to work with skilled local craftsmen to bring the creative to life. From Rich, our builder and carpenter who we’ve known for years and whose workshop is just up the road, to the interior design agency in Falmouth who helped us with initial designs, right to the launch event where we used a small batch rum blended in St Ives called Dead Man’s Fingers. We wanted to make sure we kept that sense of locality, family and community.
How do you feel when you go into the store now?
It’s an amazing space and I feel proud of what we’ve achieved in there. When we built the London store, there was a real buzz and excitement every time we stepped in there. It’s exactly the same inside the Bristol store, but I think the fact that it’s such a creative city with a strong environmental standpoint makes it a special place for us.
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