Herman Miller’s New Retail Store Is Like A Shoppable Dreamhome
Filled with furniture, lighting, and accessories—manufactured not only by Herman Miller but also by independent designers and sourced from the Chicago auction house Wright—the store is designed to embody the Herman Miller lifestyle.
The furniture company, whose bread and butter is workspace design, has slowly been positioning itself as a lifestyle brand through what it calls its “Shift” strategy, a five-year initiative that was developed in 2011 to reorient the company toward consumers. The retail store is this strategy materialized. Unlike a showroom, in which customers can’t actually walk away with products, virtually everything in the retail store is for sale. It’s like being able to walk into a design mag spread—and walk out with something for your own home.
They imagined that a flagship location as the top of the pyramid, which embodies the shift from being just a contract company or just an industry brand to truly be a powerful lifestyle and consumer lifestyle brand—to make that palpable and a physical experience that all of our customers can walk through.
Herman Miller plans to change out the displays inside the store on a regular basis, while an architecture and design book store also offers plenty to chew on. Currently, the space houses a mini exhibition explaining the design genius of the Aeron—the iconic office chair, which the company reengineered this year—that includes prototypes and early models.
Source: fastcodesign
