And the Winners Are
Nintendo, Victoria’s Secret and Los Angeles–based Architect take design awards
Apparel labels Victoria’s Secret, Express and Viktor & Rolf, as well as Los Angeles– based architect Giorgio Borruso, received awards for store design at the recently held 35th Annual ISP/VM+SD International Store Design Awards, sponsored by the Institute of Store Planners. It’s one of the only awards programs honoring retail architecture. Although fashion stores often win honors, a computer gaming store won the top award this year.
New York–based Nintendo World was named Store of the Year at an awards ceremony held on Jan. 16 in Manhattan. The computer gaming store captured the imagination of the store designers belonging to ISP, an international professional association of retail architects and designers. The awards are cosponsored by Visual Merchandising and Store Design magazine, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Viktor & Rolf boutique in Milan won the top prize for Innovative Store. The Victoria’s Secret store in Forum Shops in Las Vegas took the award for Innovative Visual Merchandise. The Express/Express Men’s boutique, also in Forum Shops in Las Vegas, won the highest honors for Innovative Signage/Graphics.
Overseas designers took more prizes than in past years, said Russell Sway, the Atlanta, Ga.–based president of ISP. “Overall, the level of creativity was fabulous,” he said. “But the most creative work being done now is by European designers. American designers are going to have to take more risks.”
The Los Angeles–based, Italian-born architect Giorgio Borruso won several ISP awards this year. They included an honor for the design of the Fila store in New York, which took first place for Specialty Store 3,001–5,000 square feet. His design for the Fornarina store on Rome’s Via dei Candotti took top honors for Specialty Store 1,501–3,000 square feet. His Fornarina store in Rome’s Via Cola Di Rienzo won top prize for Specialty Store under 1,500 square feet. Borruso’s work on the Fornarina boutique at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas won Store of the Year in 2005.
Borruso’s award-winning designs made him a celebrity among store designers, and he’ll be giving a talk on design trends at Global Shop 2006, the Orlando, Fla.–based trade show devoted to store design scheduled for March 26–28.
The architect said store designers should focus more on creating retail spaces that are easy to navigate and aesthetically memorable. In fact, the most successful stores will have a lot in common with the most popular computer programs. “You don’t have to study them. You can learn them in minutes,” Borruso said. “I’m thinking a lot about universal design, creating spaces in a language anyone could read without explanation.” —Andrew Asch
