Seen this?
I’ve been shooting retail and designspace for a while — and I go in…
The Nokia people didn’t like me in there, too much. And I go out.
And then I send this to you.
I do like the sheer presence of the blue, here — especially against the black of YSL next door.
The inside is a wash of color — this luminous gradated glass field — changing color, transected by connected | arrayed screens…flipping the pages of books. Which I’d call a nice metaphor. Books and other forms of transmissions, in a long sequential reference of digital screens, linked to each other.
The rest of the space is chilly — even with the walls changing color, like this sequencing.
The main floor uses the variably lit scheme, which becomes all blue, as you move up to the next floor, this is the truly “cooler level. But once you are there, it’s a pretty simple arrangement of mounted phones.
Nokia surely celebrates design
in Vertu — which were once impossibly priced phones, in their opening European and Middle Eastern launch, but has now come down into the accessible range — around 6KUS$.
I’m sure you’ll rush out now.
Still, the detailing is exquisite for these phones, the upper tier is where Vertu lives, in this shopfront. Around the world, I’ve seen variants on these shops, alone. Paris, London, even Jakarta.
I went to the launch in Paris [2002]. For sheer Hollywood gossip, it was there that I met Gywneth Paltrow. I didn’t recognize her until half way through the conversation. The installation highlight was James Turrell. He wasn’t there.
The Vertu shop is a half story up, perched above the main corridor below.
And when I was up there, shooting down, that’s when I got caught.
Sometimes I get caught. But rarely.
keep looking