Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience 30th March 2023 | IN INTERVIEWS | BY SBID

In this week’s interview with 2022 SBID Awards winners of the Retail Design category, L’Atelier Five, Jasmine Bagaria talks about portraying the brand’s heritage in a modern way, using technology to aid storytelling, and the challenges of working in a pop-up space.

The team elevated the brand’s assets through digital and luxury art installations in an immersive digital tunnel, which portrayed the rich heritage and storytelling of the Panthère. 

SBID Awards Category: Retail Design

Practice: L’Atelier Five

Entry: Panthère de Cartier

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

Firstly, tell us a bit about the design of your project. What were the key ideas, concepts and processes behind it?

The brief was to create an interactive and luxury experience in the Harrods Exhibition windows. Celebrating the story and heritage of Panthère de Cartier through a series of experiential rooms and playful takeaways. We used the internal Cartier guidelines to start the initial storytelling and then elevated the experience in true LA5 style. Pushing the boundaries and showing the client how we can create an impactful and modern pop-up.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

What was your biggest takeaway or highlight from completing this project?

The most challenging part of this project was having to design during a lockdown. Most of the design was done over zoom meetings and phone calls whilst we were all under government orders to stay at home. This was the first project where we had to consider social distancing, covid screens and general covid safety into the design. It was a completely new scope to introduce and of course we wanted to ensure the features moulded well with the concept and didn’t seem an afterthought.

Another challenge was to develop the strong heritage of the Panthere de Cartier and showcase the assets in a modern and immersive way. We had a lot of assets to work with and we wanted to create an area for engaging with them, that allowed the story to shine but in a contemporary way. We came up with the infinity tunnel and turned the assets into an impactful digital timeline that took over the space. Using a series of digital tiles and mirror, we managed to create the first ever digital room in the Harrods exhibition windows. As it was the first, there were also some challenges in terms of production. However we worked closely with all parties involved to ensure perfect execution.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

What has winning an SBID Award meant for you and your business?

We are honoured to have won the award as it shows our hard work, dedication and passion for what we do. As a business it has inspired us to continue to go further and push to create unique experiences.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

The design of the space uses a lot of digital elements and installations. How do you think technology can help tell the brand’s story and connect with the customers?

The use of digital allows you to showcase content in new and exciting ways. Compiling all the assets in a dynamic, moving visual, that pulls people in to explore. You only have a few moments to catch someone’s attention and playing with these elements creates more intrigue than plain text.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

What are some considerations of working on a pop-up space design? What are the biggest challenges and how do you overcome them?

We always want to provide a 360 experience, so the visitor can take home a piece of the pop up with a memorable takeaway. Whether through branded giveaways or bespoke photo moments.

It can be challenging at times to translate the Brand guidelines into a space that has their own guidelines. We love to push the boundaries and ensure the pop-up is unique and stands out as a brand activation. Hence why we work closely with all parties to create the ultimate experience.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

How do you hope Panthère de Cartier design will impact the customer? What impression are you hoping to leave?

With all our projects, we hope to leave a memorable impression on all visitors. We love creating modern and impactful experiences that engage the visitors and ensure commercial success and brand awareness.

retail, Q&A with L’Atelier Five: Digital Luxury for Brand Experience

Questions answered by Jasmine Bagaria, Lead Designer, L’Atelier Five.

At L’Atelier Five we are born to make a difference. We create, produce, and project manage bespoke retail experiences that engage people around the world. We are an award-winning design and production agency specialised in luxury bespoke retail experiences with a little difference. We are an ambitious team that thrives on creating unforgettable and unique moments for everyone. We have a dedicated team consisting of Designers, Project and production managers, account managers, finance, and of course our little office dog! We love what we do and have a passion for our ever-evolving industry.

If you missed last week’s Interview with the Contract Fit Out Project of the Year category winner Portview Fitout Specialists, click here to read it.