Client Brief -
Rustic Art is an Organic personal care and Amazon Top seller brand based in Satara, Maharashta, India, with their own manufacturing setup. It has a lineup of around 180 completely organic products in categories ranging from Skin, Hair, Pet and Home care. They recently developed their own cosmetic range made entirely from vegetable colors and oils. To increase the physical presence of their brand they plan to open tiny experience stores at various locations in the state. The main objective of these stores was not to sell in retail, but to increase the physical brand presence and boost website sales.
The task was to design a prototype, experience and retail store for them, which could be easily replicated at other future stores. The entire experience of the visitor should reinforce the brand’s focus on a sustainable and organic way of doing things. The site was a tiny 250 sq.ft, 4.4m x 5.3m shop front carved out of their existing 3000 sq.ft head office in Satara.
So, the keywords from the client's side included - “Brand Recall, Prototype, Sustainable and Rustic.”
Concept Note -
The design and the ambience should draw the passing visitor into the store. We wanted the experience of the store to be a walkaround through an “exciting and soothing space", carefully crafted with reused materials.
The forms and the compositions should guide the attention onto the products, while making sure that it's not just products stacked on some boring shelves. The shelves should ‘EXHIBIT’ the products with elegance and easy details.
The material palette should be sustainable, practical, natural and reusable.
Design Process -
The most important part of the design process was finalizing a material palette which would describe the brand’s values. Rustic art takes great pride in minimizing its environmental impact, hence we decided to go with “Discarded Paper rolls“as the material for the front feature wall.
The Paper Rolls were then well complimented by Display Racks made of “Pinewood Battens”. The Stone selected for the project was also a slightly beige variant of the “Local Indian Marble”. It was deliberately used in an unpolished manner to gel with the overall rustic theme. The glass shelves added Transparency and cleanliness to the whole brand story and store ambience.
In the main feature wall, the cylinders of paper rolls, were placed VERTICALLY to increase the perceived height of the space. A semicircular arch was placed in the centre which would direct the focus of the visitor on the Brand Logo. The two rows of delicate shelves, placed on both the side of the arch complete the composition and give a complete glimpse of the brand.
The DISPLAY RACKS made of Pinewood Battens used a tight grid so we could place only one product in each shelf ensuring that it gets the proper attention and space that it needs. The mirror placed next to the display racks adds a nice pause space as one walks around the store.
The Centre Table was a free flowing and dynamic island of single piece Local Indian marble in its natural and rustic finish. The legs of this table were fashioned out of Paper Rolls although asymmetrically placed they achieve drama and balance with the staggered, sleek edge of the table.
This is our expression of how a calm, rustic store for an organic brand is achieved.
Team:
Architect: Work of Walls LLP
Principal architect: Ar.Ajinkya Salunkhe , Ar.PratikGole, Ar.DishaBachal
Design Team: Ar.Ajinkya Salunkhe, Ar.Disha Bachal, Ar.Pratik Gole, Ar.Pravin Sutar
Photography: Pranit Bora
Client: Rustic Art : Organic Beauty, Personal care l Home care - Mrs.Sunita & Mr.Hemant Jaju
Material Used:
1. Panelling: Paper Rolls
2. Shelves: Pine wood Battens
3. Shelves top: Reused glass
4. Counter tops: Unpolished Indian White Marble
5. Plywood: Garnier Plus
6. Laminates: Sunmica laminates
7. Interior lightings: Philips
8. Paint: Asian Paint - Royale Luster
9. Main Door: Saint Gobain Glass Door
