Checkland Kindleysides Create a New Store Concept for Jigsaw and The Shop at Bluebird in Guildford

Jigsaw approached CK to create a new concept for their exciting store on Guildford High Street where the brand has been for 10 years. The new concept would also introduce The Shop at Bluebird on the second floor of the store. Both the Jigsaw brand and the grade II listed Georgian building in which the store is located, have an inherent strength of character and sense of style, through our concept we sought to harmonise these layers of confidence and provenance to create landmark expression of the brand’s creativity and spirit through the store.

Whilst retaining the characterful architecture, we engaged with the original spirit of the interior adopting a ‘light touch’ approach, taking the shell of the building and curating the space with designed and found furniture creating a backdrop for Jigsaw to tell their story and allow the brand’s identity to shine.

Through the front area of the store a series of crisp, white walls were created, which inject as sense of modernity and encourage rhythm and pace for customers visiting the store. They also create pause points for storytelling, displaying edited collections and graphics; between the arches, wardrobes of hanging and folded product are juxtaposed against the lightly whitewashed brick of the Georgian interior.

Inspired by Jigsaw’s love of mid-century modern furniture, we introduced a path of petal tables in walnut, rosewood and teak, featuring underside detailing in pale pastel shades, to add a touch of femininity and a contemporary British twist. Interspersed with freestanding rails, the path of tables run down the centre of the space, leading to a double height atrium at the back of the store where they culminate in a sculptural tree centrepiece. The lower levels of the sculptural ‘petal tree’ provide plentiful space for playful merchandising, whilst the upper levels reach up into the atrium, creating a unique in-store feature.

As the space opens out towards the rear of the store, it provides an expansive area where Jigsaw’s men’s and Junior ranges are displayed in addition to the collections of denim, footwear and accessories, each of which are presented on their own individual merchandising displays to maximise their potential. At its centre, with close adjacency to the fitting rooms and footwear, is a relaxed social space with items of mid- century found seating and furniture.

Both the fitting rooms and cash wrap desk bring elements of the stores design concept and materials together. With their crisp white exterior, the design of the fitting rooms references the arches, with their interiors featuring a flash of the pastel colours and timber to reflect the petal tables. Using similar cues the predominantly white rectangular form of the cash wrap, features rosewood and teak petal shapes which envelop the end of the desk; these are edged with a fine copper inlay – providing unexpected details, like those found in Jigsaw’s products.

The Shop at Bluebird
Upstairs, the first floor of the store introduces the third manifestation of The Shop at Bluebird (following the original store on the Kings Road store and the second within the Duke Street Emporium). The collections for The Shop at Bluebird are curated to mix high end designers alongside niche labels and emerging fashion talent.

The Shop at Bluebird can be accessed by its own entrance from the high street; inside the doorway a store directory lets customers know which designers are currently featured in store. A further stairway on the ground floor provides additional access to the store – take these stairs and you can view a gallery of imagery lining the wall, which reflects the eclectic character of The Shop at Bluebird.

Upstairs, the design for The Shop at Bluebird continues to show respect for the heritage of the Georgian building and synergy with the store concept downstairs. “When we first saw the room at the top of the stairs we fell in love with it, plaster was crumbling off the walls, revealing some of the brick work and the true spirit of the building. This provided a fitting backdrop to the collections, which are interspersed with small inclusions of white, which allowed us to create a contrast between the old and the new” comments Claire Miles, Head of The Shop at Bluebird.

The first floor comprises of three distinct spaces, with a central room at the top of the stairs hosting homewares alongside an edit of the apparel collections. This double-height space is flooded with daylight from skylights and suspended lighting; to allow this light into the stairwell we removed a wall and replaced it with an industrial glazed window, a nod to the architecture of the original Shop at Bluebird on the Kings Road. Opposite the window and nestled alongside the crisp white staircase which leads to the second floor, the cash wrap clad in copper creates a statement, designed to appear like a triangle balancing on a single point.

The dilapidated walls have also been retained in the front and back rooms with the raw texture offset by the collections and blackened steel fixtures which have been used throughout the store. Items of found furniture complement the petal tables, whose copper tops and black undersides show a more premium palette of materials, in keeping with the designer collections presented here.

A light touch was also required for the design approach to the front room with its ornate, listed, Adam’s style ceiling; the embellished space seemed an appropriate place to display apparel. The approach to the design of both spaces is reflective of the independent nature of Jigsaw. No two stores are ever the same, and every store is sympathetic to its surroundings and shows respect to the existing architecture, yet each one is equally relevant to the brand and its customers.

About Checkland Kindleysides
Founded in 1979, we are one of the largest design consultancies within the UK. We specialise in the art of brand storytelling. We craft digital, graphic and 3 dimensional thinking, to create category leading brand experiences that have meaning, relevance and deliver extraordinary value. Clients include: ASDA, Beats by Dr Dre, Barclays, Belstaff, Bentley Motors, Converse, Diageo, Fitness First, Joseph Cheaney, Nike, Levi’s, Sony PlayStation, New Look, Nixon, Pizza Hut, The National Lottery, The British Library, Timberland, Uniqlo, Virgin Atlantic and Wrangler.

About Jigsaw
The Jigsaw Group includes The Shop at Bluebird, the cult design-led fashion and lifestyle boutique on London’s Kings Road, as well as the Jigsaw portfolio of over 65 stores across the UK at the luxury end of the high street. The group has a growing international business including stores in the US, Dubai and South Africa.