Silhouette is an Austrian premium eyewear brand, sold in specialist stores worldwide. This traditional company, which offers a one-stop solution for stylish frames and bespoke lenses, is marking its 60th anniversary by opening its first brand experience store in the heart of the Austrian capital, Vienna.
The HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE occupies two floors of the Palais Herberstein, a neo-baroque Gründerzeit building in the immediate vicinity of the Hofburg. The store concept is as modern as the building and its surroundings are classical. We have moved an extensive product presentation of the company’s three brands Silhouette, NEUBAU EYEWEAR and evil eye onto the upper floor, thus freeing up the ground floor to function as a dynamic interaction space and touchpoint for the brands. Enhancing the retail experience, attractive events are constantly being created to bring people and products together, going beyond the simple purchase of eyewear.
The moveable furniture on the ground floor can vanish to instantly transform the store into a stage for fashion shows, collaborative exhibitions, eye yoga, lectures and seasonal events. A full-height, curved LED wall provides the perfect backdrop, as well as a constant visual focal point for passers-by. The visuals played across the screen can be adapted to suit the occasion, without the need to rebuild the room each time.
The moveable furniture on the ground floor can vanish to instantly transform the store into a stage for fashion shows, collaborative exhibitions, eye yoga, lectures and seasonal events. A full-height, curved LED wall provides the perfect backdrop, as well as a constant visual focal point for passers-by. The visuals played across the screen can be adapted to suit the occasion, without the need to rebuild the room each time.
At the back of the space, a carpet is rolled out to transform the grand staircase leading to the upper floor into a catwalk. Your progress upstairs is accompanied by a curving column that spirals organically up the staircase well to the upper floor. Here, the column extends out to form a room: the Eye Test Space, whose porthole and free form provide a tantalising formal contrast to the monumental Gründerzeit-style staircase. In the Eye Test Space, customers’ eyes are measured using state-of-the-art optometry to select the perfect lenses for each pair of frames. Because the HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE stands not only for high-quality design, but also for personalised service and the highest quality of lenses.
The upper floor is entirely dedicated to Silhouette’s three brands. Each brand presentation has its own sales counter, the shape and materials of which reflect the brand’s core. For example, evil eye is presented in moody carbon, NEUBAU EYEWEAR in functional, minimalist concrete and Silhouette in an elegant, pale, slatted structure.
Curved, transparent walls made of glass tubes create a fluid zoning of the space, giving it a floating, almost ephemeral atmosphere. The glass tubes suspended in stainless steel refer to the materiality of the TMA icon and symbolise transparency, lightness and precision, characteristics that all the Silhouette brands have in common.
The eyewear collections are displayed in front of the curved glass walls for visitors to pick up and try on. Gently inclined shelves and ingenious lighting create the perfect stage for the almost invisible, minimalist frames. The back and base of the panels are covered with a felt-like surface made from recycled PET material. The felt surface provides a soft, gentle contrast to the technological precision of the frames. A groove is cut into the base to give the frames extra support and to make it easier to align them evenly. The product presentation is broken up here and there by a single raw lens printed with brand claims or short copy. Interactive stations between the brand areas provide personalised advice.
The HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE is not a traditional retail space, but rather an innovative experiential space that is continually evolving. This is where the company seeks to engage with customers old and new through constantly changing worlds of experience that pay fitting tribute to Silhouette Group’s core expertise.
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