LAMY Concept Store

Rethinking the retail experience

Lamy is a world-renowned manufacturer of writing utensils and was founded in Heidelberg in 1930. The medium-sized company is committed to its location and guarantees the highest quality “Made in Germany”. Often perceived as a Love-brand, it stands worldwide for premium writing instruments with timelessly modern aesthetics and perfect functionality.

 

Approached and commissioned by Lamy, to envision a comprehensive and forward-thinking store concept, one major challenge was to create a distinctive, recognizable visual appearance, by using just a few but powerful Brand-DNA elements that, when being combined, would have the highest recognition value and through which a LAMY store could be identified in a moment by passers-by. Independent of distance, place and culture. We defined and elaborated three elements that, as connective key visuals, will be applied likewise in future stores.

 

On the first level, we specified the striking use of the iconic LAMY logotype and carefully defined positions and sizes of a sign that has evolved into a symbol for innovation and education and that is recognized all over the world, representing German workmanship. On a second level we decided to use the walls for the presentation of the products primarily and imagined large-sized wall-displays that would have a big visual impact when being lined up, also from a distance. For this purpose, we adopted metal folding as the manufacturing method, which has been used continuously by Lamy for a long time and entails a familiar formal aesthetic adding recognition value that facilitates to bridge between the old and the new. Using this manufacturing method means treating steel like folding paper. Consequently, we created diverse Wall-Displays, one for each product segment, by folding them differently and equipping them as required in order to showcase the products appropriately. The more valuable the segment the less products are on display, the more precious the materials the more illumination is applied. Mounted to the wall and aligned in a row the wall-displays create an exciting and remarkable pattern, or even rhythm, and appear as if they were huge folded sheets of paper, a material that like no other is so much associated with the world of writing utensils. On a third level we placed large-sized digital signage elements that are mounted flush with the wall displaying market campaigns and with this can be interpreted as magnifying glasses showing in big-scale and from afar what is exhibited in real-scale on the displays on the wall.

Another challenging ambition was to entirely rethink the retail experience in order to foster the reception of the brand's DNA and to tighten the bond between Lamy and its community. Our idea and conception was to put the customer experience in the first place and the product presentation in the second. We imagined a space where the customer is encouraged to experience the brand in a creative, playful, and inspirational way. For this purpose we designed the "Thinking Table", referring to the LAMY campaign "Thinking Tools", created by Meiré und Meiré in 2022 stating that "the brand’s products are more than “just” writing instruments: they are tools that shape thoughts and help people develop solutions”. Placed centrally within the space to be best accessible, and as it is surrounded by the wall-displays, the "Thinking Table" is the centrepiece and invites customers to intuitively test the products and interact with them, to communicate with experts, to experience LAMY and with this to become acquainted with the brand.
The design of the "Thinking Table" and all other furniture items is kept lightweight, elegant yet extraordinary. Constructed sophisticatedly, a filigree stainless steel-frame is used to support the table tops and the storage volumes that float above the ground in order to achieve the smallest possible visual footprint with which the furniture items blend into the space seamlessly without appearing parasitic or space-wasting. Local wood was chosen to be used for all surfaces that are touched and used for testing and writing, in order to provide a pleasant haptic feeling and to add the warm and vibrant texture of a material that can be found where the products are used in everyday life. Furthermore, the wooden texture complements the concrete flooring harmoniously and contrasts the walls and displays that are kept in white hues in order to provide an adequate backdrop for the products to be highlighted. All this results in an environment and climate that narrates the story of LAMY on all levels and for all senses.