We’ve had lots of inspiring work afoot in the Barber office over the last couple of months with lots to report and some great stuff in the pipeline too. We’ve also been getting out and about to visit one of our completed designs in Dubai – and mingling at two of the retail design industry’s leading events, Retail Expo and the TFWA Exhibition in Singapore.

Current retail design projects

We have just started another eminent project with Neal’s Yard in London. This follows on from our recent store redesigns for Neal’s Yard in a number of locations throughout the UK and abroad, including their flagship store in Covent Garden. Our retail design for the Covent Garden store was shortlisted as a finalist at the Retail Week Interiors Awards and we are delighted to be working with this distinguished holistic health brand once more. We will bring you more news of this latest project as it develops.

Looking further afield, we have also been working on an innovative project in Africa. designing a large project  for a well-known global developer. Alongside this we have been appointed by a Middle Eastern brand to work on a fascinating retail project locally.

Visiting a finished retail design project

We recently travelled to Dubai to visit our Angels flagship store concept that launched last year in the Dubai Mall. The design for the luxury kids clothing brand was one of our most ambitious design projects to date and this was the first time we’ve seen the finished store. Apparently the shop is doing really well – sales are great and everyone that visits the store loves the concept.

The new Barber pop-up retail kit

We are also finalising the development of our own pop up kit to supply to retailers. We have designed the kit in response to a number of requests that we have had to create something modular and versatile to meet the needs of ever-flexible and cost effective retails spaces – pictured below.

Trade shows and events

But it’s not all work, work, work. We’ve also been to a couple of great trade shows this month.

At the beginning of May we dropped in to the Retail Expo in Olympia. This is Europe’s leading retail solutions event, showcasing everything from display stands to retail lighting. It was a great way for us to catch up with clients and friends in the industry, as well as learning about the latest developments in retail technology and visual merchandising.

This week we’re at another one of our favourite shows, the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference in Singapore. This event is focused on one of our niche specialisms: travel retail and we always enjoy this event where we look forward to getting up to speed on the latest trends in travel retail and duty free shopping. It’s also a great opportunity for us to meet up with both potential and existing clients to talk about our successes and how we can help them to stand out from the crowd in the lucrative travel retail industry.