Platform

Forward Thinking

As part of our PLATFORM initiative to help nurture and grow emerging talent, Lane Crawford sponsored London’s Royal College of Art, School of Design students to work on a unique project that saw them examine the future of retail.

As part of their course, this new generation of the design industry’s bright new talent explored the ways in which digital platforms and physical stores will transform into social and living spaces to become “community retailers” in the future.

Working in four small multi-disciplinary teams consisting of students from the RCA’s MA Service Design, Interiors and Textiles courses, the project gave students the opportunity to work on a holistic and real-life case study that culminated in a series of presentations. As part of PLATFORM, the students benefitted from a detailed, business-focused programme, and the opportunity to showcase their work, while Lane Crawford gained incredible insight into new concepts and ideologies from some of tomorrow’s brightest new talent.

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Team 1 — Amy de Wit, Christina Huber, Emmeline Kellet, Kiren Passi, Qin Hu

The first group proposed the development of an exploratory space for “asking questions”. The space would encourage a cross-creative platform where artists, designers and architects within the community would produce a series of pavilions to house artwork, installations, participatory workshops, teaching sessions and craft demonstrations that provoke self-discovery and explore cultural identity.

Team 2 — Burachat Ratanasuwan, Chee Ho Yoon, Jessica Clarke, Joanne Chan, Yukari Iwamoto

The second team developed “Younique”, a personalised service platform in store and through a mobile app that creates links between local designers and customers. With an immersive showroom, customers are able to purchase custom-made pieces with proceeds going back to the local community to support local designers and students.

Team 3 — Evadine Okoye, Gemma Brown, Heeyoung Kim, Joungmin Yoo, Tiphaine Dugast

The third presentation explored how retailers can expose young designers to a new generation of customer by delivering a new luxury experience through programmes in the growing cities of China.

Team 4 — Ayako Fujiwara, Hania Jneid, John McNair, Joo Hyun Ryu

The final team was inspired by the importance of sustainability, creating an initiative that extracts value from unused textiles to upcycle them into new custom pieces, helping to reduce waste.