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.
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HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE
Stage Not Store
HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE
Silhouette Group 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 HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE is an extended shop window for new collections and campaigns, a stage for fashionistas and an opportunity to engage with one of the most important senses of all – our sight.
![[Translate to English:] Silhouette International Schmied AG HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE Live in Store = Life in Store](https://ifgroupt3-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/_processed_/7/e/csm_1744_House_of_Silhoette_Kottlorz_1_52b5bee3cc.jpg)
Live in Store = Life in Store
The product, always the star of the show, can be relegated to a supporting role when necessary, with only the wall shelves on the ground floor showing a permanent display of collection highlights. In the room itself, the staging changes thanks to mobile plinth displays on which selected product highlights are presented. These come in different sizes and can be grouped in different ways and places about the room. They feature organically curved lines that add dynamism and evoke the flowing forms of Silhouette’s iconic Titan Minimal Art (TMA) collections.
Product catwalk
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.
A house for all
The upper floor is entirely dedicated to Silhouette’s three brands. As early as 1999, the company set new standards with its screwless and hingeless Titan Minimal Art glasses. Over the last decade, it has successfully positioned itself in the sports, fashion and sunglasses markets with its evil eye and NEUBAU EYEWEAR brands. The three different brands represent very different target groups – luxury, fashion and sport – to which the HOUSE OF SILHOUETTE appeals in equal measure. The design creates a common framework for the three brands: one in which each brand can still stand out individually.
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.
A glass retina
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 Titan Minimal Art icon and symbolise transparency, lightness and precision, characteristics that all the brands of Silhouette Group have in common. Both natural daylight and artificial light are playfully refracted through the glass tubes. The result is a precise ‘before’ and an optically marked ‘after’ effect. Sharp and blurred areas alternate, a theme that continues in the visual motifs for the communication campaigns.
Behind the glass walls hang curtains in different colours to match the identity of each brand. Moreover, the curtains regulate the amount of daylight ingress, controlling the lighting atmosphere and giving the space an additional vertical layer and a flowing appearance.
See me, touch me, feel me
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. A digital configurator allows customers to try on the entire range of the collections and configure their own choice from over 170,000 possible combinations of frame shape, colour and material. A large interactive mirror simulates the effect of the frames on the face under different lighting conditions.
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.
Plans
Floor Plans
Facts & Figures
Client
Silhouette International Schmied AG
Status
Completed
(2024)
Photography
Philip Kottlorz
Copyright
Ippolito Fleitz Group
Team
- Murat Cakan
- Tilla Goldberg
- Peter Ippolito
- Victoria Scherbarth
- Aleksandra Wytrykowska
Partner
- Umdasch
