CREATING A 35sqm SHOW SPACE FOR JOHN SMEDLEY
The 86th edition of Pitti Uomo in Florence was themed with the playfully sporting"Ping Pitti Pong". A giant wall of geometrically displayed ping pong tables greated visitors at the entrance to Fortezza de Basso. This included images of celebrity Ping Pong players randomly including Kate Middleton, Chairman Mao Tse Tung, James Dean and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Once past this strange, but visually striking entarnce feature, the real business of showcasing Spring Summer 15 collections begins for the 1130 exhibitors at Pitti. Whilst the 30,000 odd visitors spend equal amounts of time and effort trying to remain sartoraially elegant in the 40 degree heat and cramming in as much of the show as they can before exhaustion drives them to the nearest cafe for a well earned macchiato!
Creating a show space for John Smedley for the SS15 eason was an opportunity to work with new suppliers to combine a simple and effective product presentation with innovative equipment and rich graphics.
The Sea Fever themed Sea Island Cotton collection with a gorgeous intense colour plaette really pops against the neutral tones of the show stand in the Arsinale section at Pitti.
Using statement pieces from the collection as focal points combined with rich graphics from the SS15 Look Book shoot creates an entrance feature with impact.
Hot on the heels of London Collections: Men two days earlier the Mainline fashion collection was placed prominently to catch the attention of Buyers. This maintains consistency for the brand and communicates the 'Century of Colour' story for this capsule collection.
Working with suppliers in Italy and the UK we sourced a simple, elegant solution for mannequin displays whcih arrived flatpacked and could be easily broken down at the end of the show for shipping back to the UK.
The Mannequino flatpack body was perfect for displaying the fine guage cotton products, and simple to assemble from 14 sections of polyprop which 'zip' together in a few minutes.
Combining Mannequino with ALU Autopole Steel was the perfect solution, allowing the product to be the hero.
Edge Fabric Display Frames were used for the graphics and mounted on to ALU Autopole Steel using the fast grip clip system. A really neat solution and simple to breakdown and transport at the end of the show for reuse back at John Smedley HQ.
From empty shell to completed stand, the rigging is completed in one day. Allowing the team from John Smedley to travel direct from London Collections: Men to Pitti Uomo ready to hit the ground running on launch day.
Stand design and implementation by Tam Lever at NotRocketScience
Mannequins supplied by Mannequino.co.uk
Autopole Steel supplied by Alu.com
