Little Red Bird Gifts was a concept created by my client’s love of all things uplifting. The red bird holds a special place in her heart in remembrance of her father. The client came to me with the name, logo and product bags already developed, and we needed to figure out what the message was for this store and tie it back to her tagline, Uplifted Gifts. The name Little Red Bird conjures up images of the outdoors for me, things like trees, swings, bicycles, and of course, birds. Prior to beginning the project, we reviewed samples of the product lines she would be carrying in the store, so I could be sure the store design and type of products she would be selling would work harmoniously. The client wanted the store to be casual, fun and most of all an uplifting experience.
This store was basically a white box with huge ceilings and a vast amount of volume. My initial thought when I went in the space was that it reminded me of a racquetball court, only twice as long. I knew we needed to engage the volume of the space by creating something three-dimensional that utilized some of that space and brought the ceiling down a bit to give the space a more intimate, less cavernous feel.
Since we couldn’t close the ceiling due to budget, I designed a ceiling cloud to suspend over the cash wrap that was anchored by four trees on each corner. Not only did this bring the ceiling down, it allowed us the ability to run an electrical supply down to the cash wrap without having to dig up the concrete. Having a centralized cash wrap is important in this case to allow visual control over the entire store, especially in situations where staff may be limited. The trees and cloud become the focal point of the store with the bird’s nest inspired chandelier in the center and custom made red birds perched on the tree limbs.
Other features of the store include a card rail for greetings cards, a product display suspended with ropes inspired by an outdoor swing set, a hand painted mural on the wall painted by a client’s friend pulling in the bicycle, tree and bird cages, along with several other bird cage and tree branch chandeliers throughout the space. All displays, cabinets, trees, and cash wrap were custom built in the same wood to serve as a backdrop for all the colorful products. We painted the back wall large black and white stripes to tie in with her product bags and brought in black, white and red furniture throughout the space for seating and miscellaneous, movable display. The in-store messaging ties back to her Uplifted Gifts tagline, with phrases like Uplifted Art, Uplifted Jewelry and Uplifted Stationery. The entire store is full of uplifting messages of kindness, hope and love.
