UTILITY x WDC

Interior design - we have worked with Utility, an independent retailer selling designer furniture, lighting, homeware and gifts, for a couple of years.

Utilty Manchester gift shop interior design
Utilty Manchester gift shop interior design

They have a well-established online presence, as well as three stores already open in Liverpool. We were commissioned to design Utility's fourth store - in Manchester’s recently redeveloped Oxford Road.    

Retail interior design
Retail interior design

The Manchester store heavily features gifts and homewares, carefully selected with quality, style and design at the forefront. We made sure that these three principles were reflected in our design, creating a contemporary environment which conveys style whilst promoting the products themselves, ensuring they are the hero.

Retail display, commercial interior design
Retail display, commercial interior design

Through the use of a muted colour and material palette we managed to create a modern, simplistic look with warm and inviting tones.

Fixtures were made from sleek steel frames, paired with birch-faced plywood shelves, and card and pegboard wall panels which lend the space a softer, natural feel.

Utility Gift Shop Manchester logo
Utility Gift Shop Manchester logo

We designed reading bays to specifically function like a bookstand, enabling customers to spend as much time as they wanted flicking through the pages of a book.

Utility Gift Shop
Utility Gift Shop

We selected the lighting and infrastructure based on a clean, utilitarian aesthetic which complements the overall honesty of the store concept.

On entering the store, customers are greeted with a metre high Utility logo displayed on the large bulkhead, a sign that gives the store a visible presence from the road, especially at night. Oxford Road is the busiest bus route in Europe, so we felt it was important that it was recognised from every available position.

For more projects about Interior design, please check out our Interior design page.

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If you’d like to have an informal discussion about your design needs, please get in touch.

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