Gio Ponti’s Parco dei Principi Hotel

Anyone who has a love for the work of Gio Ponti, should visit the magnificent Parco dei Principi hotel in Sorrento Italy.

This wonderful site overlooking the sea at Sorrento was bought by Roberto Fernandes in 1958, who commissioned Gio Ponti to design a hotel which he did in 1960.

Opened in 1962, the hotel is as visually stunning today as it must have been back in the early 1960’s and long before the concept of ‘design hotel’ had been dreamt of as a concept. And yet here it is, unsurpassed as an example of wonderful design entirely in keeping with its position on the beautiful Sorrento coastline.

 The interiors have been remarkably well preserved together with much of the original fittings and furniture.

 If only hotels could be designed like this today!

Parco dei Principi Hotel frontage

Seating area

Dining Room

Bar

Lift entrance with surround made of ceramic pebbles

Tiles in the hotel

Many of Ponti's furniture designs were used in the hotel including the celebrated Superleggera chair.

Sofa and Compass table

Bedroom headboard with early 1960s state of the art accessories.

Even the Waiters' station was designed by Ponti.

As was the post box.

Swimming Pool

The Lido

Case Study - Shinola

Shinola is an American brand we admire greatly.

Briefly, the vision of its founder, Tom Kartsotis, was to bring manufacturing back to Detroit as well as creating a genuinely American made, affordable, luxury brand.

 As well as a handsome range of watches and leatherware, Shinola makes and retails, beautiful bicycles which even someone who doesn’t cycle would want to own. 

As well as wholsale, they are opening Shinola stores in key US and international locations. As you would expect, the stores are beautifully designed but Shinola knows that these days an exciting store experience is key to driving footfall. 

Some stores have cafes, others, barber shops. All stores put on an extensive programme of interesting in-store events. For example when the company launched in London (Shinola, 13 Newburgh Street, Soho, London, W1F 7RS), they put on a series of events with Jocks and Nerds (jocksandnerds.com) to promote the skills of American craftsmen based in the UK.

www.shinola.co.uk   |   Images from www.shinola.co.uk, www.jocksandnerds.com & www.tack-studio.com

Case Study - Everlane

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Targeting consumers with the Millennial mindset by reflecting their values and emotions

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Everlane, an online retailer of high-end basic apparel has had huge success since launching in 2011. By creating well designed lasting styles for women, men and children, their range has achieved wide approval.

The brand not only offers all year round basics at substantially lower cost than traditional rivals but also plays to the values and emotions of its target customer.

Their basic philosophy of ‘Radical Transparency’ throws open the exact cost of producing each product as well as their mark-up. In addition, as a customer, you are introduced to each factory, how and where your garment is made, and can be sure that it is made in decent and humane conditions. 

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Images from Everlane's website: https://www.everlane.com/

Millennials Case Study - Casper

A few weeks ago, we started discussing the impact that Millennials are having on retailers, and what they and other brands are doing to attract this customer as well as reaching out to older customers with the ‘Millennial Mindset’.

A visually aware generation with a buying strength set to exceed that of the Baby Boomers, they have expectations of quality, value, speed and convenience; traits that are increasingly important to consider in a market where customer loyalty is declining.

Beginning with online brands, we love Casper, an American brand specialising in high-quality mattresses and bedding. With a very tight range of premium and innovative products they have ‘disrupted’ this somewhat staid product category with the support of an engaging social media and marketing strategy.

Casper have a beautifully designed website, contemporary photography, fun illustrations and clean design throughout. They have a strong, simple brand identity combined with an appealing sense of humour that is carried across both the website and social media platforms, that gives the brand a human quality that customers relate to. In so doing they are able to make items as mundane as mattresses, sheets and pillows seem new and exciting.

Images from Casper's own website: https://casper.com/home

Davina for Lakeland

Recently, Lakeland launched Davina McCall's fantastic collection of kitchen equipment, specifically dedicated to her passionate belief in healthy cooking and eating. ny-lon was very excited to be invited by Lakeland to be involved in this project. 

We were asked to help develop the look and feel of the overall packaging concept, creating a clean, bright and fresh look that reflects a healthy lifestyle, as well as elements of the products themselves.

We can finally reveal what we've been upto as the range has recently launched in store and online! View the full range at: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/landing/davina-for-Lakeland/