Jigsaw Westbourne Grove: Then & Now
AMD’s founder, Andrew Martin, and luxury fashion retailer Jigsaw have more than 20 years of partnership under their belts since AMD launched. Prior to AMD, Andrew was an in-house visual merchandiser for Jigsaw, providing further years of visual influence on this renowned high street brand.
As the high street continues to change, Jigsaw’s bricks and mortar needs evolve along with it, opting for smaller, more concentrated brand experiences. AMD had a unique opportunity to reinvent and modernise spaces they’ve designed decades earlier, with Westbourne Grove being one of eight stores AMD have either relocated, redesigned and/or downsized for Jigsaw in 2022 alone.
THEN: 1993
The original Westbourne Grove Jigsaw was an old fashioned antiques store with a modern 1970’s aluminium shopfront. It was divided into many small rooms, furnished throughout with green carpet. Part way through the fit out Jigsaw also acquired the site next door and AMD knocked through to join the two together to create maximum impact.
The original brief was to keep the interesting elements that make up the unique building but bring the modern Jigsaw brand into the space. In response, we wanted to capture the locality of the area,which was artisanal and bohemian at the time. Jigsaw was one of the first fashion stores to move into the Westbourne Grove amongst the traditional antique dealers that had spilled over from Portobello Road.
NOW: 2022
In 2022, AMD was tasked with splitting the two units back to individual shops. However, it was important to us that we didn’t lose the bohemian feeling we created with the first design 22 years ago, and the architecture stayed intact.
Enforcing our ‘Mend and Make Beautiful’ policy - whereby we reuse and upcycle as much as possible - the original floors were kept but refurbished, yet we added a new staircase to link the ground floor with the mezzanine level. The challenge was to keep equal visibility to both levels to the rear of the store.
We chose a lot of vintage accessories which have been combined with sharper, more modern, fixtures. A black and white colour scheme creates a more modern and edgy brand image for Jigsaw in the space.
Westbourne Grove also links visually to the other Jigsaw stores through the use of materials in the spaces. Brass is key within the material palette as is the selection of modern vintage furniture pieces.
