The Shop at Bluebird | Kings Road Chelsea
Experimental & Iconic Retail
Based in an iconic art-deco building on London’s prestigious King’s Road, The Shop at Bluebird was a celebrated lifestyle store imagined by John and Belle Robinson of up market women’s wear brand, Jigsaw.
Having worked with Jigsaw for many years, we were delighted to be asked to collaborate on concept and design for the original store. Our role was diverse and exciting. From building the entire visual brand – logo, packaging, signage – through to designing a truly bespoke store environment and curating products, The Shop at Bluebird was a project which embodied AMDs views on what a retail environment could (or should) be.
“This project was a very personal expression of what I felt the best store in London should be. One in which you could buy a whole lifestyle.”
Andrew Martin – Founder, AMD
The Shop at Bluebird’s ethos was to showcase the best in design and luxury in an environment that is relaxing, stylish and personable. To match this intention, our brief was to create a changeable space, one in which art installations could express brand values as well as feature products.
Once occupied by The Bluebird Motor Company, the building is an impressive 1930’s icon of the Kings Road. We simply respected this architecture and restored where needed. Inside, the idea was to let the merchandise tell its own story through installation and design. To elevate this concept, we created a series of unique backdrops for each merchandising section.
Each backdrop had elements relating the product being featured. It was designed purely to intrigue and delight. For ‘high fashion’, we designed a freestanding wall of magazine cuttings and juxtaposed this with a taxidermy fox and huge chandeliers. For ‘menswear,’ we created a leather suitcase table with hanging umbrellas converted into lights. In ‘media’, we installed 100s of light bulbs from the ceiling to create a canopy of light.
“This was one of my most exciting project to date. We were given free rein to do what we felt right, and we had a whole lot of fun.”
– Andrew Martin, Founder
To add to the sense of experience, The Shop at Bluebird opened with an exhibition by artist Kathe Izzo. The True Love Project saw Izzo meet with a stranger and ‘fall in love’ over a two-week period in store.
Collaboration played a key role in this project. Most notably, we worked with conceptual artist Eldina Begic, writer and curator Simon Willis and Nikki Lesbirel, who worked with Andrew at Conran previously.
Whilst the shop moved to Covent Garden in 2018 (then sadly closed down), it is still regarded as one of the most interesting and innovate retail spaces to have opened – and remains an important part of AMD’s history.