Celebrating 150 years of successfully being a brand C KrishniahChetty (CKC) Group of Jewelers at Bangalore initiated to celebrate its history by creating a museum format retail store to house and exhibit their historical creations. Started in 1869 by selling their merchandise to the British Cantonment in Bangalore the brand has been the official Jewelers to many Royal Families of India besides running their store at Bangalore. Our design effort was to process the brands historical journey with immense responsibility in weaving a vision which would interestingly straddle the worlds of art, history and retail. The design drew inspiration from the design tenets of the Georgian and Victorian era but as one walks through the storedesign ideas of all subsequent times are meticulously weaved. Our focus was not just to design a space to exhibit a collection but to design a space which would be sensitive to the narratives CKC has been part of over the 150 years of its existence. The space has been designed as a museum to house a historical collection but it’s an extension of their retail practice as the heirloom exhibits/ displays can also be bought.
The Crystal Museum Salon is a complicated story to tell. Documenting 150 years of narratives and transforming them into physical containers to express them is replete with visual complications of clarity, overlaps and spatial blurs between transitions. Throughout the store the design palate oscillates between the old and the newer presenting an eclectic but nuanced visual presentation. Multiple styles, physicality’s were researched and strategies of expressions conceived to build a seamless collage. Large LED screens simulatedtheatrical environments to situate miniaturized versions of objects such as a silver door for the Palace at Mysore. Interactivetablets and touch screens take the experiencebeyond the physical space.
