Wednesday, 03 December 2008 |
VilaSofa, a furniture store that opened in Amsterdam in October is a clever design feat by Tjep. Judging by the VilaSofa
website, it is a brand that can use some visual updating. VilaSofa is
positioned somewhere between an IKEA store and a conventional furniture
store and its claim to fame is reasonable prices and a guaranteed
48-hour delivery of all displayed models.
The Amsterdam-based
Tjep faced the challenge of making all this look cool. It zeroed in on
the warehouse concept but with a homey twist. It focused on the aspects
of speed and the transitional nature of the place where factory-born
furniture lives while waiting to be taken to your home.
Combining warehouse and home isn’t easy, but Tjep accomplished it by
only suggesting both. They used warehousing and transportation symbols
as the basis for gigantic cutouts and wall graphics, and created a
white wall with cutouts of chandeliers, windows and ornate balconies
that imply a villa and refer to your home as your castle. Staff rides
around in cute cash-register trolleys so that customers don’t need to
go to them.
The Tjep design team included company founders Frank Tjepkema and
Janneke Hooymans, plus Leonie Janssen, Tina Stieger, Bertrand Gravier
and Camille Cortet.
Tjep is a multiple-award winning firm that
works in an astonishingly wide variety of three-dimensional design —
Product and furniture design, interior design and interior
architecture, identity design and events. Tjep clients include Droog,
British Airways, ING, Restaurant Praq, Camper, Heineken and Ikea.
Hooymans left Tjep in May 2008, and now works independently thisisjane.com. - Tuija Seipell.
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Vila Sofa - Amsterdam 
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