Studio Doherty harnessed the hands-on nature of traditional spice markets, an old-world sensibility of the European retail experience and the contemporary thinking of today to entice and delight food-lovers across two Gewurzhaus Herb & Spice Merchants stores.
The Sydney store was designed to evoke the comfort of your own kitchen, encouraging people to linger and explore. Display is the hero of this fit-out, centred around the showcasing of spices, cooking essentials and accessories in a dazzling, but not overwhelming manner. Spices are stored in softly curved acrylic tubs along the shop walls and display plinths in the centre of the store. The Brass detailing references Gewurzhaus’ gold brand colour while acting as a unifying thread, connecting the spices and revealing their different countries of origin.
Utilising a soft palette of grey allowed hits of orange detailing in the counter frames, along with the blue and white used in the randomly patterned tiles, to really shine through. Bespoke lighting, a signature of Studio Doherty, is in the form of pendants that take their shape from jelly moulds, adding a quiet element of quirk while reinforcing the sense of contemporary-meets-tradition.
Gewurzhaus is a destination – a specialist store that not only taps into the sensory experience through smell, touch and taste, but also inspires people to seek it out and linger as they contemplate their choices. Desiring a strong refined charm, we balanced a contemporary aesthetic with a sense of old-world European retail to craft a store that you might expect to see in the back streets of Berlin, Hamburg or Munich.