In October 2023 Etch were approached by British luxury skincare brand Elemis to pitch for the design of their first ever standalone store in the United Kingdom. Having successfully won the job, the retail design was developed over a short period of two months before starting on site.
The store opened to the public in June 2024 after an accelerated on site programme.
Etch provided concept design, 3D design and technical detailing services on the project collaborating with Forward Contracting (the main contractor and shopfitter) to bring the creative vision to life.

Location
The site is located at 23 Monmouth Street, London within the iconic Seven Dials shopping district. Flanked by high-end skincare and fragrance brands, this particular location is a destination shopping area for beauty.

Brief
Elemis wanted to create a space aimed at attracting a younger Gen-Z audience than their traditional bricks and mortar locations which tend to skew older. The design needed to be engaging, digitally enabled and a deliberate departure from their legacy store design in order to convey a fresh and modern feel without alienating an older consumer. The British heritage of the brand was to be carefully considered as well as being aligned with their B-Corp sustainability credentials. The store needed to feature: retail space, a gifting destination and a dedicated express ‘Skin Studio’ with space for two treatment beds. As part
of a company wide rebrand the brief was to embody the new direction in a physical setting.

Design Strategy
Our strategy for the design was very much based around the core values of the Elemis brand. We were heavily inspired by the marine ingredients of the products as well as the proudly British heritage of the brand as our starting points for the creative and visual identity of the space. The real challenges came from the programme: incorporating open-plan treatment areas, retail space and a gifting hub all within the architecture of a narrow
Victorian shop with a deep plan.
We identified the key objectives on the right as our ‘North stars’, testing each design decision to ensure we were still following the core principles.